Cheesecakes and Softball Take 2

Tomorrow night is Forrest's end of season Auburn Softball Team party. Since I was never successful at delivering my mini cheesecakes to the team during the season I figured that I would attempt my petite pastries one more time for this group of friends. The only problem was that I hate to make the same thing over and over again. I had a cheesecake recipe I saw Giada make on TV that I had saved in my Food Network.com recipe box several months ago. Although they were much more involved than my usual mini cheesecakes I figured it was worth it to try something new.

Individual Orange and Chocolate Cheesecakes
Recipe Courtesy of Giada De Laurentiis

1/3 cup finely crushed chocolate wafers
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1/4 cup ricotta cheese
2 ounces cream cheese
1/4 cup sugar, plus 2 tablespoons
1 orange, zested
1 egg
Butter, for greasing

Special equipment: mini muffin tin

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Combine the crushed chocolate wafers and the melted butter.

Place a tightly packed teaspoon of the wafer mixture into each mini-muffin cup and press down firmly.

In a food processor combine the ricotta cheese, cream cheese, 1/4 cup of the sugar, half of the orange zest, and the egg.

Blend until smooth. Lightly grease the sides of the mini muffin tin with butter. Fill the cups with about 1 1/2 tablespoons of the cheesecake mixture.

Place the mini muffin tin in a baking dish and pour enough hot water in the baking dish to come halfway up the sides of the mini muffin tin. Bake for 25 minutes. Transfer the mini muffin tin to a wire rack and let cool for 30 minutes. Refrigerate for 15 minutes. Use a small knife to gently pop the cheesecakes out of the cups.

Just before serving, combine the remaining orange zest with the remaining 2 tablespoons of sugar.

Top each individual cheesecake with about 1/4 teaspoon of the orange zest mixture and serve.

I think these chocolate and orange cheesecakes would be an awesome dessert to serve at a Halloween party since they are appropriately colored. I will be making these again in a few months!