Peppermint and Chocolate Chip Cheesecakes

Ingredients

Crust:
1 cup chocolate wafer crumbs (such as Nabisco’s Famous Chocolate Wafers; about 22 cookies)
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons butter, melted
Cooking spray

Filling:
12 hard peppermint candies, divided
2/3 cup (5 ounces) block-style fat-free cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup (4 ounces) 1/3-less-fat cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons flour
2 large egg whites
1 large egg
1 (8-ounce) carton low-fat sour cream
1/4 cup semisweet chocolate minichips
1/4 teaspoon peppermint extract
1 cup frozen fat-free whipped topping, thawed
2 tablespoons chocolate sprinkles

Preparation

Preheat oven to 325 .
To prepare crust, combine the first 3 ingredients in a small bowl. Press about 1 1/2 teaspoons crumb mixture into the bottom of each of 48 mini muffin cups coated with cooking spray. Bake at 325 for 5 minutes.
To prepare the filling, place 6 candies, fat-free cream cheese and the next 6 ingredients (fat-free cream cheese through sour cream) in a food processor; process until smooth. Stir in minichips and peppermint extract. Divide the filling evenly among prepared crusts. Bake at 325 for 12 minutes or until done. Cool in pans on a wire rack for 30 minutes. Remove mini cheesecakes from pans, and cool completely. Top each mini cheesecake with 1 teaspoon whipped topping. Crush the remaining 6 candies; sprinkle the crushed candies and chocolate sprinkles over the cheesecakes.

Cooking Light
NOVEMBER 2001