CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE CHEESECAKE!

   This recipe comes from www.easybaked.net .  Another of my two favorite desserts put together into one.

Enjoy yourself and indulge yourself.

These individual mini cheesecakes have cookie bottoms topped with chocolate chip cheesecake. A beautiful dessert for fancy parties- or for just surprising your friends and family with a fun treat!

I have to give much of the credit for the “cuteness factor” of these to a wonderful cheesecake pan.  I’ve been seeing a lot of mini-cheesecakes online recently  and I just love how beautiful they are- and how fun!  I finally went on a search for how these are being made and saw everything from circular molds with tin foil wrapped tightly around the bottoms to this wonderful (WONDERFUL!) mini cheesecake pan.  I got the Chicago Metallic brand and I just love it.  I want to hug whoever invented these—they are perfect.

Check it out– you have a muffin tin sized pan but each cup has a hole in the bottom.  You get a metal disk that goes inside each cup.  Make your cheesecakes and push up on the disk– out comes this fun (!!) dessert.  I *love* this idea.  (Plus they make them in Squares too- but they are a little more expensive so I’m waiting….)

I love cookies and cheesecake together- that's why I chose this combination.

INGREDIENTS:

• One Nestle Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Bar (the refrigerated dough that is scored into squares)
• 8 oz. of Philadelphia Cream Cheese
• 1/3 c. granulated sugar
• 2 t. vanilla
• 1 (8 oz) container of Cool Whip
• 1 c. mini chocolate chips
• 12 mini Chips Ahoy cookies.

DIRECTIONS:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Prepare pan by placing the metal disks into each cup.
• Break apart 1/2 of cookie dough bar.  (This recipe makes 12 cheesecakes but the bar contains 24 cookies.  You can double this recipe and make 24 cheesecakes or just make the other 12 cookies another time.)
• Roll each cookie dough square into a ball and put it into an un-greased cup in the cheesecake pan.

• Bake
•  at 350 for 12-14 minutes.
• Cool completely.
• Cream together softened cream cheese and sugar. 
• Add vanilla.
• Fold in about 2/3 of Cool Whip and  1 c. chocolate chips.
• Spoon cheesecake mixture into a large zip-top bag.  Clip a large piece of one corner off and pipe filling evenly over each crust.
• Use a knife or spatula to smooth tops of cheesecakes flat across top of pan.
• Freeze for about 3-4 hours (or overnight)
• Remove from freezer, pop cheesecakes out by pushing up on the bottom of each cup. (This took a little practice for me- you have to push it up high enough to grab it by the cookie part.)
• Remove the metal disk from the crust.
• Pipe remaining 1/3 of Cool Whip on top of each cheesecake and decorate with a mini Chips Ahoy cookie.  Keep refrigerated until serving.

My thoughts:  I think a perfect dessert is one that makes you say, “wow- that looks amazing” but then tastes just as good as it looks.  Try this one and let me know what you think dear readers.   Let’s hear it for the inventors of fun new kitchen gadgets!!!!  Yay!  Have a great weekend!