I decided to step back into the kitchen full force by creating one of my signature baby cheesecakes. This was an idea born from my coworkers during a fat kid discussion, probably one of my favorite things to talk about. I brought in some pumpkin baby cheesecake leftover from Little Toasty's birthday that went over pretty well and was getting requests to bring in more. So, I thought I would play to my audience and ask what they wanted in a baby cheesecake. What we brainstormed was an indulgent coffee and chocolate fantasy that needed to become reality!
I feel pretty confident with what works and doesn't work in a cheesecake at this point, so I thought I would just wing it. Instead of normal graham crackers, I used some chocolate teddy grahams and toned down the sugar in my normal crust to accommodate for the slightly sweeter product. I overloaded my french press with fresh ground coffee beans to create a super concentrated coffee base to add to the cheesecake batter. Brown sugar instead of regular sugar echoed the richness of the coffee and unsweetened cocoa powder. I used only one egg to create a denser final product. I made a whipped cream with a dash of the concentrated coffee and then finished with a shaving of chocolate.
Rich and decadent, these little cheesecakes are sure to please any coffee lover. Hope I did my fellow fat kids proud! (And yes, I wrote this with my ankle sandwiched between two bags of frozen peas!)
