Recipe: Blissful Mini Chocolate Cheesecakes

Preheat the oven to 375˚ F with the rack in the middle.

In the bowl of a food processor pulse the ginger snaps, melted butter, brown sugar and salt until you have a fine crumb. Place the cupcake liners in a standard sized 12 part cupcake/muffin tin and press equal amounts of the cookie mixture into the bottom of each cupcake liner until it is all used up. Bake for 8 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 350˚. Let the cookie crust cool a bit while you work on the batter.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment combine the cream cheese, sugar, cocoa powder, salt and vanilla extract. Beat in the yolks one at a time. Make sure the mixture is well combined, transfer to a large clean bowl. Clean the bowl of the mixer.

With the stand mixer, whip the egg whites with the whisk attachment until you have soft peaks. Add the extra dash of granulated sugar. Continue to whisk for another 30 seconds.

Fold the egg whites gently into the cream cheese mixture with a spatula. The batter should be smooth and it will thin out.

Evenly divide the batter into the 12 cupcake liners until they are just about full. Bake for 20 minutes, remove from the oven and let stand at room temperature for 15 minutes. The filling will collapse a bit while the cheesecakes rest. Place the cheesecakes in the refrigerator to chill for 1-2 hours.

After the cheesecakes have cooled, melt the chocolate chips in a double boiler or carefully in the microwave.

Drizzle some chocolate onto the top of a cheesecake, while the chocolate is melty place a chocolate dipped strawberry on top. Continue with this process until you have covered and strawberried every cheesecake. Gently place some sprinkles over the tops if desired while the chocolate is still warm. Serve at room temperature or chilled.