Kahlua Cream Cheese Cup Pies

Miniature mocha and Kahlua cheesecakes with a crunchy Oreo cookie base, cool sour cream topping, and fudge sauce.

Nerd Month week two, Bryan Fuller Week day two. Today’s recipe inspiration is Pushing Daisies !

Those who follow my Weekend Posts, might have seen me mention that I rewatched Pushing Daisies recently. If you were a fan of the show, one, we should be friends because you are clearly Good People, and two, then I’m sure you can imagine what a bittersweet delight that’s been.

This was my first time rewatching the show in years, certainly my first time since Fuller’s most recent show, Hannibal , and I was struck with the sweet and gentle delight of it all. Then suddenly I was sad that it had been prematurely cancelled all over again.

For those who haven’t seen Pushing Daisies , it’s a “forensic fairy tale” about Ned, a pie maker who can bring people back from the dead with a touch, but only for a minute. Using his gift, he, along with his childhood sweetheart, Chuck, his private detective partner, Emerson, and Olive, a ray of sunshine made human , investigates murders. It’s a twisty, bright and beautiful show, and the whole thing is available on CW Seed for free.

ABC via Welcometoyouredoom

Today we are going to bring a little Pushing Daisies back to life (if only for a minute har har) and make one of the Pie Maker’s recipes for the blog.

Mini mocha and Kahlua cheesecakes with a crunchy Oreo cookie base, cool sour cream topping, and fudge sauce. Recipe includes small-batch instructions and nutritional information. From BakingMischief.com - 3

I took Ned’s Kahlua Cream Cheese Pie, about which a Pushing Daisies prop menu says : “ Try the special taste of Kahlua mocha throughout our velvety cream cheese pie in a chocolate cookie crust ,” and turned it into one of Chuck’s cup pies, because full pies are great, but these are a much more manageable size.

This was a fun dessert to put together. I adapted and combined a few different recipes to make it, including my mom’s famous cheesecake, and I love the end result.

The cup pies are a lovely little punch of mocha and kahlua goodness. The chocolate cookie (Oreo) base gives it a crunchy sweetness boost while the sour cream topping and fudge sauce top help mellow out the tangy mocha cheesecake underneath.

And bonus, each one is under 300 calories. That’s a decadent dessert you can feel good about.

Ingredients

Crust

▢ 12 Oreo cookies
▢ 2 tablespoons ( 1 oz) butter melted

Kahlua Cheesecake

▢ 1 8-ounce package cream cheese room temperature
▢ 1/3 cup ( 66 g) granulated sugar
▢ 1 large egg
▢ 1/2 cup ( 3 oz) semisweet chocolate, chopped (high-quality chips are fine)
▢ 1 tablespoon heavy cream
▢ 1/3 cup ( 80 g) sour cream
▢ 2 tablespoons Kahlua
▢ 1/2 teaspoon instant espresso granules dissolved in 1 tablespoon hot water
▢ 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
▢ 1/8 teaspoon salt

Fudge Sauce

▢ 2 tablespoons water
▢ 2 tablespoons ( 25 g) granulated sugar
▢ 1 tablespoon 1 teaspoon ( 7 g) cocoa powder

Sour Cream Topping

▢ 1 cup sour cream
▢ 1 tablespoon 1 teaspoon ( 17 g) granulated sugar
▢ 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
▢ 1/8 teaspoon salt

Instructions

Crust

Line your cupcake pan with cupcake liners. Preheat oven to 350°F.
In a food processor, pulse cookies until they are crushed into fine crumbs. Add melted butter and pulse until butter is incorporated.
Divide the mixture between the cupcake cups, about a tablespoon of crumbs each. Use your fingers or a shot glass to press the crumbs down firmly so they cover the entire bottom of each cup. Set aside.
Lazy person/no food processor instructions: Skip the butter and the food processor and stick an Oreo at the bottom of each cup. Done.

Kahlua Cheesecake

Using a stand mixer with the paddle attachment or a handheld electric mixer, beat cream cheese on medium until smooth. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl. Add the sugar and beat at medium speed until sugar is incorporated.
Add egg and beat on medium until completely smooth.
In a microwave-safe bowl, combine chocolate and heavy cream. With your microwave on medium power, heat for 30 seconds and stir. Repeat until mixture is smooth. Test your chocolate to make sure it is not too hot before you add it to the cream cheese mixture. If it is too warm to comfortably touch, set aside for a minute or two until it cools slightly.
Add slightly cooled chocolate to cream cheese mixture and beat until incorporated. Add sour cream, Kahlua, espresso, vanilla, and salt. Mix well, scraping the sides and bottom so no white streaks remain.
Divide mixture evenly between cupcake cups, filling just under 3/4 full. It should make exactly 12 cup pies.
Bake for 12-15 minutes until edges look set. Middles will still be a little jiggly, but will finish cooking as they cool.
Cool on the counter for 20 minutes before transferring to the refrigerator. Chill for at least an hour.

Fudge Sauce

Once your cheesecakes have chilled, in a small pot, combine water, sugar, and cocoa powder. Whisk together over medium heat. Bring to a boil, turn down and simmer for 1 to 2 minutes, until mixture thickens (if you run a spoon down the center of the pot it should take a couple of seconds to fill back in).
Remove from heat. Mixture will thicken as it cools and should be the consistency of thick syrup. If it is too runny, you can return it to heat and simmer for another 30 seconds to a minute. Allow to cool slightly before using.

Sour Cream Top

While your sauce cools, preheat oven to 425°F.
In a small bowl, stir together sour cream, sugar, vanilla and salt. Spoon evenly over cheesecakes, about a tablespoon each. Smooth tops so no cheesecake shows through.
Scrape all of the cooled fudge sauce into a disposable plastic bag (spread bag open over a cup to make transfer easier) and snip a very small piece off of the corner. Draw three straight lines across each of the cheesecakes and drag a butter knife across them to make the design. Wipe knife off between each stroke.
Bake for 4 minutes, until tops look slightly shiny and glazed. Allow to cool and refrigerate for at least 2 hours before serving.

Notes

Nutritional Information Fudge Sauce Adapted From: The ABC Chef Kahlua Cheesecake Base Adapted From: My Baking Addiction

Jello shots with a major flavor upgrade. Candy-sweet and topped with triple sec whipped cream, you’ll actually want to savor these shots!

We’ve hit week two of Nerd Month and I am having SO much fun. I hope you are too!

When I told my RL people that I was doing an entire month on the blog dedicated to recipes inspired by my favorite pieces of pop culture, they were a little worried.

To quote my sister (in her most concerned voice), “Someone’s going to edit those posts for you, right?” As though I would be too overcome with fangirling to be understood and intelligibly transcribe recipes.

Okay, that might actually be a problem this week, because this week we are doing a theme within a theme (oh man, I should have planned an Inception recipe this month) and covering one of my very, very, very favorite things, Bryan Fuller shows!

If you are not familiar with Fuller’s work, he’s the mastermind behind such prematurely cancelled favorites as Wonderfalls , Pushing Daisies , and Hannibal (he’s also helming the upcoming Star Trek reboot over on CBS All Access and American Gods on Starz).

We’re starting the week off with one of his early shows, Wonderfalls . It was my first favorite show (also my first experience with cancellation) and tells the tale of Jaye, a disaffected twenty-something who suddenly begins hearing voices. Are the voices God? Are they the devil?

Fox via Whatthekatzdraggedin

Who knows, but it’s a great, sweet and funny show that tells a complete 13-episode story despite its early cancellation and also features a pre-PieMakerElfKing Lee Pace.

There are a ton of recipes I could have pulled from the show, like fig pancakes or fish jello, but I finally settled on something that appears in the very first episode:

Jello shots!

The traditional jello shot recipe is 3 ounces jello mix, 1 cup water, and 1 cup vodka. And it makes a serviceable shot.

This recipe cuts some vodka, adds some triple sec, some sprinkles, and some triple sec-infused whipped cream. So it’s a lot tastier, a lot more interesting, and way more fun to look at.

To be honest, I’m not a huge fan of traditional jello shots, but by replacing half of the vodka with triple sec, a very sweet orange-flavored liqueur, you get a candy-sweet jello shot that still packs a punch but is so good you’ll want to eat it with a spoon. (And real talk, if you serve them in 2-ounce glasses like these, it’s pretty much the only way to eat them.)

Fox

I used grape jello, because that’s the type of shot Jaye asks for in the show, but you can make these with any flavor you think would pair well with orange.

Do you have a favorite show creator? What was your first favorite show?