Chocolate Cheesecake Santa Hats
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Let these Chocolate Cheesecake Santa Hats take you on a taste bud adventure of rich and decadent double chocolate cheesecake bites topped with whipped cream and strawberries.
I don’t know about you, but I’m all ready for Christmas, at least as far as putting my tree(s) up. But putting up the tree has gotten me in the mood for Christmas baking, not that it takes much. This is why I’m so excited to share with you the recipe for these adorable chocolate cheesecake Santa hats!
This is what I dream about at night, cheesecake and strawberries, followed by lots of chocolate. I know my blog’s name is Jo Cooks, but many times I wondered why I just didn’t call it Jo Bakes, because Jo loves to bake a lot more than cook. I really shouldn’t talk about myself in the 3rd person.
I meant to say double chocolate cheesecake Santa hats with an Oreo cookie crust, followed by a rich and decadent double chocolate cheesecake, topped with whipped cream and a strawberry on top! Totally adorable and freaking delicious! And most importantly, perfect for Christmas!
Anyway, I love making mini cheesecakes, like these Mini Salted Caramel Cheesecakes, and Mini Tiramisu Cheesecakes. I think they’re so adorable and the perfect size for a dessert. Well, that’s if you can stop at eating just one. Plus I’ll take any excuse to use my mini cheesecake pan. You really do end up with perfect cheesecake bites every time.
Ingredients
Crust
- Cookies – Oreo cookies crushed up.
- Butter – Unsalted and melted down so as the control the sodium content of our dish.
Cheesecake
- Cream cheese – We want it to be at room temperature before incorporating it into our batter so be sure to take it out of the fridge.
- Sugar – I used packed brown sugar for this recipe as it will give the batter a more complex flavor.
- Eggs – Again at room temperature so be sure to take them from your fridge a bit in advance.
- Sour cream – This will offer richness, creaminess, and tang to our filling.
- Dry ingredients – Instant coffee powder, salt, and cocoa powder.
- Vanilla – Vanilla extract is a flavor secret weapon in this recipe.
- Chocolate – Bittersweet chocolate melted down and cooled off till it’s just warm.
- Whipped cream – Cool whip or home made whipped cream. If you’d like to make your own I’ll include a recipe detailing how to do just that below.
- Strawberries – These are the perfect little upside down Santa hats!
Getting The Most Out Of Your Crust
You can sometimes find Oreo baking crumbs in a box, but if you can’t find them use Oreo cookies without the cream inside and just crush them up.
How To Make Chocolate Cheesecake Santa Hats
- Preheat the oven: To 350 F degrees.
- In a bowl mix together the oreo cookie crumbs with the butter. Divide the mixture equally into each cup in the pan and press down. Bake for 7 minutes.
- Reduce heat to 300 F degrees.
- Combine the cheesecake batter: Add the cream cheese and brown sugar to the bowl of your mixer and mix until smooth for about 3 minutes. Add the eggs and continue mixing. Add the sour cream, instant coffee, salt, vanilla extract, cocoa powder and melted chocolate to the mixer and mix until smooth. Do not over mix since over mixing can cause the cheesecakes to crack.
- Assemble the cheese cakes: Spoon cheesecake batter into each cup and fill to the top. There should be enough batter for all 12 cups. If you have any leftover batter, I usually just bake it in little ramekins, makes for a great dessert.
- Bake for 15 to 18 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and let the cheesecakes cool completely before removing them from the pan. Refrigerate the cheesecakes for a couple hours so that they set properly.
- Garnish: Top each cheesecake with cool whip. I used a piping bag to pipe the cool whip easier. You could also use a plastic bag instead of a piping bag. Top the cheesecakes with a strawberry then pipe a bit of cool whip on each strawberry tip.
- Refrigerate until ready to serve.
What’s The Best Cream Cheese To Use For Cheesecake
I prefer using Philadelphia cream cheese because it always makes a super silky cheesecake. However, if you can’t find the Philadelphia brand, use a cream cheese that is full fat for best results.
How To Make Your Own Whipped Cream
If you’d like to make this delicious little addition all yourself, you may find this dessert goes from stellar to extraordinary! So here’s what your going to need:
- An electric mixer
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
- 2 tablespoons white sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Some Tips
- If you don’t have a mini cheesecake pan, muffin or cupcake pans can be used instead. Just be mindful that the crust and cheesecake may need longer to bake. A 9 x 13 inch baking pan also works if you prefer to make a whole cake rather than bites, however, it will take longer to bake, about 45 minutes.
- Gluten free cookies can be used in the crust to make this dessert gluten free.
- Always use ingredients that are at room temperature. Especially when it comes to the cream cheese. If your cream cheese is at room temperature, it’s a lot easier to mix and won’t leave lumps.
Storing Cheesecake
You can store these in the fridge for 3 – 5 days. Just be sure to seal them in an airtight container or wrap them up tightly before popping them in the fridge.
Cooked cheesecake freezes really well, just place the cakes fully cooled and uncovered on a pan in the freezer and allow to freeze entirely. Remove them and wrap fully in plastic wrap and aluminum foil till ready to eat. This method should ensure the cheesecake lasts 3 months.
More Must Try Luscious Desserts:
- Sex in a Pan
- Angel Berry Trifle
- Tres Leches Cake
- Tiramisu Tres Leches Cake
- Cheesecake Recipe
- Easy Tiramisu
- Best Ever Pumpkin Roll
- Chocolate Swiss Roll Cake
Before You Begin! If you make this, please leave a review and rating letting us know how you liked this recipe! This helps our business thrive & continue providing free recipes.
Chocolate Cheesecake Santa Hats
Video
Ingredients
For the Crust
- 1 cup Oreo cookies * (crushed)
- 2 tablespoon butter (unsalted, melted)
For Cheesecake
- 16 ounce cream cheese (at room temperature)
- ⅔ cup brown sugar (packed)
- 2 eggs (at room temperature)
- ¼ cup sour cream
- 1½ teaspoon instant coffee (dissolved in 2 tsp water)
- ¼ teaspoon salt (fine grain)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoon cocoa powder (unsweetened)
- 6 ounce bittersweet chocolate (melted and cooled to just warm)
- 1 cup cool whip (or whipped cream)
- 12 strawberries
Before You Begin! If you make this, please leave a review and rating letting us know how you liked this recipe! This helps our business thrive & continue providing free recipes.
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350℉.
- In a bowl mix together the oreo cookie crumbs with the butter. Divide the mixture equally into each cup in the pan and press down. Bake for 7 minutes. **
- Reduce heat to 300℉.
- Add the cream cheese and brown sugar to the bowl of your mixer and mix until smooth for about 3 minutes. Add the eggs and continue mixing.
- Add the sour cream, instant coffee, salt, vanilla extract, cocoa powder and melted chocolate to the mixer and mix until smooth. Do not over mix since over mixing can cause the cheesecakes to crack.
- Spoon cheesecake batter into each cup and fill to the top. There should be enough batter for all 12 cups. If you have any leftover batter, I usually just bake it in little ramekins, makes for a great dessert.
- Bake for 15 to 18 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and let the cheesecakes cool completely before removing them from the pan. Refrigerate the cheesecakes for a couple hours so that they set properly.
- Top each cheesecake with cool whip. I used a piping bag to pipe the cool whip easier. You could also use a plastic bag instead of a piping bag. Top the cheesecakes with a strawberry then pipe a bit of cool whip on each strawberry tip.
- Refrigerate until ready to serve.
Notes
- * You can sometimes find Oreo baking crumbs in a box, but if you can’t find them use Oreo cookies without the cream inside and just crush them up.
- ** I used my mini cheesecake pan with 12 cups. You can find it here.
- Cooked cheesecake freezes really well, just place the cakes fully cooled and uncovered on a pan in the freezer and allow to freeze entirely. Remove them and wrap fully in plastic wrap and aluminum foil till ready to eat. This method should ensure the cheesecake lasts 3 months.
Nutrition Information
Notice: Nutrition is auto-calculated for your convenience. Where relevant, we recommend using your own nutrition calculations.
