Mini Chocolate Peanut Butter Cheesecakes

Ingredients

1 cup finely crushed chocolate graham crackers (or cookies)
3 tablespoons unsalted butter or margarine, melted
2 (8oz.) packages cream cheese, softened
½ cup peanut butter
⅔ cup granulated sugar + 1 tablespoon
1 tablespoon flour
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
1 (12oz.) bag semi-sweet chocolate chips
½ cup heavy cream
¼ cup finely crushed peanuts (optional)


Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Line a cupcake pan with 12 paper liners.

In a small mixing bowl, mix together the graham cracker (or cookie) crumbs and butter. Press crumbs onto the bottom of the cupcake liners. (The original recipe didn't call for it, but I added 1 tablespoon of sugar to my crushed chocolate graham crackers/butter and then I baked them for 10 minutes before adding the cheesecake. The crust was still a little crumblier than I wanted, so next time I'll use a little more butter and bake for longer!)

In a large mixing bowl, mix together cream cheese, peanut butter, sugar, flour, and vanilla with an electric mixer on medium speed until well combined. Beat in eggs until well combined.

Spoon cheesecake filling onto tops of crusts. Bake at 350 degrees F for 18-22 minutes or until set on top but still soft. Remove from oven and cool completely.

Place chocolate chips and cream in small microwave safe bowl in microwave on high in 30 second intervals, stirring after each interval, until smooth. Spoon the chocolate on top of each cheesecake. Sprinkle nuts on top if desired.

Refrigerate cheesecakes for at least 3 hours or overnight. Store cheesecakes in refrigerator.