Strawberry White Chocolate Cheesecake Bites

This recipe is for 24 mini cheesecakes.

(Adapted from this recipe from www.thatskinnychickcanbake.com)

Ingredients

Crust:

• 2 tbsp butter (melted)
• 2 tsp fine sugar
• 3/8 cup graham cracker crumbs
• pinch of salt (NOTE: omit the salt if you’re using salted butter)

Filling:

• 1 pkg cream cheese (softened)
• 1/4 cup fine sugar
• 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 tbsp white chocolate chips (melted)
• 1 large egg

Topping:

• 1/4 cup white chocolate chips (melted)
• 24 fresh strawberry slices

Directions

1. Line a mini cupcake pan and preheat oven at 315°F
2. In a small bowl, mix cracker crumbs, butter, sugar, and salt to make the crust. Spoon about 1 tsp of crust into each cupcake liner.
3. In a medium bowl, beat cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla with a handmixer on low speed until blended. Don’t overbeat the mixture.
4. Add the egg to the mixture and beat on low speed until blended.
5. Slowly pour the melted chocolate into the mixture and beat on low speed until blended. Scrape along the side of the bowl to ensure that the ingredients are blended well.
6. Pour the mixture over the crust, distributing evenly among the cupcake liners.
7. Bake for about 16 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through.
8. Let the cheesecakes cool before adding the toppings. Pour a few drops of melted chocolate on top of each cheesecake, and then add a slice of strawberry on top.
9. Refrigerate before serving. (Or freeze the cheesecakes if you don’t plan on serving them within the next 2 or 3 days.)

Pistachio White Chocolate Icing

This icing is to die for! I just want to eat all of it by myself.

peeled pistachios

white choco chips

mixing icing

perfect macaron

(This recipe makes enough icing for 3 cupcakes or for a batch of french macarons.)

Ingredients

•  1/2 cup icing sugar
• 2 tbsp butter (room temperature)
• 2 heaped tbsp white chocolate chips
• 2 tsp milk
• 1 1/2 tbsp ground pistachios

Directions

1. Cream butter and icing sugar in a small bowl.
2. In a microwave-safe bowl, melt the chocolate chips.
3. Add the melted chocolate to the butter and sugar and mix well.
4. Add the milk to the mixture and mix well.
5. Fold in the pistachios.

~

If you find that the icing is still really thick, add another 1/2 tsp of milk.

Low fat pineapple orange cupcake recipe

I ♥ mini cupcakes. They’re just the right amount of sweetness and, well, don’t you think they’re cute?

Low fat pineapple orange cupcakes

(yields 24 mini cupcakes)

Cupcakes:

• 2/3 cup flour
• 2/3 cup brown sugar
• 1 tsp baking powder
• pinch of salt
• 1 large egg
• 1/3 cup milk
• 1/3 cup canned pineapple – crushed and drained
• 1/3 cup orange juice
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract
• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Icing:

• 1/4 cup whipping cream
• 3/4 cup icing sugar
• 2 tbsp canned pineapple – also crushed and drained
• 1 tsp orange zest

–

Let’s get baking:

1. Preheat oven to 325°F. Line a mini cupcakes pan with two dozen mini cupcake liners.
2. In a large bowl, mix all the dry ingredients together.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk the egg first and then whisk in the other wet ingredients.
4. Create a well in the dry ingredients, then slowly pour and stir the wet ingredients in. Mix well.
5. Pour the mixture evenly into the cupcake liners.
6. Bake cupcakes for about 10 minutes, rotate the pan and then bake for another 10 minutes. Test the cupcakes by inserting a toothpick in the center. The cupcakes are ready when the toothpick comes out clean. Remove cupcakes from the oven and allow them to cool in room temperature for about 20 minutes.

Preparing the icing:

1. In a medium bowl, beat whipping cream until stiff peaks form.
2. Stir crushed pineapple into the cream. (NOTE: Ensure that you’ve drained out the juice from the pineapple as much as possible.)
3. Stir orange zest into the cream. (I like using a cheese grater to make orange zest, but there are other ways to do so.)
4. Add icing sugar to the cream and mix well.
5. Refrigerate the icing for about 30 minutes before adding on top of cupcakes.

 

Low fat strawberry chocolate cupcake recipe

Baking is one of my favourite hobbies. Sadly, not everyone wants to eat my baked goods because they’re worried about their health (tsk tsk). 🙂 From my several years of baking experience, I’ve found that there are lots of unhealthy ingredients used in baking that can be easily substituted with healthier alternatives and they still taste good.

For instance, butter used in cakes and cookies can be substituted with unsweetened applesauce in many cases.

Another great example: most pie recipes tell you to mix butter or oil with cookie crumbs to make pie crust. Eww. Try using 1 to 2 egg whites with cookie crumbs instead. (Seriously, it still tastes great and you don’t get the nasty pool of grease that oozes out from the crust after it has been baked.)

Below is a recipe that I’ve used recently. It’s a combination of a few recipes that I’ve collected over the years and I’ve add some of my own personal tweaks here and there.

Enjoy!

Low fat strawberry chocolate cupcakes

(makes a dozen cupcakes)

Cupcake:

• 1 cup flour (can use whole wheat)
• 1 cup sugar (can use brown sugar)
• 1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 1/2 cup skimmed milk
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 medium egg
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp baking powder
• pinch of salt

Icing:

• 1/2 cup whipping cream
• 3 fresh strawberries
• ~ 1/2 cup icing sugar
• Optional: a dab of cream cheese if you want to make a Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting

It’s baking time!

1. Preheat oven to 325°F. Line a cupcake pan with a dozen cupcake liners.
2. In a large bowl, mix all the dry ingredients together.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk the egg first and then whisk in the other wet ingredients.
4. Create a well in the dry ingredients, then slowly pour and stir the wet ingredients in. Mix well.
5. Pour the mixture evenly into the cupcake liners.
6. Bake cupcakes for about 10 minutes, rotate the pan and then bake for another 10 minutes. Test the cupcakes by inserting a toothpick in the center. The cupcakes are ready when the toothpick comes out clean. Remove cupcakes from the oven and allow them to cool in room temperature for about 20 minutes.

Now to prepare the icing. 🙂

1. In a medium bowl, beat whipping cream until light and fluffy.
2. Puree strawberries and stir them in with the cream.
3. Gradually stir in icing sugar to thicken the cream.
4. Optional step: You can add a dab of softened (room temp) cream cheese.
5. Refrigerate the icing for about 1/2 an hour before adding on top of cupcakes.

There’s more!

You can add half a fresh strawberry on top of each cupcake to make them look fancy too.