Wednesday, August 20, 2014

Very Cherry Cheesecake Bites

Little bites of cherry cheesecake filled with diced maraschino cherries and crushed graham crackers. These no bake treats are pure bliss!

Cheesecake Bites
Cheesecake bites filled with diced maraschino cherries and hunks of graham cracker crumbs!
These cherry cheesecake bites come to you courtesy of the one cup of graham cracker flour left over from the s'mores scones. A few more ingredients, chilling and rolling time and you too can have little
bites of cheesecake heaven.These baby cheesecake bites are filled with diced maraschino cherries and hunks of graham crackers crumbs. Need I say more?

Now chilling is required here, or you will end up with a goopy puddle of cream cheese/sprinkles/melted chocolate when you try to coat these. It will not be pretty and you will be disappointed. Please do not skip the chilling. If you try to scoop, roll or coat these without the cheesecake filling being cold it will not be productive. It will probably incite some less than socially acceptable language. I'm just guessing here and in no way incinuating that this scenario happened in my kitchen.

After mixing and chilling, I used a tablespoon cookie scoop to get even size bites. I then just dropped them into the coating of choice and gently rolled them around. This saves a step of actually having to roll with your hands and then coat. I coated these with four different toppings: chocolate sprinkles, rainbow sprinkles, crushed chocolate wafer cookies and, my personal favorite, a bar of melted Godiva vanilla bean white chocolate. If using the melted chocolate, just scoop and then dip into the chocolate with a toothpick, making sure chocolate has cooled slightly.

I have to tell you that these were wildly popular amongst friends and family. I have had requests to make more of these. My daughter even called me at work to inform me that a certain store had the Godive chocolate bars on sale. I believe that may have been a hint. I can't wait to hear from you to see what different toppings you used for these. Mix it up and have fun!

Cheesecake Bites
Perfect for a party!
The Walker Fireside Chats



Sustaining the Powers


   Very Cherry Cheesecake Bites

8 Ounces Cream Cheese – Softened to room temperature
1 Cup Finely Crushed Graham Cracker Crumbs
½ Cup Powdered Sugar
2 Tablespoons Maraschino Cherry Juice
2 Tablespoons Diced Maraschino Cherries – About 8 to 10 cherries
½ Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
Assortment of toppings: sprinkles, melted chocolate*, crushed cookies

In a large bowl mix cream cheese and powdered sugar together. Add maraschino cherry juice, diced cherries and vanilla extract, mix well. Add finely ground grahams mixing just until incorporated, there will be some pockets of grahams, this is ok, you want little hunks of grahams in these. Chill for at least two hours. Scoop with tablespoon scoop. Roll or dip in toppings of your choice. Keep refrigerated. May be removed from refrigerator 30 minutes prior to eating or serving if you would like them closer to room temperature.

*I melted my chocolate in a glass bowl in the microwave in 20 second increments, stirring in between. My chocolate was completely melted after three trips to the microwave.

  
©Christy’s Cooking Creations. Please do not use my images without prior consent. Please link back to this post even if recreating and posting this recipe in your own words.



Cheesecake Bites
Hunks of graham and maraschino cherries!

19 comments:

  1. Christy, these so so yummy. Sounds like the perfect treat.

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  2. Thanks for coming and linking up at #The Weekend Social. Please be sure to come back next week starting Thursdays at 9PM EST on KitchenDreaming.com ! I hope to see you there!

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  3. Very nice. Ingredients/recipe and pictures look delicious.

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  4. Oh, these look delish. My daughter would totally want them covered with sprinkles....lol

    Thanks for linking up to Marvelous Monday on Smart Party Planning :-)

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    1. Thank you Catherine. As I was making these I thought they would be perfect for a little girl's birthday party or a baby shower for a baby girl!

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  5. No bake is always good in the summer.

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  6. mmm anything cheesecake gets my attention! These look yummy. Hugs :)

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    1. Thanks Jas, cheesecake is a favorite for my husband and my dad. They love it when I'm in a cheesecake mood!

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  7. I must admit that I like maraschino cherries! I shouldn't because I have seen how they are made, but I still can't resist! Anywho, love the recipe. Thank you!

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    1. Hi Elizabeth, I can't resist them either, just in moderation. Thanks for stopping by!

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  8. This sounds like a great idea to get your cheesecake fix with less work, but delicious results! Thanks for sharing on Hump Day Happenings : )

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    1. Hi Megan, always happy to share at a great party like Hump Day Happenings! They are delicious and hard to resist!

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  9. Hello beautiful! This looks so amazing.Yum! Pinned. Thank you for taking the time to stop by! I hope to see you at our party tonight, it starts at 7 pm. We love to party with you!
    Happy Monday! Lou Lou Girls

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    1. Thanks for pinning and visiting! Love to party with Lou Lou Girls!

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  10. I absolutely love anything with cherries and cheesecake is my second favorite food. I also love how easy these are! I wanted to let you know that I'm going to be featuring these at the Retro Re-pin Party over at Sustaining the Powers tonight at 8pmET. I hope you'll stop by and link with us again!

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    1. Hi Stephanie, cherries and cheesecake are a perfect combo. I am so excited you are featuring these at the Retro Re-Pin Party, a big THANK YOU to you!

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  11. These look delicious! Thanks so much for sharing at Totally Terrific Tuesday! This week's party starts at 10pm tonight. We hope to see you again!

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