Three years after I made it, I still think about this Cherry Chip Cake all the time. Some combination of nostalgia for the boxed cake mix from when I was little, plus the colour, plus the fact that it’s just totally delicious, means I dream about it on fairly regular basis.

Enter these Mini Cherry Almond Cheesecakes that I saw on Life, Love & Sugar at the end of January. I sent the link to Danielle right away (she’s a fellow Cherry Chip enthusiast) and I knew they would be at the top of my Valentine’s Day baking list this year.

They turned out to even better than I dreamed! Graham cracker crust, almond flavoured cheesecake filling with little cherry bits, and cherry whipped cream on the top! WHAT! So amazing.

My other Valentine’s tradition is to make heart shaped sugar cookies, and this year I tried a new recipe from Sally’s Baking Addiction that was A+. I made them nice and thick and loved the way they turned out!

Mini Cherry Chip Cheesecakes

Source: Life, Love & Sugar

Ingredients

Crust

• 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter
• 1 cup graham cracker crumbs
• 2 tbsp sugar

Cheesecake Filling

• 12 oz cream cheese (1 1/2 blocks), room temperature
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 3 tbsp flour
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1 1/2 tsp almond extract
• 2 eggs
• 3/4 cup chopped maraschino cherries

Cherry Whipped Cream

• 1/2 cup whipping cream
• 5 tbsp icing sugar
• 2 tbsp maraschino cherry juice

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325° and place cupcake liners in a cupcake pan (you’ll get about 16).
2. Place the butter in a medium microwave safe bowl, and heat until melted. Stir in the graham cracker crumbs and sugar with a fork, and mix until everything is combined. Divide the mixture between the cupcake liners, adding roughly 1 tbsp to each one. Press into an even layer with your thumb or a spoon. Bake for 5 minutes and set aside while you make the filling. Reduce oven to 300°.
3. For the filling, add the cream cheese, sugar and flour to a large bowl and mix on low speed until combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, and add the sour cream and almond extract and mix again. Mix in the eggs until well combined, then gently fold in the chopped cherries. Add the mixture on top of the graham cracker crusts and smooth a little bit with the back of a spoon or offset spatula.
4. Bake for 20 minutes, then turn off the oven and let the cheesecakes sit inside for 10 minutes. Crack the oven door, and let the cheesecakes sit inside for another 20 minutes (all these steps are to prevent cracking on top of the cheesecakes. Kind of unnecessary when you’re going to cover them in whipped cream anyway, but I still went with it). Remove from oven, take the cheesecakes out of the pan, and let finish cooling on a wire rack in the fridge.
5. To make the cherry whipped cream, add the whipping cream, icing sugar and cherry juice to a large bowl, and whip until stiff peaks form. Pipe onto each mini cheesecake, adding sprinkles and/or a cherry for garnish! Keep in the fridge until ready to serve.