Mini Toffee Popcorn Chocolate Cheesecakes

Popcorn is fun. My kids tell me it is fun with their squeals of delight when I suggest we have a film evening complete with popcorn. We have a popcorn maker which I tend to use because the popping sound it generates when it is working makes me smile and I find it mesmerising watching the recently popped corn spilling out of it.

After reading the previous paragraph I guess you can probably picture the enthusiasm and excitement oozing from my children when I announced that I had an idea for a recipe that included popcorn on top of it.

Now I have had this recipe idea in my head since I started the blog, but I am not a huge fan of cheesecake so I had been putting off making the recipe. That was until I saw Seb inhale a slice of cheesecake at lightning speed at a friend’s house and then I thought it should probably make its way up to the top sooner rather than later. As it happens, we had the grandparents round on Bank Holiday Monday (our front garden is looking a lot less neglected now thank you!) and I thought it would be a good opportunity to try the recipe out and spread the calories around and as a thank you for the manual labour (because essential that is what gardening is) they did. It would have been rude not too, especially when they babysat in the evening too!

Ingredients

Unsurprisingly it was the boys’ choice to include chocolate into these mini cheesecakes you could always omit it if you prefer plain cheesecake. This recipe will make 12 mini cheesecakes.

For the base

• 85g digestive biscuits
• 45g melted butter/margarine
• 1tsp cocoa powder

For the cheesecake

• 325g cream cheese
• 70g caster sugar
• 50g soured cream
• 2 eggs
• 50g grated chocolate (this will give the cheesecakes a speckled appearance)/chocolate chips.

For the popcorn topping

• 40 plain popcorn
• 40g melted butter/margarine
• 2tbsp golden syrup
• 1tbsp dark brown sugar

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 170°c fan.
2. Place the digestive biscuits into a ziplock plastic bag and crush them with a rolling pin. We also used the rolling pin to roll over the bag of biscuits to ensure that they were all reached. You could also use a food processor, but with kids where’s the fun in that?!
3. Put the crushed biscuits into a bowl and add the melted butter and the cocoa powder and mix thoroughly.
4. Put 12 silicone cupcake cases into a muffin tin and evenly distribute the crushed biscuits between them and then gently press down with the back of a spoon.
5. Mix the cream cheese and the sugar together and then add the soured cream and eggs and beat until combined. Add the grated chocolate/chocolate chips and mix again.
6. Divide the mixture between the 12 cupcake cases. This may make a mess, it always does in our house and I really have to fight the urge to step in and take over and correct when they are doing their best.
7. Put the cheesecakes in the oven for 10 minutes.
8. Meanwhile melt the butter, golden syrup and brown sugar in a saucepan over a low heat. When they have melted add the popcorn and stir until the popcorn is fully coated in the mixture.
9. Remove the cheesecakes from the oven and put some popcorn on each one and return to the oven for another 10-15 minutes until they are set and springy to the touch.
10. Remove the cheesecakes from the oven and cool in the tin. Then place in the fridge before removing from the silicone cupcake cases. I have found it is easier to remove them without casualties once they have been in the fridge for a little bit.

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