Chocolate-Covered Cheesecake Squares

By Addie

Satisfy your cheesecake craving with these bite-sized treats. Dipped in chocolate, these sweet, creamy delights are party favorites. But be warned...you won't be able to eat just one! —Esther Neustaefer, La Crete, Alberta

Ingredients

• FILLING:
• 1 cup graham cracker crumbs
• 1/4 cup butter, melted
• ............................
• 2 pkgs. (8 oz) cream cheese softened
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup sour cream
• 2 eggs lightly beaten
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla
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• COATING:
• 24 oz semisweet chocolate, chopped
• 3 Tbs. shortening

Details

Servings 49
Adapted from keyingredient.com

Preparation

Step 1

Line a 9-inch square baking pan with foil and grease the foil. In a small bowl, combine the graham cracker crumbs and butter. Press into a prepared pan; set aside.

In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese, sugar and sour cream until smooth. Add eggs; beat on low speed just until combined. Stir in the vanilla. Pour over crust.

Bake at 325 for 35-40 minutes or until center is almost set. Cool on a wire rack. Refrigerate until chilled. Freeze overnight.

In a microwave melt chocolate and shortening stir until smooth. Cool slightly.

Using foil lift cheesecake out of pan. Gently peel off foil; cut into 49 squares. Remove a few pieces at a time for dipping; keep remaining squares refrigerated until ready to dip.

Using a toothpick, completely dip squares, one at a time, in melted chocolate; allow excess to drip off. Place on waxed paper-lined baking sheets; spoon about 1 tsp. chocolate over each (reheat chocolate if needed to finish dipping)

Let stand for 20 minutes or until set. Store cheesecake squares in an airtight container in the refrigerator or freezer.
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REVIEWS:

I made this recipe following the EXACT instructions and it turned out fantastic! Huge success with my friends and family. I will definitely make this again.

I made these when a group of my husbands friends were coming over one night. I followed the recipe precisely, and they turned out great.The one guy especially raved about them. But they are rather rich, and one or two is about enough at a time.

I made this recipe with my stepdaughter and we both enjoyed making this. All we did is exclude the chopped nuts from the crust. They were very tasty and would make them again! We didn't use toothpicks. We put a cut piece of cheesecake on a fork and tip the sauce pan on its side and just dunk them until they were covered!

Fail! lol. Probably my fault though. You are supposed to freeze it overnight and I tried to cheat and start dipping it in chocolate after about 4 or 5 hours of being in the freezer. I didn't like the nuts in the crust but that was just a personal preference. The chocolate was too thick to coat the cheesecake evenly, dipping the cheesecake with toothpicks didn't work at all.. at least when I gave up my husband couldn't resist eating the cheesecake that I left in the refrigerator. If I did try this again I wouldn't use nuts, and I would change up the chocolate.

I made these for a family potluck and they were a HUGE hit! The entire batch was gone in less than an hour. They weren't super quick and easy to make but they were well worth the time and effort! I used melted chocolate chips instead of the squares and did half semi sweet and half white chocolate. GREAT RECIPE!!!

These are delicious! I used wilton's candy coating instead of melting chocolate chips just because I find it much easier to work with. But if you like cheesecake & chocolate, you can't really go wrong with these.

These were a big hit at a family Christmas dinner!

I made these for a catering for my mother and her church ladies group. They were made ahead and frozen and after thawing were fine. I wasn't sure how to dip quickly so I took an old fork and bent it so I could rest the square on it and submerse it in the chocolate. I used a small soup mug so the chocolate was as deep as possible - and the mug held the heat in so I didn't have to warm up as often. I used a spoon in the other hand to make sure it was completely covered, then presto - out of the chocolate and onto the waxed paper! Incidentally - all but two of the recipes I used for the catering were from Taste of Home (the other were my own) and it turned out GREAT!! Thank you!

I have made this over the last two years and it is a BIG hit, 5 stars plus.

Besides being a little bit time consuming this is a wonderful recipe! A big hit! I left the pecans out since I was making it for a potluck and wasn't sure who was allergic to nuts. It still came out great!

I used a fork and imersed them in the chocolate and then used a spoon to make sure i covered it completely. Then I used a skewer to slide it off the fork and on to wax paper. Since we had very hot weather when i was doing this I put a couple freezer packs in a cake pan and then set my cookie sheet with wax paper on top so that the tray would be cool when I put the cheesecake bites on it. I also dressed them up a bit by melting whit choc chips and used a fork to put squiggles on top. Since I had to make so many or the wedding I also found they froze well and were fine when thawed.

I have been trying these for a couple weeks to get the dipping technique down so I can make them for my son's wedding this week. The family has LOVED them. also made a variation with the rapsberry pastry filling swirled into the cheesecake batter just before baking and that really sets them off nicely. since the wedding is in the summer i did add some gulf wax to my chocolate covering to help reduce melting issues and worked great.

I made them and used chocolate chips instead of the baking chocolate...worked fine. No clumping or crumbling. Maybe the baking time was off.

Great recipe, but I could not get the chocolate to stay on the squares without them falling apart. I tried them frozen & tried cooling the chocolate some what. Even spooning & it made big clumps.