Thanksgiving Recipe #4 - Gingerbread Cheesecake Bites

Happy Thanksgiving everybody! I hope that you have all made your way back from your Thanksgiving-eve events and are now in the safety and comfort of your home, relaxing while your gracious mother/grandmother/savior-from-heaven prepares the regal feast that is Thanksgiving dinner.

If you need a VERY last minute dessert to bring to your relatives, I have got the one for you. This recipe will also be great at any upcoming Christmas parties, so keep it in your back pocket when looking for a quick, and easy idea!

You will need:

1 large log of Pillsbury Gingerbread sugar cookie dough (30 oz)
1 package of cream cheese
2 cups of powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
mini muffin pan
mini muffin liners
small ziploc bag or piping bag

Start out by preheating your oven to 350 and lining your mini muffin pan with the mini muffin liners.

Next take 2 tablespoons of dough and rolling it into a ball with your hands. Place the ball into the mini muffin liner. Continue this process until you have all of your liners filled.

Shout out to my assistant, Chef Alex! 

Next, taking the back end of a spoon handle, create indents in the gingerbread dough by gently pushing down in the center of each ball. Dipping your handle in flour helps keep the dough from sticking to the spoon.

In a small bowl, mix your cream cheese, powdered sugar, and vanilla extract until creamy. You may need to add a little more powdered sugar to get a good consistency. Letting your cream cheese come to room temperature makes mixing a lot easier! 

Put the cream cheese mixture into a piping bag or use a small ziploc baggie to create a homemade piping bag. Cut of the corner to create an opening.

Pipe the cream cheese mixture into the indents you made in the gingerbread dough. Be careful to not overfill, as the filling rises a bit in the oven. 

Bake your gingerbread cheesecake bites at 350 degrees for 9 minutes. Let cool for about 10-15 minutes before removing them from the pan. They will still be very soft when you take them out of the oven, but while they cool they will come together.

These things could not be easier to make and they are very tasty! I brought them to Friendsgiving and they were a hit! I also noticed that Pillsbury makes a peppermint cookie dough and I want to try to make a variation of these using a chocolate cheesecake filling and peppermint dough. I promise to follow up if I get a chance to do that!

I hope you all have a great day with family and friends! I am very thankful for all of the support this blog receives and it is so great to hear that you guys are trying out some of the recipes I post. I really enjoy cooking, baking and sharing my experiences with you all and I am truly looking forward to the future blog posts!