Mini Cherry Oreo Cheesecakes

Paper valentines became popular in the early 19th century and fancy ones were made with real lace and ribbons in England. Valentine greetings were popular as far back as the Middle Ages when lovers sang or said their valentines. The oldest valentine in existence from 1400's can be found in the British Museum.

Ester Howland was an American printer and artist and the first one to produce valentines in the U.S.in 1850. From that day on the valentine greeting cards business has taken off.

Valentine's Day is big business for greeting cards and candy sales. An all time high in 2016 with 19.7 billion spent. The following figures were staggering

• In the US 10 million e-valentines
• 145 million valentines sent in US with the holiday second to Christmas cards
• World-wide some 1 billion cards are sent 
• World-wide 5 billion roses are given on Valentine's Day
• 73% of people who buy flowers are men
• 15% women send flowers to themselves
• 35 million heart shaped boxes of chocolate sold
• Over 1 billion worth of chocolate sold for Valentine's Day

Even Charlie Brown and Snoopy are busy sending off their valentines. 

And Ever Ready was busy making a Valentine dessert to share with you 

Mini Cherry Oreo Cheesecakes 

Cook's Notes: There are so many things to love about this dessert on several levels. It's festive, delicious, easy to make and a perfect size when a small bite will do. Oreo cookies, with cream cheese and cherry sauce are a heavenly match. I used a jarred sauce rather than  sauce from a can. Recipe makes 9 small bites and the ingredients can easily be doubled for more bites. Thanks to Averie at www.averiecooks.com for this sweet treat. 

Cooking Tip: Use a 1/4 cup measuring cup to add batter to each cupcake liner.

Ingredients:

• 9 Oreo cookies, whole do not separate layers
• 1-8 oz. package cream cheese, softened 
• 1 large egg
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1-1/4 tsp. almond extract 
• 4 TB jarred cherry fruit sauce 
• Garnish-crumbled almonds

Directions: 

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin tin with paper liners. Place an Oreo cookie in bottom of each paper liner.
• In a bowl add cream cheese, egg, extract, sugar and beat on high until smooth, about 3 minutes.  
• Add in 4 tablespoons of cherry sauce, stir by hand to combine. Fill paper liners 3/4 full.
• Bake 25-28 minutes. When done the mini cheesecakes will be domed, puffy and a little bit jiggly in the center. They will fall and firm up as they cool.

• After they have cooled peel away the paper and refrigerate until serving. Add the cherry topping just prior to serving. Sprinkle almonds on top.