A Tale of Two (Mini) Cheesecakes.

The story starts off like this…. for Mother’s Day, Daddy, my father that  lives in New York sent me a Mother’s Day card along with a check to buy myself a gift.  With that no guilt money I bought this mini cheesecake pan which I had been lusting over for sometime.  (btw, it’s now even cheaper!)  I’m happy to say that I actually used it the very same day I received it in the mail.  Wondering what recipe to make and excitedly opening the package I found a cheesecake recipe printed right on the side box.  Not only was it a recipe made to use with this particular pan it turned out to be a very good recipe.  The recipe came together very quickly and with no trouble at all.  The most troublesome part is the waiting.  Wait for the cream cheese to soften.  Wait for the cheesecakes to chill. 

NorPro Mini Cheesecakes

Ingredients

• 1 (12 oz) package of vanilla wafers or favorite cookie (I used oreos)
• 2 (8 oz) packages of cream cheese, softened
• 3/4 C. white sugar
• 2 eggs, room temp
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract (I also added a splash of almond & didn’t quite add the full amt of vanilla)

Directions

Preheat oven to 35o.  Lightly grease tins.  Crush cookies (I added a couple of TB of melted butter to help in bind it together.) and even place crushed cookies into each tin.  In a mixing bowl, beat cream cheese, sugar, eggs and vanilla until light and fluffy.  Fill each tin with the cream cheese mixture, almost to the top.  Bake for 15 mins.  Cool.  (The recipe does not say anything about chilling it in the fridge for a few hours but that’s kind of a no brainer.) 

 

Jumping forward to few weeks ago, I saw these mini cookies and cream cheesecakes on Bake or Break. Unknowingly at the very same time I spied them, Monica at Lick the Bowl Good had as well.  During the course of the week Monica and I found out that we each had intentions of baking said cheesecakes that coming weekend.  Without really verbalizing it we decided to bake these “together”.  She actually made hers earlier in the weekend and sent me along an email with some tips and I with her helpful tips in mind made my minis on Sunday night.  Please, go and hop over to check hers out.  Her photos are stellar and I know they’ll do the recipe justice.   Monica has also been very patiently waiting for me to get my butt in gear and post this!

Cookies and Cream Mini Cheesecakes **

• 42 Oreos, 30 left whole and 12 coarsely chopped
• 2 pounds cream cheese, softened
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 4 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 cup sour cream
• pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 275°. Line standard muffin pans with liners. Place 1 whole cookie in the bottom of each liner.

Beat cream cheese at medium speed using an electric mixer. Gradually sugar, beating until combined. Beat in vanilla.

Drizzle in eggs, a bit at a time. Beat in sour cream and salt. Stir in chopped cookies.

Divide batter among pans. Bake for about 22 minutes or until filling is set.

Cool completely on wire racks. Refrigerate 4 hours or overnight. Remove from pans just before serving.

Makes 30 cheesecakes

**The only change I made was to use my mini cheesecake pan along with my muffin pan.  With the smaller pan I adjusted the bake time and watched closely for that just set look. I ended up with twelve mini cheesecakes and six standard muffin size ones.  In an email to me Monica mentioned that her cheesecakes shrunk a bit and suggested filling the batter to the top as opposed to 3/4 of the way.  I filled mine to the tippy tippy top and had no incidents of shrinkage with either pan.

This tale isn’t over as I foresee more mini cheesecakes in my future and I’m going to try using my pan for other desserts as well. 

*Note>>>Miss Karolyn took the photos of my oreo cheesecakes.

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