Martha Stewart's Cookies & Cream Cheesecakes

Today, I had a mother/daughter scrapbooking day with a close friend from church. Of course, scrapbooking can be hard work so food must be incorporated into the day to keep the energy up. I was in charge of bringing dessert and since I have been in the mood for trying new things, I thought I would give this recipe a go. I am not a huge cheesecake fan, but really liked how these mini cakes turned out. The recipe makes approximately 30 mini cakes and I even had some batter leftover to make more. I plan on making these cakes at our annual Christmas party this year because it is something easy to prepare the night before.

Ingredients:

42 Oreo cookies, 30 left whole & 12 coarsely chopped

2 pounds cream cheese, room temperature

1 cup sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

4 large eggs, lightly beaten

1 cup sour cream

pinch of salt

Ingredients in a nutshell.

Preheat oven to 275 degrees. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners.

Place 1 whole cookie in bottom of each lined cup.

With an electric mixer on medium high speed, beat cream cheese until smooth, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. On a side note, I really like this picture. It must be the angle of the camera or how it focuses on the mixer instead of the batter. I could see this as possible kitchen wall decoration.... hmmmm now that's an interesting idea.

Gradually add sugar...

... and beat until combined.

Beat in vanilla.

Drizzle in eggs, a bit at a time, beating to combine and scraping down sides of the bowl as needed.

Beat in sour cream and salt.

Stir in chopped cookies by hand. I didn't actually chop the cookies. I places them in a sandwich bag and crushed them against the counter top.

Divide batter evenly among cookie-lined cups, filling each almost to the top.

Bake, rotating pan halfway through, until filling is set (about 22 minutes).

Transfer to wire racks to cool completely. Refrigerate at least 4 hours and up to overnight.

Bon Appetit!