Mini Oreo Cheesecakes

I'm always coming across recipes and thinking how perfect they would be for people in my life but then their birthday comes around and I struggle to remember which winning dish I was going to make for them. Well yesterday was one of my *little* brother's birthdays and I remembered the winning recipe. Oreo cheesecakes! My brother loves cheesecake, enjoys an Oreo or two and I love making clever little things that I haven't tried before. So it was a winner before it even began. 

Mini Oreo cheesecakes with the standard size ones behind

This recipe was simple and worked really well. The result was delicious (birthday boy's opinion not just my own!). I'm so glad it did as my brother has been extra important this year. After Leo was born in April, he popped in nearly every day to cuddle Leo and say hi. It was so good to have his company when I was getting used to being home with a baby. Not to mention how good it was to know that he was happy to hang out with Leo for a few minutes if there was something I needed to get done. That certainly deserves a special recipe in my book. 

Oreo Cheesecakes 

Source: 3 Square Chef. Originally from Martha Stewart Cupcakes.
Makes 15

21 Oreos, 15 left whole, and 6 coarsely chopped (or you can use a combination of mini Oreos and standard size ones like I did. I made 12 standard and about 20 mini)
450 grams cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 cup caster sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla bean paste (or vanilla essence)
2 large eggs, room temperature, lightly beaten
1/2 cup sour cream
Pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 135 celsius. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners. Use mini muffin tins if you are using the mini Oreos. Spray liners with non-stick spray. Place 1 whole cookie in the 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. Gradually add sugar, and beat until combined. Beat in vanilla. Drizzle in eggs, a bit at a time, beating to combine and scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Beat in sour cream and salt. Stir in chopped cookies by hand.

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. The mini ones take less cooking, about 15 minutes. Transfer to wire racks to cool completely. Refrigerate at least 4 hours (or up to overnight). Remove from tins just before serving.

Note: the standard size cheesecakes look great turned onto a plate for serving. The mini size are tiny bite size cheesecakes and they don't look as neat when turned out of the paper liner. I recommend baking in thin white liners so you can see the Oreo through the bottom when served in the liner. Unfortunately, I only had mini brown liners at home and I couldn't see the Oreo imprint through it. 

* Disclaimer. My brother is 24, not that little really, but once a little brother, always a little brother. Right?!

Free Mini Blueberry and Maple Cheesecakes = happiness

Regular readers will know that I work hard to focus on the little things in life that make my heart sing. It's my way of appreciating the good things happening in life right now rather than thinking I'll be happy when I get a pay rise, or when I'm waif thin or when I'm rich and famous. Waiting to be happy in that way could be the longest wait of all, so I try banish those thoughts and enjoy the journey.

In the past year, a free cookbook has made my heart sing on several occasions and now a volume 2 has now been released. It's possible that I liked it at first because it was free but now that I've tried and tested lots of recipes from the first book, I know it must be the creamy Philly that is slipped into every recipe that gets my tastebuds going and has me thinking happy thoughts. The book is kind of a sneaky sales ploy, but I've let that slide because of the beautiful layout and the reliable recipes. I can always make the recipes using a different brand of cream cheese if I'm feeling defiant :) To get your own copy of Simply Heaven Volume 2, buy any three Philadelphia products in one transaction from Coles while stocks last. Go to the website for details.

I'm yet to make anything from Volume 2, but I've enjoyed a tomato, broad bean and asparagus salad from Volume 1 plus Spanish style chorizo pizza with homemade base, Mediterranean meatballs with couscous, chargrilled lamb with cream cheese polenta (see previous post), mini blueberry and maple cheesecakes and who could forget the white chocolate and hazelnut ball (also shared in a previous post). I'm looking forward to making the Moroccan lamb backstraps with garlic cream and chickpea salad, the sweet potato gnocchi with sage and garlic, the sweet polenta hotcakes and the pizzas to name a few eye-catching concoctions from Volume 2.


It's never any fun being the only happy thing on the block, so today I am sharing another of the tried and true recipes from Simply Heaven Volume 1. I decided to make these mini cheesecakes even smaller by using mini muffin tins and they worked well. The size ended up being a perfect, simple solution when bringing a dessert to share at a large function. I could make them the day before and they went a long way, but best of all, they didn't take up a lot of room on my dessert plate so I could sample lots of other delights. When there are multiple desserts on offer, I like to try a little of everything and I know I'm not alone! Enjoy everything in moderation :)

Mini Blueberry and Maple Cheesecakes

2 cups sweet biscuit crumbs
100g butter, melted

375g Philadelphia block cream cheese, softened
½ cup caster sugar
3 eggs
½ cup sour cream
¼ cup pure maple syrup
150g blueberries, fresh or frozen

Icing sugar, for dusting
Extra blueberries, to serve

1. Combine biscuit crumbs and butter. Press into the base of 12 x 1/3 cup capacity greased and lined muffin pans (I also used mini muffin pans so the mixture went a lot further and more pans were required). Chill.

2. Beat the cream cheese and sugar using an electric mixer until smooth. Add the eggs, sour cream and maple syrup and beat until well combined.

3. Pour the mixture into prepared pans and sprinkle over blueberries. Bake in a moderately slow oven 160°C for 35 minutes. Allow to cool in pans before removing. Place onto serving plates, dust with icing sugar and serve with extra blueberries. Serve warm or chilled.

Source: Simply Heaven - 75 irresistible savoury and sweet PHILADELPHIA recipes for all occasions.