Cheesecake mania

I have a penyakit. I have an incurable passion for cheesecakes. Whole cheesecakes. Japanese cheesecakes. No bake cheesecakes. Cheesecake brownies. And the list goes on. If I could own the cheesecake cafe, I would die a very happy person. ^^

This is Samin. She is, truly, one of the most amazing people I’ve met in my entire life. Lucky for me, she has the same undying love for food.

And so, we’ve been on many food adventures together (including gobbling down 20 nuggets each at McDonald’s and samosa chaat at 2am). But the one I remember the most was when I ate THREE SLICES OF CHEESECAKES IN ONE SITTING. Mouth-freaking-gasm.

You guys have gotta try Secret Recipe’s mouthwatering cheesecakes. They even have an awesome tea time special that is….TO DIE FOR. (Ok, by now, I think you can understand the extent of my cheesecake obsession.)

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Those of you who cannot seem to finish even a slice of cheesecake, SHAME ON YOU. No, I’m kidding. But please feel free to let me finish your scraps of food. Being the gracious, good-hearted person that I am, I have come up with a solution for you. Martha Stewart’s Cookies and Cream Cheesecakes!

They are small but sumptuous and incredibly simple to prepare.

For 30 cupcakes,

• 42 Oreo, cream-filled chocolate sandwich cookies, 30 left whole and 12 coarsely chopped
• 2 pounds cream cheese, room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 4 large eggs, room temperature, lightly beaten
• 1 cup sour cream
• Pinch of salt

1. Preheat oven to 275° F.  Line standard muffin tins with paper liners.  Place 1 whole Oreo cookie in the bottom of each lined muffin cup.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment, beat cream cheese on medium-high speed until smooth, scraping down sides of the bowl as needed.  Gradually add the sugar, and beat until combined.  Beat in the vanilla.
3. Drizzle in eggs, a little at a time, beating to combine and scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Add in sour cream and salt, beat to combine.  Using a large spatula, fold in the chopped Oreo cookies.
4. Divide batter evenly among the cookie-filled muffin cups, fill each cup almost to the top.  Bake, rotating muffin tins halfway through, until the filling is set, about 22 to 28 minutes.  Transfer the muffins tins to a wire rack to cool completely.  Refrigerate (in the muffin tins) at least 4 hours (or overnight). Remove from tins just before serving.

If we can bake, so can you! Ours, fresh from the oven:

“If more of us valued food and cheer above hoarded gold, it would be a much merrier world.” – J. R. R. Tolkien