Luis' Birthday Cheesecakes

October 6th was Luis' Birthday and I asked him to name some flavors so I could come up with his birthday cupcakes... he listed "cheesecake, Oreos, Reeses peanut butter cups, and chocolate". I didn't want to make one large cheese cake so I turned to the internet for some help. After a little research I discovered that mini Oreo cheesecakes are pretty common so I took that recipe and expanded it.

 Luis enjoying an Oreo Cheesecake Cupcake

I used Cookies and Cream Cheesecake Cupcakes From Martha Stewart's Cupcakes as my base but the recipe below is exactly how I made it.

(Makes about 24 regular cupcakes and 10 mini cupcakes)

Ingredients:

• 30 cream-filled sandwich cookies, such as Oreos (I used double stuffed chocolate filled Oreos), 24 left whole, and 6 coarsely chopped as well as 20 mini oreos coarsely chopped.
• 2 pounds cream cheese, room temperature (4 packages)
• 1 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 4 large eggs, room temperature, lightly beaten
• 1 cup sour cream
• Pinch of salt

1. Preheat oven to 275 degrees. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners. Place 1 whole cookie in the bottom of each lined cup.

2. 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.

3. 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.

4. Divide batter evenly among cookie-lined cups, filling each almost to the top. Bake, rotating pan halfway through, until filling is set, about 22-26 minutes. Transfer to wire racks to cool completely. Refrigerate at least 4 hours (or up to overnight). Remove from tins just before serving.

 I have never made cheesecake before so the baking process was very confusing to me. Even after 22 minutes of baking they still look exactly the same as when they went in. I left them in for a few more minutes and then took them out. For anyone who has never made cheesecake before don't worry about how it looks they become more solid after the hours in the fridge. Between 22-26 minutes is plenty of time for the regular size cupcakes.

Everyone enjoyed the original Oreo Cheesecakes so much (and ate them so quickly) that I decided to make more! A lot more!

This time I used all the flavors Luis has mentioned. I made 12 regular Oreo Cheesecake Cupcakes, 12 Peanut Butter Cup Cheesecake Cupcakes, and 12 Chocolate Cheesecake Cupcakes. With the left over batter I made a mix of mini cheesecake flavors.

Ingredients:

• 3 pounds cream cheese, room temperature (6 packages)
• 1 3/4 cup sugar
• 11/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 6 large eggs, room temperature, lightly beaten
• 11/2  cup sour cream
• Pinch of salt
  
  
• 12 “Double Stuf Chocolate Oreos” left whole, and 3 coarsely chopped as well as 15 mini Oreos coarsely chopped.
• 12 “Peanut Butter Chunky Chips Ahoy!” Cookies
• 5 chopped peanut butter cups
• 1 (3.5 oz. or more) 70% dark chocolate bar, coarsely chopped.
• ¼ cup cocoa powder
  
  

1. Preheat oven to 275 degrees. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners. Place 1 whole cookie (12 Oreos and 12 Chips Ahoy!) in the bottom of each lined cup.

2. 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.

3. 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.

4. Divide batter into 3 equal portions. Stir in chopped Oreos in one portion by hand and stir chopped peanut butter cups in the second portion by hand.

5. Divide batter evenly among cookie-lined cups, filling each almost to the top. Bake, rotating pan halfway through, until filling is set, about 22-26 minutes. Transfer to wire racks to cool completely. Refrigerate at least 4 hours (or up to overnight). Remove from tins just before serving. 

6. While the first 2 trays are baking place chopped dark chocolate in microwave save bowl for a minute and 30 seconds then stir until completely melted. Add cocoa powder to the melted chocolate.

7. Add chocolate mixture into the remaining cheesecake batter and stir until completely combined.

8. Place any type of cookie you chose in the bottom of 12 more cupcake liners, I chose 6 Oreo’s and 6 Chips Ahoy! cookies. Once again divide batter evenly among cookie-lined cups, filling each almost to the top. Bake, rotating pan halfway through, until filling is set, about 22-26 minutes. Transfer to wire racks to cool completely. Refrigerate at least 4 hours (or up to overnight). Remove from tins just before serving.

Tip: For any remaining batter make minis! I chose to make some individual flavored minis and some swirls and they came out great. Follow the same instructions just bake for around 12-15 minutes instead. 

 Oreo Cheesecake Cupcakes

 

Peanut Butter Cup Cheesecake

 

 

 

Chocolate Cheesecake Cupcakes

 

Mini Variations

 

As a last note:
Happy Birthday Luis Samuel!
I hope your birthday was amazing because you deserve it. Six Birthdays spent together and hopefully MILLIONS more! I love you soooo much and PLEASE do not eat all these cheesecakes at once ;)
Love,
Katie <3