Friday, December 8, 2017

Little Mocha Oreo Cheesecakes

I used my husband's birthday to make little individual cheesecakes.  He does like cheesecake, but I'm not sure how he feels about Oreos.  I can tell you the children love Oreos, but I don't necessarily. However, these little cheesecakes turned out quite delicious.

My in-laws gave us a package of Oreos some time back, and I stuck it in the back of the pantry because why.  Because I don't buy Oreos, and I don't know how to just hand out Oreos to a hungry kid?  Because Oreos are boring?  But if I use Oreos as an ingredient, nay, as a crust for a little mini cheesecake?  Now that's more enticing.

When I was buying my two blocks of cream cheese at market, I mentioned to the friendly girl who tells me about her new puppy that I was planning to make these little cheesecakes.  She immediately remembered her mom making such cheesecakes, but mocha flavor.  I took note.


I can't even link to the recipe I used because I combined several traditional recipes after googling "individual Oreo cheesecakes."  And no way was I going to crush up Oreos and bake them with butter first to make a crust - people, please, I have a toddler who was thrilled to drop whole Oreos in the bottom of the muffin papers, taking bites occasionally while saying in her serious, sweet voice, "We are not eating dem - we are just putting dem in dere."



I divided the cheesecake batter in half.  To one half, I added a hefty teaspoon of instant decaf espresso powder.  To the other half, I added crushed Oreos.  Then I layered each batter on top of the Oreos in the muffin cups. Bake them, chill them, done.


Now I have a whole bag of little candy canes that my children picked off the ground at the park one night in somebody's terribly misbegotten idea of a fun holiday activity for children.  My children know me well enough to know they were never going to eat more than a few, but what in heaven's name do I do with all these boring, plastic-wrapped stupid candy canes? 

13 comments:

Jennifer Jo said...

White chocolate peppermint bark!

kay saylor said...

Exactly what I was going to suggest......and give packages away as gifts. Get's it out of your house for good that way.

Tammy said...

Those cheesecakes look like a fun dessert! I had some once that were done with a Nilla Wafer as the crust.

I was going to suggest peppermint bark. I saw a YouTube video today where it was 12 oz. melted chocolate chips with 1 tsp. peppermint extract stirred in, with the crushed candy canes on top.

Megan said...

Peppermint bark with those candy canes! There's a great recipe on Orangette.

Lisa said...

Crush them up and use them inside of cookies, topping on frosted cakes, etc. Put some in your hot cocoa. Or, you could stir them into hot cocoa if you like mint. Good job with the cheesecakes! (what a dumb thing to leave dozens of candy canes lying about)

Polly said...

Joining the chorus of peppermint bark.

And I love Phoebe!!

AP said...

I would just throw the candy canes away - not my favorite flavor, and not really nutritionally worth anything! Maybe save a couple for bribery during haircut time or something.

Lana said...

We do cookie plates for the neighbors and if I had all those candy canes I would add a handful to each plate. Nothing that I have ever made with them has gotten eaten so it is a waste to add other ingredients to them. Or since you live on a city street put them out on the doorstep with a Merry Christmas please take one sign.

Kate said...

Yum! We make brownies with crushed candy canes in them around Christmas.

Becky said...

Yes to peppermint bark. (it's what I do with lingering candy canes come January)

The pictures of your family are adorable. The cheesecakes sound fantastic. and oreos are my weakness. The birthday cake flavor, which I admittedly scoffed at, have just enough sugar in them to make them completely addictive.

jenny_o said...

Food bank?

The cheesecakes look delicious!

Hazel said...

I'd suggest gifts too- peppermint bark as mentioned or in packages with hot chocolate on a stick or something- but you could use some for some science experiments too. Google candy cane science and there are lots o suggestions- changing shape and dissolving them Might be fun?!

BLD in MT said...

My dad buys us Oreos (for me) and Nutterbutters (for Matt) when he comes to visit. It is sweet, since they were our favorites at one point long ago. We don't eat that stuff much these days though and a little goes a long way...so I bring it to the college and let the students have at it.

Great birthday photo of the hubby, too. I love the expression on his face, the whole scene really. I hope he had an extra special day.