Mini Cherry Oreo Cheesecakes

Brayden is ninety-eight weeks old. The corporate-luncheon August 22 is next Tuesday. The Singh-family fall pre-school-year dinner is two weeks out (a small thirty-guest gathering they are hosting before Priya’s son starts at the Sapulpa Montessori daycare in early September). The week has been a steady-prep stretch.

The mini cherry Oreo cheesecakes are a kid-party-style dessert — a single Oreo cookie base in a muffin-tin liner, topped with a small cheesecake batter (cream cheese, sugar, egg, vanilla), baked at three-twenty-five for twenty-two minutes until the cheesecake is set, finished with a spoonful of cherry-pie-filling on top after the cheesecake has cooled. The format is the perfect single-serving dessert that holds its shape in a muffin liner.

The technique question on mini cheesecakes is the cool-down. Cheesecakes (small or large) crack if cooled too quickly. The fix is letting the cheesecakes cool in the oven with the door cracked open for thirty minutes after the bake, then on the counter for an hour before they go into the refrigerator. The cherry-pie-filling topping covers any minor surface-cracks that occur.

Sunday I made twelve mini cheesecakes for a small mom-and-tot-party Tracy Patton is hosting Tuesday. Eight will go to the party. Four are staying at the apartment for our own consumption.

The blog’s small Sunday-publish rhythm continues. The catering business has been the small foreground of the small year’s work. The cookbook in its small online-store. The small recurring-clients (Singh family, Yates family, the corporate-luncheon brokerage) anchor the small reliable-revenue stream. The small one-off-jobs round out the small income.

Carol Bryant has been on the small Friday-call rhythm. Carol calls at five PM Tulsa time (six PM Memphis time). The call lasts twenty minutes. The conversation moves through Brayden, the small Bryant-cookbook collaboration, the small Memphis-news. The small grandmother-relationship continues to deepen.

Prep Time: 20 minutes | Cook Time: 0 minutes | Total Time: 2 hours 20 minutes (includes chilling) | Servings: 12

Ingredients

12 Oreo cookies (1 per cup, kept whole)
12 additional Oreo cookies, crushed (for optional topping)
16 oz cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1 can (21 oz) cherry pie filling
12 paper cupcake liners

Instructions

Prep the cups. Line a standard 12-cup muffin tin with paper cupcake liners. Place one whole Oreo cookie flat in the bottom of each liner to form the crust.
Make the filling. In a large bowl, beat the softened cream cheese and granulated sugar together with a hand mixer on medium speed until smooth and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add the vanilla extract and mix to combine.
Whip the cream. In a separate chilled bowl, beat the heavy whipping cream on high speed until stiff peaks form, about 3–4 minutes.
Fold together. Gently fold the whipped cream into the cream cheese mixture in two additions, using a rubber spatula. Take care not to deflate the whipped cream — stop folding as soon as no streaks remain.
Fill the cups. Spoon or pipe the cheesecake filling evenly over the Oreo bases in each liner, filling each about 3/4 full. Smooth the tops with the back of a spoon.
Chill. Transfer the muffin tin to the refrigerator and chill for at least 2 hours, or until the filling is firm and set.
Top and serve. Just before serving, spoon 2–3 cherries plus a small amount of the cherry pie filling sauce onto the center of each cheesecake cup. Garnish with crushed Oreo crumbles if desired. Serve cold.

Nutrition (per serving)

Mini Cherry Oreo Cheesecakes