Halloween Oreo Cheesecakes

Oreo cookies are a great addition to cheesecake, whether you use them in the crust or chop them up and mix them into the batter. The crisp, chocolaty cookies are a nice textural contrast to the creamy cream cheese base of the cake, and the creme filling of the cookie blends in smoothly and sweetly to the rest of the dessert. I like them in any kind of cheesecake, but when I saw the Halloween Oreos – with their bright orange centers – on the shelves, I knew that they would make a fabulous Halloween-themed cheesecake.

I lined the muffin tin with paper liners and then placed a whole Oreo cookie into each cup to act as the crust of these cheesecakes. Not only does it make for a good, solid base, but you don’t need to spend time fussing with getting graham cracker crumbs into the muffin cups or prebaking crusts and waiting for them to cool. I also chopped up some Oreo cookies and stirred them into the cake batter. The cheesecake itself is very easy and mixes up in one bowl. Just pour it on top of the cookie bases and you’re ready to bake! Once all your ingredients are at room temperature, you can actually have these in the oven in less than 10 minutes.

I took these to a little party recently and they were a huge hit with both adults and kids alike. It was really fun to see faces light up when they bit into the cheesecake and realized that you could see the whole Oreo cookie, complete with bright orange filling, sitting at the base of the cake. The cupcakes travel very well as the cheesecake is relatively firm. Also, since the orange filling isn’t orange flavored, these taste just like cookies n’ cream.

Don’t forget, regular Oreos (or similar brands) of cookies will work well in this recipe, too, and you can always opt for a non-Halloween colored version in the off season.

Halloween Oreo Cheesecakes
1/2 cup sugar
2 8-oz packages plain cream cheese, room temperature
3 large eggs, room temperature
1/2 cup milk
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp all purpose flour
1 1/2 cups chopped Oreo cookies (Halloween colors)
16 whole Oreo cookies (Halloween colors)

Preheat oven to 350F. Line 16 muffin cups with paper liners.
In a large bowl, beat together sugar, cream cheese, eggs, milk and vanilla extract until very smooth. Blend in flour. Stir in chopped Oreo cookies.
Place 1 Oreo in the bottom of each muffin cup. Top with approx. 1/4 cup cheesecake batter.
Bake for 16-19 minutes, until cheesecakes are set. Cool in pan.
Chill cheesecakes before serving for at least 2 hours.

Makes 18.