Cookies and Cream Cheesecake Cupcakes with Homemade Oreos

Katie
I wish for a lot of things.

I wish we could have snow days every day.

I wish Every Degrassi Ever marathons weren't just for weekends in the month of January, but happened every day. Every month. All year.

I wish Biology came naturally to me, and studying wasn't so necessary.

I wish I could pass level 3-30 on Angry Birds.

But most importantly, I wish I could eat one of these cupcakes anytime I wanted. A breakfast cheesecake - why not? And maybe when I'm feeling a little peckish later in the afternoon, too. Then of course there would be the pre- and post-dinner cupcakes and the midnight snack. Yum.

Making these was no easy feat, but maybe that's because I decided to do things the hard (lazy) way and instead of walking to the nearby gas station to buy a pack of Oreos, I made my own. Well, sort of. I didn't bother with the cream filling nonsense but it was still an adventure, making sure the cookies were just big enough to fit inside of a cupcake cup and estimating how much I'd need for chopping and adding to the batter later.

And because this was my first time making cheesecake, I was a little worried. But it turns out that cheesecake is both ridiculously simple to make and ridiculously delicious in cupcake form. Fact.

So whether you're wishing for something satisfying during the cold winter months, or a treat you want to wish you were eating all the time, try one of these. And then go play Angry Birds, because someone has to kill those little green pigs and it sure as heck isn't me.

Martha Stewart's Cookies and Cream Cheesecakes
Adapted from 52 Cupcakes
Makes 30
For the Batter:

• 42 cream-filled sandwich cookies, such as Oreos, 30 left whole, and 12 coarsely chopped
• 2 pounds cream cheese, room temperature
• 1 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 minutes. Transfer to wire racks to cool completely. Refrigerate at least 4 hours (or up to overnight). Remove from tins just before serving.


Homemade Oreo Cookies
Adapted from Cupcake Project, which got it from multiple other sources.

• 1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons butter, room temperature
  
• 1 large egg
  

1. In a medium-sized bowl, mix the flour, cocoa, baking soda and powder, salt, and sugar.
2. Beat in the butter and the egg. Continue mixing until dough comes together in a mass.
3. Take rounded teaspoons of batter and place on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet approximately 2 inches apart. With moistened hands, slightly flatten the dough. (I found that while the dough wasn't sticky enough to roll, I could press it flat with my hands like the recipe said and then use cookie cutters to cut perfect circles. If you just care about the taste, then there is no need for the cookie cutters. Also, remember this is a chance to get creative and use all kinds of cookie cutters.)
4. Bake for 9 minutes at 375 F. Set on a rack to cool.