Cheesecake used to be my one and only. It was my favorite dessert of all time, and as a kid everywhere I would go I wanted all of the cheesecake. I blame my Nana (Dad's mom) who also loved it. She would always have strawberry cheesecake ice cream in her freezer when I'd come visit, and we would eat a scoop or two with whipped cream and cherries on top, before I left. It was AWESOME!
I'd like to think I passed my cheesecake-loving-self on to my little sister, who is now is just as obsessed with cheesecake as I was. Now, I've kind of moved on to other desserts, but when I showed her a picture on Pinterest of an Oreo cheesecake her eyes were as big as the heart-eye emoji. I knew we had to make them together before she left! We both agreed the reason we love cheesecake so much is simply because it contains cheese.
With oreo as the crust, this recipe is fairly easy to make. We cheated and bought knock-off oreos because the ones at the deli were outrageously expensive, and because of that they were a little bit thicker than normal oreos, so the ratio of cheesecake filling to crust might be different if you actually used Oreos. Also, my food processor died halfway through pulsing the cream cheese, so our batter was slightly more chunky than it should have been. I say this so there is no pressure to completely pulse yours thoroughly. They still turned out really good, and no chunks were visible.
Tonight I have my work ugly sweater holiday party, and from past stories I've been told, it is sure to be an outrageously huge, lavish, boozy and interesting affair. I made my own ugly sweater last night complete with all of the 3D objects: bows, tinsel, and ornaments, which were all hot glued to a cheap sweater. Hopefully I'm not the only one actually dressing up!
Oreo Ricotta Cream Cheese Cheesecakes (makes approx. 18)
Ingredients:
- 17-19 oreos (plus more for snacking)
- 2 tbl. flour
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 tbl. butter, softened
- 1 8-oz. package cream cheese, softened and diced into cubes
- 1 15-oz. container ricotta
- 2 large eggs
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
Directions: Preheat oven to 350F. Using a food processor, pulse ricotta until smooth, about 15-20 seconds. Add softened cream cheese and butter, and continue to pulse until there are no more chunks. Add flour, sugar, and salt, and pulse more until smooth. Next, add the eggs and vanilla, and pulse until blended with the rest of the ingredients.
Line a muffin tin with cupcake liners. Fill each one with an oreo, and then spoon the cheesecake mixture on top. Fill almost until the top, as these don't rise that much. Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes. Let cool in pans for 5 minutes, then remove to cooling rack to continue cooling and to allow the cheesecake to set, about 30 minutes. Top with oreo crumbles or a fruity jam, or eat it plain!