Halloween Mini Cheesecakes

I have been on a baking craze lately and have had the best day ever today just baking and relaxing... and taste testing.  I have to admit to all of you, I am not a big fan of Halloween.  The creepy, crawly, scarey, bloody, icky stuff just doesn't excite me AT ALL! However, I love baking treats for Halloween.  They're so bright and colorful! And you can really think outside the box and people don't judge:) So, I was thinking this morning (after getting the chicken in the pot for some yummy Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup) about what I could make for a fun "Halloween type" dessert for tonight.  Of course, I have this one favorite food of mine... OREOS! { I swear OREO's should be a food group of their own.} Who can turn down all the colorful new seasonal OREO's?  Obviously not me!  They're just so enticing, aren't they?  Oh and then of course, there's this wonderful ingredient designed just for my taste buds... CREAM CHEESE!!! Seriously, what's better than a combination of these two amazing things?  Not much, really. These Mini Cheesecakes are sooooo good.  They aren't too time consuming and don't call for any crazy (not a staple in my kitchen) kind of ingredients. 
So, I have this notebook filled with recipes that I've found here and there and just copied it down. This recipe is one that I found in my infamous notebook of "who knows where these came from, but I gotta try 'em" recipes.  So... to whomever you are out there that developed this recipe.... Oh How I Love Thee!  Let me count the ways...... one one thousand, two.... {whoa Tea, snap out of it!}.. Once again, it's the OREO's talking!
So take a plunge and make yourself (and your favorite people) some Halloween Mini Cheesecakes!  You won't be sorry! 

Halloween Mini Cheesecakes
adapted by From Cupboard to Cupboard
Printable Recipe

30 whole HALLOWEEN OREO cookies, divided
2 8 oz pkgs Cream Cheese, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
1/2 c sour cream
orange food coloring

Preheat oven to 275 degrees.  Line a muffin tin with cupcake liners (24).  Place 6 whole OREO cookies in a food processor and grind them up (or smash them in plastic bag).  Put 1 whole OREO in bottom of each liner.  Beat cream cheese until smooth.  Add in the sugar and mix until combined.  Mix in vanilla.  Slowly add in eggs and continue mixing.  Add sour cream and mix to combine.  Use a spatula to scrape bowl.  Add in food coloring. Then add in oreo crumbs and stir just until combined.  Fill each liner about 3/4 full.  Bake for 22 minutes.  Allow to cool on wire rack.  Refrigerate for at least 4 hrs.  Remove liners and garnish with whipped cream and a cute little sugar pumpkin :)

Happy Halloween!

Happy Cooking!
Teauna

**PHILADELPHIA NEW YORK CHEESECAKE**

As I was sitting in the house in Wyoming with NOTHING to do (I like that I can do nothing there!), all I could think about was what I could cook or bake when I got home. Seriously, sometimes I drive myself NUTS!!!! But I had taken some magazines and cookbooks that I haven't had a chance to look at for the last couple of months so I tagged and marked recipes and pages that I wanted to try when we got home. Well, it's been a very crazy week but I finally got a recipe made! This recipe came out of the December & January 2010 edition Taste of Home Magazine...

This recipe calls for Cherry pie filling, but as you probably noticed, mine was covered in caramel and crushed oreos instead. We're not much for fruit topped cheesecake around here but do as you please. Let your taste buds guide you :-)

20 OREO cookies, finely crushed ( I used my pastry blender and chopped away! :-))

3 Tbsp butter or margarine, melted

5 (8 oz) pkgs Cream Cheese, softened

1 cup sugar

3 Tbsp flour

1 Tbsp vanilla

1 cup sour cream

4 eggs

1 can (21 oz) cherry pie filling

Heat oven to 325. Line 13x9x2 pan with foil. Mix crumbs and butter; press onto bottom of pan. Beat cream cheese, sugar, flour and vanilla with mixer until blended. Add sour cream; mix well. Add eggs, 1 at a time, mixing on low after each just until blended. Pour over crust. Bake 40 minutes or until center is almost set. Cool Completely. Refrigerate 4 hours. Top with pie filling. I topped mine with caramel and crushed oreos...

Enjoy!

Happy Cooking

Teauna

Cream Cheese Fudgy Brownies

This is one of our very favorite brownie recipes! They certainly don't last long at our house!

For the brownies:

Preheat oven to 350... grease 9x13 pan and set aside...

4 oz Unsweetened Chocolate

3/4 cup butter

2 cups sugar

3 eggs

1/2 cup milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 1/2 cups flour

Microwave chocolate and butter in large microwavable bowl on HIGH 2 minutes or until butter is melted. Stir until chocolate is completely melted. Stir sugar into melted chocolate mixture. Mix in eggs and milk and vanilla until well blended. Stir in the flour. Spread in prepared greased pan.

In a bowl, whip 2 8 oz packages cream cheese, 2/3 cup granulated sugar, 2 eggs, and 4 tablespoons milk together until well blended. Pour over brownies and swirl into brownies with a knife.

Bake 35-45 minutes. The cream cheese will start to brown and the brownies will begin to pull away from the edges of the pan. Don't panic when the cream cheese layer seems to 'fall' after you have taken them out of the oven:-) Let cool completely... cut into squares and serve! YUMMY!!!!!