Mini Cheesecakes with Endless Possibilities (and Blueberry Compote)

Okay, "endless possibilities" might be a bit of an overstatement, but these little cheesy gems really give you a lot of flavor options.  Just think, with normal 3x4 muffin tin, you could make 12 different cheesecakes!  This was my first solo attempt at making cheesecake, so this time around I just made 2 types:  twix and plain, both with Oreo crust.

I recently discovered Stumbleupon.com, which connected me with both Craftgawker.com and Foodgawker.com.  I have such a long list of crafts and recipes to try now, I should never be bored!  But anyway... One of these sites directed me to a recipe for mini Twix cheesecakes.  Everything about the recipe sounded delicious: Oreo cookie crust, pieces of twix, tiny individual portions. 

So, I wrote myself a list, got out of my computer chair, and walked to the grocery store.  On the way to the store, I stopped at my favorite coffee shop, Globehopper, to try their July signature beverage, something I had yet to try.  It was called a Tahitian Pop and it combined homemade cream soda with espresso, a dash of cream, and an orange slice.  Oh my amazing!  My friend Kimmy was working that day and we chatted about the cheesecake I was about to make and our love for Craft/Foodgawker.  I mentioned that I was going to buy a disposable muffin tin and she lent me one of the shop's tins!  I love my neighborhood.  Kimmy also got the idea of blueberries in my head, so I decided to make half of my cheesecakes with Twix and half of them plain.  This way I could top them with blueberry compote.

Here's what you need:

1/2 pack of oreos
6 Tbsp melted butter
1 packed of cream cheese, softened
1/2 c sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
1/2 c sour cream
1 pack mini twix bars

Crush the oreo cookies into a fine crumb.  You can do this with a food processor if you have one, or you can do what I did:

Put all of your cookies into a large ziptop bag.  Use a rolling pin (or a wine bottle, like I did, if you don't have one) and crush the cookies.  To avoid puncturing the bag, sandwich it in a kitchen towel while rolling.

Add the crushed cookies to a bowl and mix in the melted butter.  Spray your muffin tin with non stick spray and evenly distribute the buttery crumbs into each cup.  Press into the cups with your fingers or with the bottom of a glass.

Next, take the softened cream cheese and beat in a bowl for 2-3 minutes. 
Add the sugar and beat for 1 minute.
Add eggs and beat until smooth.
Add sour cream and beat until smooth.

Chop up the twix bars into small pieces and gently fold them into the batter.  I separated out half of my cheese batter before mixing in the twix, so that I could have some plain cakes.  If you wanted to have a different cake in each cup, I would recommend pouring plain batter into the cups and adding the extra flavorings/ingredients to each cup, afterward.

Pour the batter into the cups, being careful not to overflow.

Bake at 300 degrees for 30 minutes.

When they come out of the oven, they might still be a little jiggly, but that's okay, they will firm up.

Once the cakes have cooled a bit, run a knife around the edges to loosen them from the pan.

I was super excited about these, so I popped them in the freezer for a quicker cool down.  That way, I could eat them sooner.  If you're not in as much of a rush to try one, you can let them cool in the fridge for a few hours.  Once cooled, I carefully eased them out of the tin.  I dressed the plain ones with blueberry compote and whipped cream and the Twix ones I left as they were.

Here's a quick recipe for blueberry compote (sauce):
1 pint blueberries
3/4 c sugar
1/2 c water
1 squirt of honey
juice of half a lime and the zest from that half
1 tsp cornstarch

Combine all the ingredients in a sauce pan and simmer over medium heat for 10 minutes.  Cool and use for anything!  It's obviously a perfect mate for cheesecake, but I love this blueberry sauce with greek yogurt and granola or grapenuts.  I happened to have a lime in my fridge when I made this particular batch.  I think it just works nicely with a little citrus addition.  I have used lemon, of course, but I bet OJ and orange zest would also be tasty.

If you make these, get creative!  Use you favorite type of cookie for the crust instead of oreos (pb , lemon, vanilla wafers, cinnamon graham crackers...).   You could really add anything to the cheesecake batter or on top of the little cakes (m&ms, pb cups, dulce de leche, nutmeg, chocolate ganache...).  I'm getting excited just thinking of the tasty combos.