Trio of Mini Oreo Cheesecakes

Chocolate Chunk & Banana, Green Tea and Vanilla Bean & Cranberries

I had a hunkering for baked cheesecake that would not make me feel guilty – just let it brie right? – so happily enough, this was a recipe that did not leave me blue because it was whey easy to Kraft singles instead of a big heavy cake; best of all I got my kid involved. Havarti got a grate, fuss-free cheesecake base that I Gouda share with ewe!

(Okay, I’ve milked that for all it is worth.)

Begin as I always do, with a pensive long look at the fridge and pantry.

Bittersweet chocolate, cocoa, green tea powder (matcha), dried cranberries & overripe bananas

My pantry raid yielded the above, but you could substitute the ingredients – dried apricots or pineapple, raisins, slivers of almonds, lemon or orange juice and zest, salted nuts; even trail mix works – in short, anything that would go with cheese.

If Oreos don’t move the earth for you, make a sweet shortcrust pastry base instead, or, use crushed digestive biccies, gingersnaps.

The possibilities are endless.

For the cheesecake batter, you will need:

250 g cream cheese, softened at room temperature
1/2 cup double cream, kept cold until needed
1/4 cup caster sugar
2 large eggs
Oreo crumbs (or 12 intact cookies)
12 paper souffle cups (I used the ones with 3.25 oz fill volume)

For the Trio, I used:

1/4 cup cocoa powder
75 g bittersweet chocolate (I used 72% dark)
Over-ripe bananas
Dried cranberries
One sachet i.e. 20 g matcha (powdered green tea)
1 teaspoon of vanilla bean paste

First order of the day is assemble your mise en place, and then pre-heat your oven to 180°C.

The  electric mixer will be indispensable here – you need it to beat another trio separately, working from the the lightest to heaviest density: the eggs, the double cream and the cream cheese. Why does the density order matter? So that you needn’t wash your beating hooks each time. Heh.

Scoop approximately two heaped tablespoons of Oreo cookie crumbs into the paper souffle cups, then tamp with an implement so that you have a firm cookie base. My chosen implement was the business end of my rolling pin. (Stacking each Oreo-filled paper cup – as per the methodology in making Kuih Puteri Ayu – may not yield the desired results.)

Eyeball the height of the pressed Oreo base to be that of an actual Oreo cookie – somehow the cookie base to cheesecake ratio works out just right.

If you are a kindred spirit, like me, if when you run out of Oreo crumbs, just reach out for the secret stash and place one intact Oreo cookie into each cup. Now set those babies aside.

Chop the bar of 72% dark chocolate into rough chunks then bung it back into the fridge to chill, if your days are as sweltering as mine.

Then make short work of the over-ripe bananas – do slice them into uniform thickness as far as possible to allow for even cooking.

Bananas for the caramelizing. Oooo.

Keep the heavy cream in the fridge until the last minute – it will whip into peaks quicker if cold.

Tackle the eggs first.

Crack the two eggs into a bowl and whisk for a half a minute on high with an electric mixer, until you get a frothy mixture.

Once you see the froth, add the quarter cup of caster sugar in increments while increasing the mixer speed up a notch. Continue to whisk until you get a light foamy consistency (it should reach that stage in 3 or 4 minutes).

Foam follows froth (repeat mantra)

The paler foamy egg-sugar mixture should fall in ribbons. Set aside.

Now make whipped cream.

Whip the cream to soft peaks and then dollop one ladle of cream into the egg-sugar mixture. Mix gently while keeping your wrist light. Once it has “lightened” the egg-sugar mixture, continue to add and mix the rest of the cream until well incorporated.

The last item for the beating is the cream cheese.

Leave it in its packaging to soften at room temperature

Cream cheese benefits from a good whisk in order to incorporate air and make the texture lighter, according to many foodie websites. I just think it is a nifty way to trick your mind into thinking that something whipped so light and feathery can’t be horrifyingly calorie-ladden, can it? Can it?! 

YOLO.

Incorporate the egg-cream mixture to the cream cheese mixture to get the final batter.

Mix well and then divide the batter into three portions.

Chocolate Chunk & Banana Oreo Cheesecake

In one bowl of batter, add the quarter cup of cocoa powder.

Then add the chunks of chopped chocolate.

Spoon approximately 3 tablespoons of this batter into your cups. Top with slices of banana.The chocolate chunks will make this batter bulk up, so the batter from the Chocolate Chunk & Banana combo yielded 5 cups.

Green Tea Oreo Cheesecake

For the next combo, empty the sachet of matcha into the batter.

The flecks of green tea look just like Oreo crumbs, but it will bake into a nice light green.

Fill the 3 cups almost to the brim.

Batter going in to bake

Vanilla Bean & Cranberry Oreo Cheesecake

Mix the vanilla bean paste into the last batch of batter, and repeat the filling of 4 cups. I made 3 with cranberry toppings and the last one crammed with the last of the bananas.

The cranberries were a lovely touch, adding the right textural foil to the soft cheesecake.

Baking times for the Trio were approximately 30 minutes. Watch the Green Tea and the Vanilla Bean-Cranberry cakes to ensure that the domes are browned just right.

The Trio are just the right size for treats on the go.

You did not see the fourth “Trio”

Postscript: Inspiration for my pun-ny opening comes from daily doses of Six Puns.