Oreo Cheesecake Bites

Last Monday we had a food day at work for a couple of birthdays. I thought it was a perfect time to try out a new recipe. I'm not sure if you've ever heard of StumpleUpon... but you can put in your interests and hit a button and it will take you to a random website. I collect a lot of tasty recipes this way that I bookmark away to bring out at a later date. So I went through all my saved recipes and decided to make these.

So first you line the cupcake pans with liners
And then you add a whole oreo to the bottom (that's right!! these have a whole Oreo as crust!!)
Then you work on the ingredients. I've never made cheesecake before - so once I realized that the cream cheese needed to be at room temperature (like it clearly states in the directions...) we were good to go.
Then you add in all those other ingredients and mix... and when you're arm gets tired b/c the standup mixer is just sucking all the cream cheese into my mixer thing and you have to use your hand-held mixer instead and your arm gets really tired you call in the hubby reinforcements.
Don't forget your pinch of salt
Then you add in some chopped up Oreos (although you can't quite seem them here)
Then you fill up your pans - nearly all the way up
Half full
All the way
And then you bake for about 22 minutes and get these lovely things
As Rachel Ray says... Yum-O!!!
The recipe says it makes 30... I was able to make 33 and then I ran out of Oreos, so I baked an additional 3 without crust just to see how that would go. I probably had enough left in the bowl to make another 1... but I let Chad lick the bowl.

The taste kinda like cookies and cream... very yummy. People at work liked them and since we're trying to lose weight Chad took the rest of them to work with him on his first day back last Friday... this is a keeper

Here's the full recipe:
42 Oreos (~1 package), 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 Fahrenheit. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners or grease well with non-stick baking spray. Place 1 whole cookie in the bottom of each 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.