These mini cheesecakes are great anytime of the year, but would be especially good around the holidays. Each person will get their own little piece of Heaven when biting into these beautiful treats.
Crust:
11 Oreos
2 T. real butter
Filling:
2 oz. semi-sweet chocolate
12 oz. cream cheese
1/4 c. sugar
1 egg
1 t. vanilla
1/4 c. Kahlua (coffee liqueur)
Garnish each with whipped cream, a chocolate covered espresso bean or a chocolate chip and a sprinkle of cinnamon or cocoa powder, if desired.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Prepare the mini-cheesecake pan by rubbing the inside of each cheesecake well with a lightly oiled paper towel.
Crust:
Melt butter in a small bowl. Place whole cookies in a large ziplock type bag, and crush using a rolling pin or a glass. Place cookie crumbs in a medium size bowl and combine with melted butter. Add 1 tablespoon crust mixture into each of the 12 mini cheesecake wells. Pack down the crumbs using a shot glass or glass spice bottle. Bake crust for 10 minutes in preheated oven.
Filling:
Melt chocolate in a small bowl; set aside.
In the bowl of an electric mixer, blend cream cheese until very smooth; add sugar and continue to blend until fully incorporated. Add egg and vanilla; continue to beat, scraping down the sides of bowl as needed. Add melted chocolate; blend. While blending, add Kahlua. Beat an additional 30 seconds.
Reduce oven temperature to 250 degrees.
Open a clean, large ziplock bag and place it in a large glass, pulling the sides of the bag down over the glass. Add the cheesecake filling to the bag, then close the bag. Snip off one little corner of the bag; fill each well of the cheesecake pan a bit more than 3/4 full with filling. If there is a bit of extra filling, you can bake it in a small ramekin for a little "tester".
Place cheesecake pan in the 250 degree oven; bake cheesecakes until filling is set, 22-25 minutes. Place pan on a wire cooling rack; cool to room temperature, then place entire pan in the refrigerator about 4 hours before removing cheesecakes from the pan.
When cool, carefully remove the cheesecakes from the pan (pressing up on the removable bottom of each well). Keep the cheesecakes in the frefrigerator until ready to serve.
Garnish with whipped cream, a chocolate covered espresso bean and a sprinkle of cinnamon or cocoa powder.
Makes 12 mini-cheesecakes.