Oreo cheesecake cupcakes - Brightens up the day instantly!

Ever since the events of February 7th, our tiny society has been chaotic to say the least. My hubs, family and friends, and I myself, have been going around in this hectic rollercoaster that is Male for three months now. So I decided to do something nice and brighten up their days (and mine of course) with some utterly delectable goodies. Then I got stuck. For inspiration I went through my usual favorite foodie blogs and stumbled up on some new ones too... and came across this recipe on www.relativetaste.net - a wonderful blog with pretty pics and clear instructions (just what a person like me wants!) The blogger, Kim, had adapted the recipe herself from Martha Stewart. She'd made some changes and they sounded good to me!

My good friend Shix makes yummy oreo nobake cheesecake - I couldn't get enough of it! But since cupcakes are more my thing and baking is, well, sort of a chill pill for me (whatever works eh) I decided to go along with Kim's recipe. I must say I was delighted with the result!

So here is her recipe with my comments:

Ingredients:

§  36 Oreo cookies, 20 left whole and 16 coarsely chopped [I made 12 cupcakes so needed only 12 whole oreo cookies and chopped 16 as directed]

§  1/2 cup of sugar

§  2 large eggs, lightly beaten

§  1/2 cup sour cream [couldn't find sour cream anywhere in Male' - sad situation I know, so added plain greek yoghurt for a similar taste]

§  1 pound cream cheese [I added two packages of Milkana regular cream cheese available at Fantasy Store]

§  1 teaspoon vanilla extract.

§  Pinch of salt

Directions:

- Preheat the oven to 275 ˚F [about 150 C]

- Line a standard muffin tin with paper liners and put one whole cookie in each paper lining. [I just used my usual paper cupcake cups - medium size]

- Beat the cream cheese on medium high speed until smooth.

- Gradually add in the sugar until well combined, then beat in the vanilla.

- Pour in the eggs slowly, beating to combine and scraping down the sides of the bowl.[I liked thisstep - I am big on reducing waste!]

- Add sour cream and salt. [If you get sour cream in Male' do let me know where! If not yoghurt does just as well]

- Stir in chopped cookies by hand.

- Divide the batter between paper cups, filling each almost to the top.

- Bake for about 22 minutes or until filling is set. They will not get brown, but don’t worry, they’re done.

- Transfer to wire rack to cool completely [ido not have a wire rack - i just left them on my counter top for a while]

- Refrigerate for at least 4 hours before serving. [This was the hardest bit - they smelled so good, keeping them in the fridge for 4 hours untouched was no mean feat!]

Well, infact I didnt leave them untouched. I served my hubby and my dad-in-law as desserts after dinner, and they seemed to like. 4 hours was not up but I couldn't delay any longer and they had set pretty well.

I also realized I had overbaked it a lil bit, as I suspected. Whoops! Next time I'll be more conscious of time :)

And I do have to make another batch soon, didnt get to share any with my friends. We had visitors and after family, the 12 cupcakes had vanished before we knew it. Met up with my lovelies tonight and promised I'd make them some, hopefully they'll turn out better!