Oreo Cadbury Mini Eggs Cheesecake Cupcakes

Okay, so this recipe is similar to the Oreo Cadbury Mini Eggs Easter Squares, but lightened up and made into cheesecake cupcakes.

I made these for my Uncles birthday.  He likes dominos....hence the theme for these cupcakes.

The Oreo Cadbury Mini Eggs Easter Squares (which are actually just cheesecake bars) were such a hit at Easter that I decided to use that recipe - but lighten it up a little (because there were copious amounts of icing involved this time around).  Instead of heavy cream I used fat free evaporated milk.  Instead of full fat cream cheese, I used the one that was reduced fat by 25%.  And I didn't put any crushed Cadbury Mini Eggs in the Oreo crust like I did last time.  Even with these modifications, they still came out great...

(Another reason for making these is that I still had Cadbury Mini Eggs leftover from Easter - which makes going sugar free REALLY hard....So I figured this was a good way to use them up so I could avoid the temptation altogether...)

I cheated and bought Wilton's black icing to make the dominos (because if there is one thing I learned in my cake decorating class - it's that making black icing is just too involved...).

Oreo Cadbury Mini Egg Cheesecake Cupcakes

Makes 24 cheesecake cupcakes

Ingredients:

Crust:

1 package of Double Stuffed Oreos, cookies and cream separated

6 tbsp butter, melted to liquid (but not smoking hot)

Filling:

16 ounces cream cheese, room temperature

1/2 cup of sugar

2 eggs

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp almond extract

2 tbsp fat free evaporated milk

8 ounces Cadbury Mini Eggs

Frosting:

5 oz cream cheese (room temperature)

1/4 cup butter

The cream that you dug out from the middle of the Oreo’s

1 tsp almond extract

1 tsp vanilla extract

3 cups powdered sugar (more may be required if you need stiffer icing)

Directions:

Crust:

(1) Preheat the oven to 325 degrees

(2) Line cupcake baking sheet with cupcake holders

(3) Take the cookie part of the separated Oreo cookies and crush them

-this can be done with a rolling pin, or food processor (I used a food processor – easy peasy)

(4) Using a spatula, combine the Oreo crumbs and butter

(5) Press 1 tablespoon of the Oreo mixture into the bottom of a each cupcake holder

I use the bottom of a glass to make sure the crust is packed in firmly 

(6) Bake at 325 degrees for 8-10 minutes.

-bake until it sets

(7) Remove from oven, set aside and let cool

Filling:

(1) Crush Cadbury Mini Eggs

-This can be done with a rolling pin or food processor or mortar and pestle

(2) With an electric mixer on medium speed, combine cream cheese and sugar until smooth

(3) Add eggs, vanilla & almond extract and evaporated milk.  Mix until combined.

(4) Add crushed Cadbury Mini Eggs, mix until combined

(5) Pour batter into cupcake holders on top of the cooled Oreo crust.

                -I usually just eyeball the ‘dividing evenly’ part of this….

Ready to bake!

(6) Bake at 325 degrees for 45 minutes

(7) Turn the oven off.  Leave pan in the oven for 5-10 minutes more.

(8) Let the cheesecake cupcakes cool to room temperature before putting them in the refrigerator.

Notes:

-I put a pan of water into the oven when baking cheesecakes. This helps to add some humidity to the oven in an effort to stop some of the cracking that (inevitably) goes on when I bake cheesecakes. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. When it doesn't and there are cracks, I will usually either throw on some icing or fruit or just eat it as it, because in the end, it's still yummy cheesecake, cracks and all....

-Try to open the oven as little as possible - this will let some of the steam (humidity) escape.

Frosting:

(1) In an electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat cream cheese, butter and cream from the Oreos together until smooth

-the closer to room temperature these ingredients are the smoother the mixture will be

-if you are going to be icing these cupcakes with a tip, try to get the mixture as smooth as possible

(2) Mix in vanilla and almond extracts

(3) Turn the mixer to low (otherwise you'll have a big powder-y mess) and combine icing sugar

(4) Decorate!

-for the non-domino cupcakes I used a 2D Wilton tip for the swirl

Happy Cooking!