Pumpkin Oreo Cheesecakes

Pumpkin cheesecake is a classic.  I've had quite a few good and some not so good pumpkin cheesecakes.  Although, let's be honest that combining cream cheese, sugar and pumpkin is a good idea.  You have had pumpkin dip haven't you???  I do could eat that with a spoon.

I was initially a little skeptical of this recipe.  While I've baked more with Oreo cookies on this blog than I ever thought I would, I realized one thing.  People LOVE Oreo cookies.  Anytime I put them in something people go nuts.  I'm not cuckoo for Oreos so I don't quite understand this phenomenon, but I've been trying to embrace it.

I think my initial reservations came from the fact that I firmly believe that cheesecakes belong on graham cracker crusts (the same goes for key lime pie).  However, when I mentioned this recipe to a good friend of mine and to CA, their eyeballs got larger than normal so I took that as a good sign and put it on the pumpkin week agenda.

The cheesecake portion of this dessert is pretty standard... cream cheese and sugar are whipped together until really fluffy, then the eggs go in followed by pumpkin, spices and sour cream.

I love sour cream in cheesecake - it really keeps it from being too dense and enhances all the other flavors.  Alton Brown's Sour Cream Cheesecake recipe is one of my favorites (I tried to use it to make cheesecake balls, but it was too soft for this purpose - making it perfect for regular cheesecake)

The great thing about these cheesecakes is that they are miniature - which means they're great for sharing (and you know I love that!) 

The base is one side of an Oreo cookie popped into a cupcake liner.  I put the side with the cream on the bottom because that seemed like the best thing to do.  I'm not sure why nor am I sure that it makes a difference because after they were baked I couldn't identify the cream - I think it just melts pumpkin cheesecake filling.

Not only do these get an Oreo base but they also get an Oreo topper courtesy of the non-cream side of the Oreo. 

They are like little pumpkin cheesecake sandwiches which makes them super easy to eat while holding them between your fingers.

These sweet sandwiches baked up nice and fluffy.  Even after removing the cupcake liners, both Oreo sides stayed put (for some reason I thought they would try to fall off).

In hindsight I have seen cheesecakes with a chocolate crumb base and this method of putting the whole cookie in a muffin pan is ten times easier than grinding up the cookies only to mush them back together again in crust form.

The combination of Oreo cookies and pumpkin cheesecake is pretty darn delicious.  I'm the only one who was surprised by this fact, CA expected them to be great and he liked them too (although it's possible he didn't get his allotted share because I ate them).  I love that they are individually sized and that the cheesecake layer is super light. 

The recipe can be found at Inside BruCrew Life.  I followed it exactly.

Enjoy!
Julie