Recipe #22 - Mini Marble Cheesecakes

It was a co-workers birthday, so I ventured out and tried another new recipe from my OREO With a Twist Cookbook. For starters, let me make a statement that I don't eat cheesecake. I don't like the texture. If I'm not sure whether or not I should chew something, I usually don't eat it. Now, with that being said, I loved these, but more on that later...

Ingredients:
*24 OREOs, divided (The recipe calls for regular, next time, I'm using Double Stuf)
*2 8oz packages of cream cheese, softened
*1/2 cup sugar
*2 eggs
*1 tsp vanilla extract
*2 ounces semisweet chocolate, melted, cooled

Line muffin pan with muffin pan cups, and place 1 OREO at the bottom of each cup (16 total). Beat cream cheese, sugar, eggs and vanilla in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium speed until the mixture is smooth. Set aside 1/2 cup of batter. Spoon the remaining mixture even into the 16 prepared muffin cups.

Mix the extra 1/2 cup of batter with the melted chocolate. Spoon a small amount (about a teaspoon) onto the center of the previously filled muffin cups. Swirl the batters together to create a marbled effect. The original recipe says to use a knife, but I used a toothpick.

Bake at 350* for 20 to 25 minutes or until filling is set and slightly puffed. I baked these in my convection oven, at 325*, and 20 minutes was too long to cook them, just FYI. Next time, I'll probably check on them at around 17 minutes. Cool then refrigerate until time to serve. Garnish the mini cheesecakes with the remaining OREOs.

The reason I loved these so much was because the OREO in the bottom didn't get very soggy - it just barely softened. With that being said, though, one OREO was not big enough to take up the entire bottom of the cup. I kind of wonder if large crumbles of OREOs would hold together well enough so that there could be more OREOs that take up the entire bottom. I guess anything that allows me to eat more OREOs is fine by me... :)

Happy Baking! TTFN!

Recipe #20 - OREO Cereal Bars

OHHHH another recipe from the OREO with a Twist cookbook. :) I think these are my favorite recipes to post, since they're my favorite to eat. Sorry, I didn't get a picture of these... we ate them way too quickly. Picture this - rice crispy treats, minus the rice crispies, plus cheerios and OREO pieces.

Ingredients:
*32 OREO cookies (1 package)
*4 cups of cereal - I used multigrain Cheerios
*1/3 cup of butter or margarine
*1 10.5 ounce package of mini marshmallows

Spray a 13x9x2 pan and a large rubber spatula with nonstick cooking spray; set aside. Place the cookies in a large plastic bag to coarsely crush the cookies. Put crushed cookies and cereal into a large bowl, and stir together with a wooden spoon.

In a large saucepan over medium-low heat, cook the butter and marshmallows are melted and smooth, stirring constantly with the wooden spoon. Once the mixture is smooth, immediately pour over the cereal and cookies, and quickly mix everything together. Pour the mixture into the greased pan, and press down using the rubber scraper. Let stand until set. Use a knife to cut the cereal bars into squares and store in an airtight container.

Enjoy! TTFN!

Recipe #16 - OREO Crunch Bars

I finally busted out another recipe from the Oreo With a Twist cookbook... and it did not disappoint! :) In case you missed the first one, here ya go!

Ingredients:
*34 OREO cookies, divided
*1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter or margarine, melted
*1 7.5oz jar of marshmallow creme
*1/2 c semisweet chocolate chips
*1/3 c chopped nuts, optional

Preheat the oven to 350. Coarsely chop 8 OREO cookies, set aside. Finely crush the remaining cookies and mix with the melted butter. Firmly press the cookie crust onto the bottom of a greased 8x8 or 9x9 pan (I actually used a 9" round pan...). Drop the marshmallow creme by spoonfuls onto the cookie crust, coming within about a 1/2 inch of the edges. (I found the marshmallow creme hard to spread once it was on the crust, so it needed a little TLC.) Sprinkle remaining OREOs, chocolate chips and nuts over the top. Bake for about 15 minutes, until the marshmallow creme puffs. Cool completely on a wire rack.

I made this recipe for work, so I did not use nuts, for not knowing about allergies. Next time, I will try them, at least on half. Rather than original OREOs, I used Double Stuf OREOs for the recipe. There aren't 34 in the package, so the numbers are a little bit altered for the first part. I coarsely chopped 6, instead of 8, and then used the remaining cookies for the crust. It was quite delish.

TTFN!

Recipe #12 - Chocolate Volcano (OREO) Cupcakes

Would you like to know what the greatest cookbook in the world is?? Well I'll gladly tell you! That would be OREO With a Twist. Every single recipe in this book involves OREOs in some way, shape or form. I've had this cookbook for a LOOOOOONG time. I don't use it very often, though, for a variety of reasons. First of all, I always eat the OREOs. They're so good on their own, why bother baking with them? Second, I can't keep OREOs in my house. (See first reason).

I recently used it to bake something for a coworker. A year or two ago, I went through most of my cookbooks and flagged different recipes I wanted to eventually try. I giggled when I got this one down, because almost every single page was flagged. :) I had the hardest time deciding what recipe to try first. I ultimately ended up on this recipe. For some reason I kept coming back to it. And let me just say - they're delicious, even despite me messing up and changing the recipe. :)

Ingredients:
*1 18.25oz package devil's food cake mix
*1 1/4 cups water
*1/2 c vegetable oil
*3 eggs
*16 OREOs, coarsely chopped (go ahead and get out a few extra, you know you'll eat 'em!)
*1 can vanilla frosting

Mix cake mix, water, oil and eggs in a large bowl with electric mixer at low speed until moistened. Beat 2 minutes at medium speed. Gently stir in remaining OREOs (come on, you know you ate some). Spoon batter into 24 paper lined or lightly greased muffin pan cups, filling 2/3 of the way. Bake at 350* for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted. Remove pan from oven and allow it to cool for about 5 minutes. Then remove cupcakes from the pan and let them cool completely.

Now, for this frosting part... These cupcakes are called chocolate volcano cupcakes because of how the original directions say to "ice" the cupcakes. Let me just say - it does NOT turn out pretty on your first go round. I think you definitely need a batch or two to practice. My first four were quite ugly, in fact. :) I ultimately ended up just icing them on top, and adding some sprinkles. Second, ditch the can frosting. Find a good butter cream icing recipe, and make the icing yourself. That's what I'm doing next time. I decided to follow the recipe instead of my instincts and was highly disappointed with the end result.

ORIGINAL ICING DIRECTIONS:
Fill pastry bag, fitted with rosette tip, with frosting. Gently insert the frosting tip just barely into the top of the cupcake. Slowly squeeze the icing to fill the cupcakes. The end product should look like a volcano - a chocolate cupcake with white icing coming out like lava would.

MY ICING DIRECTIONS:
Don't use can frosting. :) It was too soft and basically melted straight off the cupcakes. I was SO upset by this! Ice the darn things how ever you want! :) Either way, they taste absolutely delish! In my picture below, you can already see that the icing is starting to melt down. It was so sad.



I was really curious how the cupcakes would turn out with OREO chunks in them. The OREO stuf part cooked away and you didn't taste it. The cookies softened up, but stayed in tact to create little pieces of soft OREOs mixed into the cupcakes. Yummy yummy!!!

Good luck on this recipe! I hope it turns out just as good for you.

PS - I will be trying recipes from this cookbook more often. Stay tuned!