recipe: mini chocolate cheesecakes

I made these last week and while I wasn't prepared for the total time involved, I thought they turned out well. As usual, I learned from the experience of what to do differently next time but they were definite crowd pleasers for the party I took them to. I found this recipe from the Betty Crocker website. One of the things I like about the site is being able to print out just the ingredients needed (super handy when making a trip to the store). I've not made cheesecake before so I had to really keep an eye on the these so I wouldn't bake them too long. I think I ended up leaving them in for close to thirty minutes and they turned out fine. Tackling the whipped cream was another matter. I stuck the bowl in the freezer so it would firm up and ended up leaving it in too long. In my attempt to unthaw it, it became too thin. I had to buy a can of spray whip cream and then added mini chocolate chips on top instead of an Oreo. Hopefully you can take something away from my experience and have a better result :)

I'm thinking about making mini bite-size versions of this and using mini oreos with it.

Ingredients
Cheesecakes
9 creme-filled chocolate sandwich cookies or 18 vanilla wafer cookies
2 packages (8 ounces each) plus 1 package (3 ounces) cream cheese, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup unsweetened baking cocoa
2 teaspoons vanilla
3 eggs

Whipped Cream3/4 cup whipping (heavy) cream
2 tablespoons granulated or powdered sugar

"Heat oven to 350ºF. Line 18 medium muffin cups, 2 1/2x1 1/4 inches, with paper baking cups. Split sandwich cookies in half. Place 1 cookie half, middle side up, in each cup. Or place 1 wafer cookie, flat side down, in each cup.

In large bowl, beat cream cheese with electric mixer on medium speed until smooth. Gradually beat in 1 cup sugar and the cocoa until fluffy. Beat in vanilla. Beat in eggs, one at a time, until well blended. Divide evenly among cups (cups will be almost full).

Bake cheesecakes 20 to 25 minutes or until centers are firm. Cool 15 minutes (cheesecake centers will sink while cooling). Refrigerate in muffin cups at least 1 hour; cover and refrigerate at least 1 hour longer before serving.

In chilled small bowl, beat all Whipped Cream ingredients with electric mixer on high speed until stiff. Spoon Whipped Cream on chilled cheesecakes. Cover and refrigerate any remaining cheesecakes."