Mini Twix Cheesecakes

Oh Twix bars - how I love them.  And my Mom likes them too - so they kinda make me think of her.  When I was a kid, she would buy a Twix bar, eat one of the two and stash the other bar (in the wrapper) in random places.  So my brother and I wouldn't eat it. 

Mostly my brother. 

Most DEFINITELY my brother.  The kid was seriously a garburator (sp?).  For real.  Like, who in the world would get up and eat a whole entire meal at 3:00 IN THE MORNING after he's had three rounded, wholesome meals throughout the day?  My brother. 

I'm sure he's going to LOVE the fact that I blabbed that all over the Internet.  Don't tell him.

Anyway, back to my Mom.  She called and said I should come for a visit, and play with my sweet baby niece.  Oh - and also that she would make me THIS....

I HAD TO GO.

Even though the temperature was set to drop into the -30s (that's degrees Celcius friends!), I packed up my pillow and drove three hours to visit.  And eat turkey.  Let's be honest.

Since my Mom's birthday was coming up, I hummed and hawed about what to make - aside from her favourite cookies mind you.  I recalled seeing these Mini Twix Cheesecakes on Lindsey's blog Gingerbread Bagels and remembered how I poured over them over and over and desperately wanted to make them!

I want to just say a quick thing about Lindsey here before I move along.  She's so creative I can hardly wait to see what she'll come up with next!  And she's incredibly sweet to boot - so reading her blog is an absolute treat.

On with the cheesecakes.

Although I enjoy Oreo cookies as much as the next person, I decided to do something a little different with the base.

I had done a little snooping and pondering and decided to do a shortbread base.  I ALSO decided to be super-lazy and just use pre-made shortbread cookies from the store.  So I used an imported shortbread cookie from the States - Lorna Doone.  (Yep - just another item in the long list of things we can't get in Canada, however, I swear I saw shortbread cookies in my grocery store)

Here's where things got a little tricky.  These cookies are quite a bit smaller than Oreos and Lindsey uses as her measurement just a number of cookies.  So I had to figure out an approximate measurement. 

In the comments, someone asked Lindsey about the size of the bag she used when referring to "about half the package" and Lindsey responded with the bag size and about how many cookies were in the bag.  Thank GOODNESS.

Now here's where things get dorky.

I took the weight of the bag that Lindsey uses which is 439 grams, divided that by 51 which is the average number of cookies in that bag, and then multiplied it by 20 which is the number of Oreos Lindsey uses in her recipe.  It came out to 172 grams.  Then I pulled out the scale and weighed out shortbread cookies.

I know.  I'm a huge dork.

Just love me anyway.

Here's what you do:

Crush up those cookies in a food processor.

Add one tablespoon sugar.

Add 1/4 cup melted butter and combine well.

Scoop about a tablespoon into a paper lined cupcake pan and press the mixture into the bottom with your (clean!) fingers.  Set aside.

Now for the filling.

In a stand mixer, beat the cream cheese on medium low (DON'T OVER BEAT! lol!) for about three minutes.

Then add the sugar and beat on medium low until combined.

Add the vanilla extract and mix.

Slowly add the eggs and mix until combined.

Chop up Twix bars.  I used 7 regular-sized bars because my grocery store didn't have fun-size bars and I wasn't about to drive all over the countryside looking for fun-size Twix bars while Alberta was in the midst of it's first cold-snap of the year.

And darn it, but it was cold.

Back to the batter - remove the bowl from the mixer and fold in chopped twix bars.

Using an ice cream scoop, portion the batter into the cupcake liners.

I actually ended up with a lot of batter left over.  But not enough base.  Darn.

Then bake in a 350 degree F oven for 30 minutes.

I pulled the cheesecakes out and let them cool on the counter a little while and then cooled them in the fridge overnight.

*Sigh*.  Waiting is so hard.

But it must be done in this case.  Cause Lindsey said so.

The result?

I could have actually taken the remaining batter and distributed it between the cheesecakes - there would have been enough room in the cup liners.

And oh. my. goodness.  They were SO SO delicious!  Perfectly cooked and when you'd get a little bit of the melty caramel from the Twix bar is was absolutely decadent.

Oh. My. Cheesecake.  They are so fantastic I can hardly stand it!

Thank you Lindsey for such a wonderful recipe!!!!

With a new recipe in tow, this is the Cane Girl - signing off.

Twix Cheesecakes
Crust
172 grams shortbread cookies
1 tablespoon sugar
1/4 unsalted butter, melted

Cheesecake Batter
2 - 250 gram packages cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup sour cream
12 mini (Fun Size) Twix Bars, chopped into small pieces (or 7 regular size bars)

1. Preheat oven to 275 degrees F.  Line cupcake pan with paper liners.
2. In a food processor, grind up the shortbread cookies into fine crumbs. 
3. Put the crumbs into a large bowl and add in 1 tablespoon sugar.
4. Add the melted butter and mix until well combined.
5. Press one tablespoon of the cookie mixture firmly into the bottom of each cupcake liner. Set aside pan.
6. In the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, mix the cream cheese until smooth on medium low speed, about 3 minutes.
7. With the mixer on medium low speed, add in the sugar and mix to combine.
8. Then add in the vanilla extract and mix.
9. Slowly pour in the lightly beaten eggs and mix until the eggs are incorporated.
10. Add in the sour cream and stir to combine.
11. Chop the Twix bars into small pieces.
12. Add the chopped Twix bars into the cheesecake batter and gently fold them in.
13. Scoop the cheesecake batter into each cupcake liner.
14. Bake the mini cheesecakes at 275 degrees F for 30 minutes.
15. Chill slightly on the counter and then overnight in the refrigerator.

Slightly adapted from:  Gingerbread Bagels