SALTED CARAMEL CHOCOLATE CHIP MINI CHEESECAKES RECIPES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line two 12-count cupcake pans with 18 liners.
• Crust:
• In a food processor or blender, pulse the whole Oreos into a fine crumb. Stir the cookie crumbs and melted butter together in a medium-sized bowl.
• Press 1 heaping Tablespoon of mixture into the bottom of each liner. Bake in batches for 5 minutes and allow to slightly cool as you prepare the filling.
• Filling:
• In a large bowl using a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the cream cheese on medium speed until completely smooth, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.
• Add the sugar and yogurt and beat on medium speed until combined. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating at low speed after each addition.
• Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed. Beat in the vanilla extract and mini chocolate chips.
• Spoon batter into the crusts until nearly full. Bake each pan for 20 to 23 minutes.
• Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely at room temperature for at least 1 hour. Transfer to the refrigerator and allow to chill for at least two hours.
• Before serving, top each cheesecake with salted caramel and additional chocolate chips, if desired.
• Cover leftover cheesecakes tightly and store them in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 325 degrees and line the bottom of your springform with a cut out circle of parchment paper. This helps you cleanly remove your cheesecake from the springform pan, including the bottom plate. (If you're not using a springform pan, I wouldn't worry about lining the bottom. There is enough butter to keep it from sticking when you're cutting pieces out to serve.)
• Combine the Oreos, melted butter, and salt into a food processor and blend until the Oreos are pulverized. If you don't have a food processor, or just don't want to dirty one up, you can get a similar effect with combining all the ingredients into a gallon bag and smashing it with a rolling pin. You just won't get as small of pieces, and you'll want to make sure the shards of Oreo aren't making holes in your bag. (Tip: Just dirty the food processor.)
• Dump the pulverized Oreo mixture into a 9-inch springform pan and pack them down using the bottom of a glass cup. I like a thick crust on the bottom, so I don't hedge up the sides of my crust too much, but you can pack the crust up the sides of the spring form if you'd like. Just be careful transferring it to the oven because the edges will be fragile.
• Bake for 12 minutes and set the crust aside to cool. (In the refrigerator is preferred if you have room.)
• In a medium-large bowl, beat the room temperature cream cheese on medium-low until it's smooth. We don’t want to incorporate too much air. Then add the eggs and egg yolk one at a time, making sure they're well incorporated. After the eggs you can add the brown sugar, cream, and vanilla, beating the mixture on medium-low until it's silky smooth.
• Now take 10-12 of your caramel candies and put them in a microwave safe bowl with 2 tsp of heavy cream and 1/4 tsp salt and microwave for 30 seconds, stir with a rubber or silicon spatula, microwave again for 15 more seconds, and stir until smooth.
• Drizzle the microwaved caramel sauce over your cheesecake mixture, dump in your mini chocolate chips, and fold both additions in until the chocolate chips are evenly spread throughout the batter. You'll probably have caramel swirl chunks because of the caramel semi-solidifying upon contact with the cooler cheesecake batter, but that's a good thing, don't try to smooth them out.
• Pour your batter into your spring form pan on top of your cooled oreo crust and smooth the top over.
• Wrap the springform pan tightly with foil. It's best to use three layers to make sure it's sealed. Place the spring form in a larger pan (I use my 11 inch cast iron skillet but you could also use a large shallow roasting pan) and fill the bottom with about an inch or two of water to form water-bath. (If you don't have a larger pan for a water bath, read my notes in my post above.)
• Put your cake that's in the water bath in the oven (still at 325 degrees) and bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes.
• Perform the "jiggle test". When you shake the springform there should be a slight jiggle to the center but not the edges! (The jiggle should only span about 3 inches). When you've reached the right amount of jiggle, turn off the oven, but don't remove the cake. I let it sit in the cooling oven for about an hour before I remove it from the water bath and foil. This allows the middle to finish baking and reduces the risk of cracking.
• Once the cake has cooled down in the oven for about and hour, you can remove it from the water bath and tin foil and put it on a hot pad in the fridge. I recommend chilling the cheesecake for at least 8 hours so the center has time to really set up, otherwise you'll be left with an undesirable custardy texture.
• Once the cake is cooled, you can take the cake out of the spring form. (It helps to run a knife around the edges to loosen the cake for a clean separation.) If you're also removing the bottom sheet to put the cheesecake on a stand or platter, slide a spatula under the parchment paper that's below the crust. You should be able to use the spatula to slide and maneuver the cake into place.
• After the cake has chilled and you're ready to top and serve it you can make the caramel sauce. Take the remainder of your caramel candies, unwrap them, and put them in a small saucepan with 1/4 cup of cream. Warm them on medium low heat.
• Constantly scrape the bottom of the pan and turn the caramels over on top of each other to make sure you don't burn any of them. It should take about 10-12 minutes for the caramels to melt completely on this heat without burning, so be patient and attentive!
• Remove the caramel sauce from the heat and smoosh any remaining chunks around until the sauce is smooth.
• Immediately pour the caramel sauce over the cheesecake, smoothing the top over with a silicon spatula if needed. Then sprinkle with chocolate chips and sea salt and serve!
• (For my salt "flakes" I just turned my salt grinder to it's most course setting and sprinkled the granules on top and it worked out great!)