Give Mini Cheesecakes A Denser Bite By Using Cookies For The Base

Divinely rich and creamy, mini cheesecakes are the perfect bite-sized dessert. Customize their basic cream cheese filling by swirling a drizzle of salted caramel, chocolate sauce, or fruit coulis, and you've got a different cheesecake for every day of the week. However, this culinary creativity can also be extended to the cheesecake crust. Use whole cookies instead of biscuit crumbs to make the base of your mini cheesecakes, and you'll be rewarded with a denser bite that takes little effort but garners maximum textural interest.

A traditional Graham cracker crust that's been crushed, mixed with melted butter, and pressed down into the base of a mini muffin case, provides a delicious, neutral foundation for a cheesecake filling. But, this foundation can end up crumbly and messy if the ratio of cracker to butter is even a little bit off. Using whole cookies as the crust provides a solution to this problem because they form a thick, solid base that's less likely to crumble. And, it has to be said that there's something super satisfying about biting through the velvety softness of the creamy topping to meet a firm, buttery cookie beneath that's held its own. Plus, it's much easier to place a single cookie in a muffin case and dollop in some cheesecake batter than execute the fiddly operation of preparing a series of bases that require extra time to chill and set.

Vanilla wafers are a brilliant option if you want a neutral base for your cheesecake. Their crowd-pleasing taste means they work with pretty much any topping and won't compete with the rich qualities of ingredients like melted chocolate or cookie butter. Simply place the wafer in your muffin case, pile in your favorite filling, bake, and chill. The wafers will absorb some of the batter as they bake but will firm up again to the perfect texture as they sit in the fridge.

For chocolate lovers, you can't get any better than an Oreo cookie cheesecake base. The benefit of using an Oreo is that you get to enjoy two scrumptious flavors and textures: the earthy richness of the crunchy chocolate biscuit and the soft, vanilla creme filling. The other advantage of using Oreos is that the bottom layer of the biscuit won't absorb the cheesecake because only the top layer is exposed to the cream cheese batter. This makes for a crisper, more substantial base and a clear delineation between crust and filling.

Finally, if you've got a mishmash of leftover cookies in the biscuit barrel, why not make a batch of cheesecakes that have an assortment of diverse 'surprise' bases? From shortbread and chocolate chip to gingernut and almond, anything goes when making mini cheesecakes with scrumptiously sturdy bases.