"Light" Oreo Cheesecake Cupcakes

I'm not the biggest cheesecake fan, but I am in a relationship with someone who is. While I had elaborate plans for a birthday cake for his big day (he turned 30 about two weeks ago!) I was paranoid my cake decorating skills would be that of a kindergartener so I made some back-up treats.

I saw a few different recipes on the interwebs lately that piqued my interest. First, was a recipe for oreo cheese(cup)cakes that used an oreo cookie as the crust. These seemed completely adorable, and almost looked like they'd taste good. I also saw a recipe for a greek yogurt cheesecake that made even my mouth water.

So... I kind of combined them.

a shot of the oreo "crust"

• 8 oz Neufchatel Cheese at room temp  (Does anyone in the world know how this is pronounced?)
• 1/2 cup sugar -- I used superfine because it is what I have on hand
• 1 rounded cup of Greek yogurt (I used fat free, but I bet it would be even better with 2% or full fat)
• 4 egg whites at room temp
• cinnamon and vanilla to taste (I used a dash of each)
• 16 reduced fat oreos in the bottom of cupcake cups
• 6 reduced fat oreos all smashed up. (I used the food processor but if I did it again I'd just put them in a baggie and break them. They ended up way too uneven in the good old FP. Half dust, half giant chunks...)

Preheat oven to 275. Whip egg whites until frothy and then whip in all other ingredients (except oreos). Then fold in the Oreo crumbs and fill the cupcake liners (with Oreos in the bottom)-- I filled exactly 16. Then bake for 22 minutes, allow to cool to room temperature on your counter and then put in the fridge before serving.

These were so delicious that I ended up making them again for book club! The second time I  used golden oreos and put sliced strawberries on top. The cupcakes are the perfect portion controlled size of cupcake, and they taste just enough like yogurt to make me very happy!

yum!