mini tagalong cheesecakes

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As many of you are aware, FH and I were assaulted by tiny Girl Scouts the other week. Despite my best efforts, I was left with a couple boxes of Tagalongs hanging out in the pantry.  

I hadn’t opened them yet because… well, I know what happens when I open a box of Girl Scout cookies (or any cookies, to be honest) and let’s just say it’s not pretty.

Those “servings” on the side of the box? Lies.

The number of servings is closer to one than the number alleged on the side of the box, and the serving size varies mainly depending on how much space is between me and my self-loathing on that day.  (Oh, I went to the gym yesterday? That’s like 10 extra cookies!)

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A question lingered a moment in my head, “Do these little monsters know what they’re doing when they chase us with cookies and look at us with their stupid doe-eyed faces? Do they!?”

Like, I can walk by a cookie display at the store without caving (usually), but walking by a small child with a sad look who is practically begging me to purchase cookies? Even worse, one that COMES TO MY DOOR WITH COOKIES AND TRIES TO GUILT ME INTO BUYING THEM?

I’m pretty sure they know what they are doing to us. Preying on the weak.

So I was left with a problem to solve – how do I open the box of cookies without immediately inhaling all of the contents and collapsing into a pile of self-loathing on the floor?

My solution? Chop up all the cookies and divide them between another bite-sized treat… Thus, the mini Tagalong cheesecake was born.

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tagalong cheesecakes

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 25 minutes

Total Time: 40 minutes

Yield: 21 cheesecakes

Serving Size: 1 min icheesecake

Ingredients

  • 1 pound cream cheese, softened
  • 2/3 cup granulated sugar
  • 2 large eggs, room temperature, lightly beaten
  • 1/2 cup sour cream, room temperature
  • 1 cup peanut butter (not "all natural", I use Jif)
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 box Tagalongs, coarsely chopped** (or 1.5 cups mix-ins of your choice)
  • 21 whole cookies* (see note below)

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 275 degrees and line standard muffin tins with paper liners. Place 1 whole cookie in the bottom of each liner* (see note below)
  2. In a small bowl, gently beat eggs with vanilla extract, set aside.
  3. In a large bowl or stand mixer with paddle attachment, beat the cream cheese until smooth, scraping down the sides of bowl as needed. Add peanut butter and continue beating until incorporated.
  4. Gradually add sugar and continue beating until combined, scrape down sides of the bowl. .
  5. Drizzle in egg mixture, a bit at a time, beating until incorporated. Add sour cream and beat until combined.
  6. Scrape sides and bottom of the bowl and stir in chopped cookies by hand.
  7. Divide batter evenly among cookie-lined cups, filling each almost to the top. Bake about 22 minutes, or until filling is set. Outsides should be stiff but it's ok if the centers jiggle a little when you tap the pan.
  8. Transfer to wire racks to cool completely. Refrigerate uncovered (or they will get condensation on top) at least 4 hours or overnight.
  9. Serve with whipped cream, drizzled chocolate, and additional chopped cookies, if desired.

Notes

*For the "crust" you can use a cookie of your choice - I used a second box of Tagalongs for the first 16 and then used Oreos as needed for the rest.

**You could use 1.5 to 2 cups of any mix-ins for these cheesecakes - chopped peanut butter cups or chocolate/peanut butter chips would also be great.

I got 21 cupcakes out of this recipe, your yeild may vary depending on the depth of your cupcake tins.

With the variety of frozen cheesecakes sold in stores, I'm willing to bet that you could freeze these and thaw as needed but have yet to test this on my own.

https://wee-eats.com/2014/02/25/minitagalong-peanut-butter-cheesecake-recipe/

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9 thoughts on “mini tagalong cheesecakes

  1. Girl Guides don’t come to our house. I guess we aren’t posh/weak enough for them. (Though I think we can all agree that I have no strength when it comes to butter and sugar. Unless you count lifting them to the counter before eating…) As a result, we don’t get any of the cool cookies that we hear about on the interwebs. It is very, very sad.

    I guess I’ll have to use some crap-ass grocery store cookie for these cheesecakes. Mine will be called Mini Crap-Ass Cookie Cheesecakes.

    It doesn’t have the same ring though…

    • Oh you poor thing! Are Girl Scouts a US phenomenon?

      Maybe I’ll see if I can find some of these evil minions… Although through some sort of sorcery or another you can never find them when you’re looking for them. They always just find you… IF I CAN, I will send some cookies to you post haste. Although they aren’t as good as my childhood memories make them out to be, you deserve to try them at least once in your life. Of course, you could be an over-achiever and make your own tagalongs to put inside the cheesecakes…

  2. dammit i have been hoping and preying for a girl scout or fifty to come to my door ever since the day i finished Scouts. i want to look one of them in the eye, and smile kindly, and purchase so many cookies from them, because i remember just how frickin petrified i was to go door to door, selling cookies. and how pissed off i was by all the people who WOULDN’T EVEN BUY ONE BOX! bunch of lame asses.

    anyway, nary a scout have i seen in…. ten years now? i just want cookiez.

  3. haahahaha i LOVE your “preying on the weak” link. because TRUTH. The Girl Scouts are set up EVERYWHERE down here in florida, i’ve noticed, and although nothing has been, shall we say, “legalized” here recently, i have a feeling it’s based on a similar stragegy. 😉 because, Florida. just saying.

    i mean, obviously i super want these cheesecakes, too. Girl Scout cookies hold almost no appeal for me, but these that you made? I would cave in to these BIG TIME if i saw a table full of them outside a store.

    • It’s just mean to sell those cookies in FL, I mean, if I’ve learned anything from TV it’s that all old people have diabetes and need to steer clear of cookies (and order lots of diabetes testing supplies).

      You could also be an over-achiever like Movita wants to be and make your own tagalongs which has the added bonus of not supporting their evil Girl Scout empire!

      Even better – sign up the wee one to be a Girl Scout – BRING THEM DOWN FROM THE INSIDE!

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