Secret Recipe Club June: Daim (Heath) Bar Cheesecake Cookie Pies

Its' time for another Secret Recipe Club recipe - yay! Last month I sat out, because of holidays, a small party we had for Hubby's son and all the preparations in that connection.

But now I am back with a delicious recipe from Hugs & Cookies XOXO, who was my SRC buddy this month.
For the past weeks, we have been trying to eat healthy - or at least healthiER (since we should both lose some weight), so when I found that Hugs & Cookies is indeed a lot about cookies and cakes, I didn't know how to react at first. But at second thought, I found it to be good, since we do have to allow ourselves to sin a little now and then. And some cake could be this week's allowed-for sin.

Hugs & Cookies is written by Danielle, who is a first grade teacher and proud mom of 2 boys, and she has TONS of mouthwatering recipes for cookies, ice cream, cakes, dessert - all the things that are supposedly bad for you.
Or things that makes life worth living.
You choose.

She also has a gluten free blog right here  - check out both her blogs for loads of great stuff!

I settled on the Heath Bar Cheesecake Cookie Pies quite quickly - it's been a long time since I baked something that resembled a cookie, and the cheesecake-like filling was screaming my name.

Only problem was - we don't have Heath bars in Denmark. But I found out that the caramel/chocolate bar Daim should be very similar, and you can find that in almost every supermarket here.

I only made half the portion, and then I experimented a little - since going to Crete for the holidays in May, and meeting with a Greek food blogger who uses olive oil instead of butter in almost all of her baking, it has been my intention to try this, at least with some baking/dessert recipes. However, olive oil would probably taste too strong in this recipe, so instead I used a good quality coldpressed canola oil (something that we have a lot of in Denmmark) as replacement for the butter in the crust.
I was prepared for a failure and didn't expect a lot. Butter will cool down and make the crust firm - oil will just... be oily.
And as expected, the crust didn't get firm but was very crumbly - it still tasted fine, though, even though it was not possible to get the cakes out of the muffin pan without most of the crust staying in the pan.
For the oil-instead-of-butter to work, you will need a recipe that contains something else that can bind the dough together, like eggs and flour.
Hopefully, I'll have more luck next time I am in the mood for experiments.

Daim Bar Cheesecake Cookie Pies:
8 pcs. + an extra cheesecake without crust
adapted from Hugs & Cookies XOXO

1 cup / 2,5 dl chopped Daim (or Heath) bars
1 1/4 cup / 3 dl graham cracker crumbs (I used Digestive like I normally would for a cheesecake)
4-5 tbsp melted butter (I write butter even though I used oil, just in case someone doesn't read my explanation of why this doesn't work. This is double the portion, and Danielle also mentions that 2 1/2 tbsp would be too little)
8 oz / 240 g soft cream cheese
1/2 cup / 1 1/4 dl sugar
1 egg
1/2 tbsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 tbsp caramel sauce (I used Dolce Latte, which is another version of Dulce de leche)
+ extra caramel sauce for serving

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F / 180 Celsius.
Mix crackers and butter in a blender or food processor and blend until the crackers are covered in butter.
Spoon a few tablespoonfuls of cracker crumbs into each hole in a muffin top pan (I don't really know if what I used is called a muffin top pan, but it is shaped as a muffin pan - it's just only a few mm high) and press the crumbs down firmly (as mentioned, I only got 8 crusts - may have put a little too much in each, so I got some leftover cheesecake dough, which I baked in a heartshaped ramekin, greased and dusted with sugar). 
When oven is warm, bake for 5-6 minutes until the "edges" (no edges in a round pan, though, are there?) begin to brown lightly. Take the pan out of the oven.
Use a mixer (stand or hand) to beat the cream cheese with the sugar until the mixture is smooth and creamy. Add the egg, vanilla and caramel sauce and mix until everything is combined. Scrape the sides of the bowl if necessary.
Pour about 3-4 tbsp of dough onto each baked cracker crust and top with chopped Daim/Heath bar.
Bake for approx. 25 minutes - test with a tooth pick if the center is done. If dough doesn't stick to the tooth pick, it will be finished.
When removed from the oven, loosen the "edges" with a knife (use plastic if your pan is non-stick) - let cool completely, remove the pies and put them in the fridge. When serving, top with extra caramel sauce.

Conclusion:

Okay, so no, the oily crust didn't exactly work - but that is really not important, because OH.MY.GOD these are good!
The soft and creamy cheesecake filling, the chocolate/caramel topping... And because of the cream cheese, it doesn't get too sweet.
I'm in love.

Gooey cheesecake filling - this one was the best of them all!

Even Hubby (who is NOT a caramel-kinda-guy, and who thought it was a waste of money buying Daim and making cakes when we are supposed to be on a diet) had to change his opinion about caramel.
At least in these pies.

Thank you Danielle for this recipe - I loved it!


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