Secret Recipe Club: Oreo Cookies and Cream Cheesecake Bars

This month for the Secret Recipe Club, I was assigned The Busy Mom Café, written by Nancy.  The Secret Recipe Club is a challenge in which you are assigned a blog and you have a  month to choose anything you'd like to make from that blog. 

I haven't posted since the last Secret Recipe Club reveal day.  I took on another person's responsibilities at work this month and have been exhausted every day when I get home.  My husband has been amazing and has stepped up and taken over a lot of dinners. 

Since it has been getting warmer, I decided to make Cookies and Cream Ice Cream last weekend.  Oreos were on sale and so I had an extra package, and instead of eating through row after row of them myself, I decided to make these delicious bars from Nancy's blog that I had been thinking about since I first received her blog.  Please head over to Nancy's blog and check out her other recipes.  She has a lot of breakfast recipes that sound incredible.

Oreo Cookies and Cream Cheesecake Bars
recipe from THE BUSY MOM CAFE
Ingredients
Crust:
1 package Oreo cookies
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Filling:
3-8 ounce packages cream cheese, room temperature
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup sour cream, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 large eggs, room temperature

Directions
1) Preheat oven to 325°F. Line a 9 x 13-inch pan with foil, leaving a 2-inch overhang on two sides, spray with cooking spray.
2) Place 28 Oreos in a food processor and process until finely ground. Pour the crushed Oreos into a large bowl. Melt 4 tablespoons of unsalted butter in a small bowl. Add the melted butter, and stir crumbs and butter are all combined.
3) Place the cookie-crumb mixture in a foil-lined pan. Using your fingers, press the mixture firmly and evenly into the bottom. Bake for 10 minutes, then remove to a cooling rack while you make the filling.
4) Crush up the remaining Oreos in half, so that your oreos are roughly chopped, and set aside.
5) Combine in a large bowl the cream cheese and sugar. Beat the combo with an electric mixer on medium speed for about two minutes. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl with a spatula and beat again until uniform. Beat in sour cream, vanilla and salt. Scrape down the bowl and mix again.
6) Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each. After beating in the last egg, scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl and beat one more time, to make sure the mixture is fully combined.
7) Pour in the chopped/ crushed oreos into the filling mixture. Stir in chopped Oreos with the same rubber spatula. Pour the cream cheese mixture over the baked cookie crust. Smooth the top with the rubber spatula.
8) Bake for 40 minutes or until the filling is set around the edges but still slightly wobbly in the center. Remove the pan to a wire rack to cool to room temperature, about 1 hour or longer.
9) When the cheesecake has set and cooled cover it with aluminum foil and place in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours or more.

These bars were amazing.  I loved the amount of cookie per cream cheese in each bar.  Mine took awhile to set-up, so don't make these right before you have to take them somewhere.  I had my husband take these to work minus the one that is pictured above, and he said that the guys in his office devoured them.  Thanks for a great recipe Nancy, these bars were every bit as delicious as they looked and sounded.

Blueberry Cheesecake Pie

Kim, the author of Just Baked, chose a pie theme for this month's What's Baking challenge.  Last year, I made a cheesecake for a holiday get together.  Everyone loved it and said they liked having an option that wasn't so traditional for the holidays. 

Part of what I like about the challenges is that I spend a lot of time looking through other people's blogs that I haven't ever looked at or haven't visited in awhile. I found this recipe on Mel's Kitchen Cafe.  Just reading her descriptions and seeing her pictures, had me hooked on this recipe.  Mel's Kitchen Cafe has some great recipes, so drop by her blog and check out other recipes like blue cheese and cheddar scalloped potatoes and Cuban street tacos.

Blueberry Cheesecake Pie
from Mel's Kitchen Cafe
Ingredients
For the Crumb Crust:9 large rectangular graham crackers (around 1 1/2 cups), crushed
2 tablespoons sugar
6 tablespoons melted butter

For the Cheese Custard:
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
For the Berries:
2 cups blueberries, rinsed
½ cup water
1/3 cup sugar
1 ½ tablespoons cornstarch mixed with 2 tablespoons cold water

Directions
1) Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.
2) In a small bowl, combine the crushed graham crackers, sugar and butter. Pat the crumb mixture into a 9-inch pie pan and bake for 8 minutes, until very lightly browned and set. Let the crust cool completely before filling. Leave the oven on.
3) In a medium bowl, combine the cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla and beat until thoroughly mixed and smooth. Add the eggs and beat well.
4) Pour into the cooled shell and bake until just set, 25-30 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool completely.
5) While the cheesecake is baking, combine the berries, water, and sugar in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer, covered, for 5 minutes, stirring once or twice to prevent sticking. Remove from the heat and add the cornstarch mixture. Return to a boil and cook for one minute, stirring constantly, until the mixture is thickened. Remove from the heat and cool until lukewarm.
6) Spoon the berries over the custard. Chill for at least one hour before serving.

 

This pie was really easy to make and very delicious as well.  I have never made a berry mixture to go on top of a dessert, and I learned that it is super easy.   This pie isn't very heavy, so it'd be a great dessert for a holiday with lots of heavy fare.  I'm glad that I continued the cheesecake "tradition" and look forward to next year's cheesecake.

Check out Kim's blog at the beginning of December to see the roundup of great pies!

Golden Oreo Cheesecake

The theme for the Crazy Cooking Challenge this month was cheesecake.  The themes are getting harder for me because they seem to be things that I've tried to make before and have failed majorly at making.  Last month's fried chicken challenge ended in me getting very frustrated and swearing off fried chicken ever again...which is pretty easy because I hate fried chicken in the first place.














This is now my third cheesecake "masterpiece".  The first one was for a recipe swap, and it turned out good, just nothing too exciting.  The second one was going good, and then I pulled it out of the oven and found a giant crack down the center of it.  This crack made some Grand Canyon crevasses seem small.  So, I guess this third one I didn't have too high of hopes for.  I figured I'd try to make something that sounded interesting, but if it didn't turn out, I'd just chalk it up to being something I'd always buy from the store, and never attempt at home again.

I loved the idea of an Oreo cheesecake, but a few months ago, my husband introduced me to Golden Oreos, which I love just as much as the chocolate ones. So, I decided to switch things up and use them in the cheesecake instead.  I found this recipe on blog that listed the blogger's favorite cheesecake recipe.  Bites of Sweetness has amazing pictures that make your mouth salivate even though you're a thousand miles away from her kitchen. 

Golden Oreo Cheesecake
barely adapted from Bites of Sweetness
Ingredients
1 package Oreo cookies, divided (any flavor)
1/3 cup of butter, melted
3 packages cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup of sugar
1 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions
1) Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Finely crush about 20 cookies and coarsely chop about 10 cookies; set aside.
2) Mix finely crushed cooke crumbs and melted butter in a bowl.  Press into the bottom of a 9-inch springform pan.
3) In a mixer, beat the cream cheese and sugar until creamy.
4) Add eggs one at a time and beat only until just incorporated.
5) Add sour cream and vanilla and mix until incorporated.
6) Fold in chopped cookies.
7) Spread mixture onto crust and bake for 55 to 60 minutes.
8) Place in the fridge and chill at least four hours, or overnight.

Chocolate glaze
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/8 cup sugar
1 tablespoon butter
1/8 cup corn syrup
4 1/2 squares of white baking chocolate, coarsely chopped

Directions
1) Place chocolate in a heat proof bowl.
2) Heat the cream, sugar, butter, and corn syrup in a small sauce pan over medium heat until just simmering.
3) Pour over chocoalte and mix until smooth. (The more you stir, the more it will thicken).
4) Pour over cheesecake and decorate the top as desired.

I liked the flavors of this cheesecake a lot.  I wish the oreos retained some of their crunch, but the flavor is still fantastic.  The blogger said that over-incorporating the eggs into the mixture causes cracks, and I just beat them in until incorporated and I still had cracks in the top of the cheesecake.  I guess that is what the chocolate glaze is for though.  This is a great change from the normal oreo cheesecake.

Cherry topped New York Cheesecake

Since I started cooking, I have only attempted one cheesecake.  I was talking to some friends that were coming over for Christmas dinner and I was talking about possibly making cheesecake for dessert instead of pies.  They seemed to jump on that idea, so I decided I would attempt another cheesecake.

Cherry topped New York Cheesecake
from Keebler
Ingredients
Crust
2 cups Keebler Graham Cracker Crumbs
1/2 cup margarine or butter, melted
2 tablespoons sugar

Filling
4 packages cream cheese (8 oz), softened
1 1/3 cups sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 tablespoon vanilla
3 eggs
1 cup sour cream 
1 can cherry pie filling 

Direcitons
*make sure all ingredients are room temperature
1)  In small bowl toss together graham crumbs, margarine or butter and 2 tablespoons sugar. Reserve 2 tablespoons of crumb mixture for garnish. Press remaining crumb mixture onto bottom and 2 1/4-inches up sides of 9-inch springform pan. Chill in freezer while preparing filling.
2)  In large mixing bowl beat cream cheese on medium speed of electric mixer until fluffy. Add 1 1/3 cups sugar, cornstarch and vanilla. Beat until combined. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until just combined after each addition. Stir in sour cream.
3) Pour into crust. Bake at 325°F about 1 1/4 hours or until center is almost set. Cool on wire rack for 15 minutes. Loosen sides of pan. Continue cooling on wire rack for 45 minutes more.
4)  Refrigerate at least 3 hours. Garnish as desired with cherry pie filling. Store in refrigerator. 

The second that the plates had been cleared from dinner, someone said,"Cheesecake?".  We all laughed and pulled it out.  This cheesecake got rave reviews from my friends.  It was creamy and had great flavor.  I loved the cherries, but I love cherries on everything.  This would also be amazing just plain.  I ended up covering mine because of a huge crack down the center.  I researched what happened and everything I read said your ingredients have to be at room temperature, which mine all were, so if you aren't going to top the cheesecake, research ways to keep it from cracking.  I'm thinking cheesecake may start to be a Christmas tradition, as I had fun making a dessert I normally don't make.  The only sad thing was this was the main thing people wanted to take home for leftovers, so I only have two small pieces left.

Chocolate Almond Cheesecake

For this week's recipe swap, I had a Chocolate Almond Cheesecake from Kate's Recipe Box.  I have to admit that my baking skills are quite lacking.  I always forget an ingredient, the texture is wrong, or it just tastes horrible.  Because of this, cheesecake has always been at the top of my "Don't Make" list because I assumed it would be much too difficult for me.

Lo and behold that I was challenged with a cheesecake for the swap.  So I looked at the ingredients and decided that it looked easy enough to tackle.  I bought a spring form pan from Wal Mart and was ready to make an amazing cheesecake. 

It was super simple to put together.  It wasn't as ingredient cumbersome as some of my other dessert recipes too.  My favorite part was cleanup though.  Usually my kitchen looks like a war zone with ingredients, bowls, spoons, and whisks.  This cheesecake made for a super easy cleanup though.

Chocolate Almond Cheesecake
adapted from Kate's Recipe Box

For the crust:
1 1/2 c. smashed oreos (with the centers taken out)
1/4 c. unsalted butter, melted

For the cheesecake:
4 oz. semisweet chocolate chips, divided
1 (8 oz.) package cream cheese, softened
1/2 c. white sugar
1 1/2 c. sour cream, divided
2 eggs
1 t. vanilla extract
1/4 c. finely diced almonds
2 T. firmly packed brown sugar

Combine the crust ingredients and mix well. Press mixture into a 9-inch springform pan.

Melt 3 oz. of the chocolate in the microwave for about a minute.  Stir the chips to make sure they all melt together. Set aside.

Whip cream cheese and white sugar together until creamy. Add 1/2 c. sour cream and eggs. Blend in melted chocolate and vanilla. Pour mixture into prepared crust. Bake at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes or until cheesecake center is set.

Blend remaining 1 c. sour cream and brown sugar.  Spread over cheesecake and then sprinkle with the almonds. Bake for an additional 5 minutes. Cool to room temperature.

Melt remaining 1 oz. chocolate. Drizzle over cheesecake. Chill for at least 4 hours before serving.

I took this up to my office since I don't like to keep desserts at my house and half of it was gone before 7:30 in the morning.  It was a great cheesecake.  I struggle with restaurant cheesecakes because they are either too plain and not worth the money or they are so rich that you can barely eat the sliver they gave you.  This cheesecake is just interesting enough without being too rich to eat.  It will definitely be thrown into the office dessert rotation again.