The long winded way to an Oreo Cheesecake

Today Liam had an interview. He doesn't know if he's got the job yet, so the champagne is still chilling in the fridge...

But he does know that he's down to the final two, and he'll hear about the job by Friday, once they've finished checking references... *crosses fingers*

Whether the interview had gone well or badly, I knew I wanted to make him something. And after seeing Averie's post this morning, my initial thoughts were cheesecake. I reluctantly admitted that that recipe would be more for me than Liam though, seeing as he hates nuts! So I decided to use Averie's cashew topping, with an Oreo base from this recipe.

Problem #1 came when I started to make the base and realised that my little packet of Oreo biscuits was not enough to cover the whole tin tightly enough...

It doesn't look so bad in the above photo, but once I'd added the melted butter, it barely even covered two thirds of the pan. Not to be deterred, I transferred the base into my mini silicone loaf tins...

I popped these in the fridge and set about making the topping. But quickly realised it wasn't going to work for Liam's cheesecake. Don't get me wrong - it was delicious - but it was quite clearly nut based rather than cream cheese based, and I like I said, Liam doesn't like nuts. I tried adding all sorts to disguise the taste - chocolate, cocoa powder - before giving up, so have ended up with a delicious chocolate cashew butter for me!

It was at this point that I decided a trip to the shops was needed. I bought two more packets of Oreos, and two tubs of Philadelphia cream cheese. I first re-made the base. This time I used the food processor (me doing washing up in the middle of creating, *gasp*) to get the biscuits properly crushed, and used one new pack of Oreos, plus the bases I'd already created, and a little more butter. This worked properly to create a good base for my tin...

All the no-bake cheesecake toppings seemed to require double cream or whipping cream, which I didn't have. I did however have a tin of light condensed milk, which needed using (read: a month or two past expiry date!) so I decided to make a topping up. Into a bowl went two tubs of Philadelphia, 75g icing sugar, half a tin of condensed milk, and 5-6 roughly chopped Oreos. And out came this delicious topping...

I certainly enjoyed eating the leftovers from the mixing bowl of this...delicious!!

As I write this, the cheesecake is still in the fridge, hopefully setting. I will update this post with the results before publishing it. But for an hour in the kitchen (Liam took the children to see his Nan, so I had time to myself...always more productive that way!!) I don't think I've done too badly, aside from all the mess! I now have Chocolate Cashew Butter...

This is delicious, so fudgy and rich tasting!

Half a tin of condensed milk...

which might be used for something, or might just be eaten with a spoon!

And a hopefully delicious cheesecake to eat after dinner...

Now I've just got to decide what to cook for dinner!

*******

I'm back! :-D

Dinner was yummy - baked Camembert with carrots, frozen grapes, plus unpictured bread and caramelised onion chutney...

But more importantly, the cheesecake was amazing!!

Liam started eating his while I was taking photos, and called out to me "You're not going to believe how good this is!"

After he'd finished eating he announced "Oh yum, I'm in heaven right now!!" and then started pondering what "strange" ingredients I might have hidden in there! Haha, you're safe this once Liam!! :-p

Izzy had a smaller piece than us...

and declared that it was the "best cheesecake she'd ever had"...not that she could remember what cheesecake was before I served it up...so I doubt she had much to compare it to!!

And me? I'm am very pleasantly full, and glad that there's loads more left for tomorrow!

If this was left to me, it would last a couple of days as it is soooo filling, but I imagine that as Liam likes it, it will be gone by tomorrow!

What is your favourite dessert? Or what food would you "treat" yourself to as a celebration? For me, whilst this cheesecake is delicious, it wouldn't be my first choice as it is a bit too rich and filling. Liam adores it though, it really is his ideal dessert! I like more fruit based things, like summer pudding or banoffee pie... Hopefully some of your responses will make me drool  bring back memories too!