Wednesday 24 August 2011

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!

9 comments:

  1. Mmm... Oreos are in the air this week. I just saw something about Oreo truffles the other day, that also incorporated cream cheese/cheesecake-like ingredients. It sounds like a winning combo!

    I love good old NY-style Cheesecake sometimes, usually topped with fresh fruit; and tend to favor more fruit-based desserts... call me crazy, but chocolate just ISN'T my thing. (*gasp!) I mean, I love a good piece of sea salted dark chocolate now and then - but chocolate cake, fudge, pudding etc doesn't do anything for me. I'd much rather have a fruit crisp, or cobbler, or Banoffee Pie or my favorite, STICKY TOFFEE PUDDING!

    Good luck to Liam on the job! :)

    ~

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  2. Oh really? Which blog was that on? Sounds good, I love truffles! :) Liam had been saving our pack of Oreos to make the Oreos baked inside choc chip cookies that did the rounds on blogs a while back...but I don't think he minded me using them too much!! :)

    Mmm, I LOVE sticky toffee pudding, that is probably one of my favourite 'winter' desserts, but like you I usually go for fruity ones...my mind went a bit blank when I was answering my own question in the post!!

    Thanks, I so hope he gets the job! At the moment his days off are Saturdays and Mondays, so he never has two consecutive days off to relax...whereas if he got this job he would get actual weekends, and school holidays off too...it would be AMAZING! Haha, hope I'm not jinxing it by keep talking about it!!

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  3. I like cheesecake, but I find it so rich so would generally only have a few spoonfuls and then wish I had chosen something else. I like things like apple crumble, but if we order dessert out we tend to share, and Andy does not really like fruit (he is getting better) so we would typcally choose a brownie or some ice cream to share.

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  4. Cheese cake is my ultimate favourite dessert, boyfriend and I have been known to polish off an entire one in a sitting. Super big luck to Liam and this job!

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  5. I must admit cheesecake is a bit rich even for me. I'm sure I would have loved the nutty variety though! I adore cashew cream.

    My favourite dessert has to be my Mum's apple crumble: served cold with ice cream in the summer, and hot with custard in the winter :)

    xxx

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  6. That looks so nice! I love cheesecake, and oreos.. never had oreo cheesecake though.. I feel I ought to change that!

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  7. Lucy -- Regarding my earlier comment...
    I first saw them on Kath's blog... and there are lots of mentions and recipes for them in the comments section of this post: http://www.katheats.com/chickpeas-are-vegan

    Also, Averie has a recipe here: http://www.loveveggiesandyoga.com/2010/12/chocolate-covered-oreo-balls.html

    I think I will try to make these this holiday season (it kind of seems like a Christmassy dessert to me?) and I think I will definitely use the white chocolate to cover them. It makes them so much more attractive! Brown balls look like... well... you know... ;)
    But they sound delicious!

    ~

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  8. Maria - I find cheesecake really rich too...although I have to admit that this cheesecake has been very tempting sitting in the fridge - lots of random spoonfuls were eaten during the day yesterdy!! I'm impressed at you and Andy sharing desserts - Liam doesn't like sharing/wants a whole dessert himself, so I always find myself ordering (and eating) a whole one too!

    Leigh - thank you, he should be finding out today, fingers crossed! I like buying the cheesecake Waitrose/Tescos etc sell which is just two slices per pack...then I don't feel bad about us eating it all!!

    Jess - the cashew topping (especially chocolatified!) was amazing - it would've made the perfect cheesecake topping - so thick and fudgy - a better cheesecake consistency than the topping I eventually made really...it was perfect eaten by the spoonful as well though! :) Mmm, I love apple crumble too, it's one of the few fruity desserts Liam likes as well so will have to make one at some point soon!

    Laura - oreo cheesecake is amazing! I've had it at restaurants before - I think maybe TGI Fridays? Yum!

    Angie - thanks for coming back! I will bookmark those recipes - you're right, truffles are perfect for Christmas...I like making things like that for gifts to family. I think I've seen Averie's ones before, but Kath's are new to me. Thanks! :)

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