The Cookies & Cream Cheesecake

A fan favorite, this little dandy will be the talk of any dessert menu.

You'll need....

INGREDIENTS

All of this should be room temperature when you start.

* About 20 Oreo cookies. I prefer the double stuff myself.
* 5 eggs
* 1 tablespoon of vanilla extract. (Imitation Vanilla may also be used)
* 1 cup plus 1 tablespoon of sugar.
* 1 cup (1 large stick) of unsalted butter.
* 24 ounces of cream cheese.
* 8 ounces of sour cream.
* 1 tablespoon of cornstarch.

THE EQUIPMENT

* A 9" cake pan at least 2" deep, but if you can manage a 3" pan that will be better.
* Some parchment paper at least 18" x 12"

* a baking pan at least 10" on a side and 1 1/2" deep. This will be used for the water bath so it can be larger if you need, but the cake pan will need to fit inside with at least a half inch of space between the walls.

* a 1 quart freezer bag.
* a medium frying pan.
* a wisk.
* a rubber spatula
* a pair of large mixing bowls
* two flat plates (1 for flipping and one for cutting and serving.)
* a medium sized bowl.
* a heavy flat bottom glass. 
* at least 1 wooden stirring spoon.
* Scissors
* a thin bladed knife
* a long thin knife at least a 9 1/2" blade. This knife can be used for the same purpose as the first knife. 

THE CRUST

Ok first thing you want to do is get started on the crust mix. Start by separating the Oreo cookies from the stuffing. I put the stuffing in one mixing bowl and the cookies in the other while doing this. Then melt your butter in the frying pan under low heat and while this is going on toss all but a couple table spoons of your cookies in the freezer bag, zip her up and proceed to crush the cookies into tiny little morsels. Nothing bigger than say a dime should still be in the bag when you're done crushing them. once the butter is melted, toss in 1 tablespoon of sugar and incorporate it into the butter.

Now remove the pan from the heat and mix in all of your remaining cookie bits. You may think there is not enough butter to coat all the cookies, but trust me, keep stirring, it'll all get wet enough. It doesn't need to be perfect.

Once you have stirred it all up, you can let it rest aside and cool a bit while you prep the baking pan.

 

PAN PREP

First let's start preheating the oven to 325 degrees now so it's ready when we need it.

Now we're going to make the parchment to line the pan. Why use parchment instead of baking grease? Well, cheesecake is very fatty and tends to just soak up fatty pan grease. And it's also very sticky and we want it to come out of the pan when it's time. So why not use wax paper? Wax melts and you don't want wax covered crust, do you?

Ok, so this is going to get tricky and I will do my very best to get some pictures up to help you understand this step, but what we are going to do is use some very basic kindergarden style snowflake making techniques to make a round piece of parchment to cover the bottom of our pan.

First cut your piece of parchment into a 12" x 12" square. This will leave you at least the 12" x 6" strip which you will you shortly, so place it aside for now.

Fold your 12" x 12" piece in half. Now fold in half the other way. there should be one corner that was folded twice. Draw an imaginary line from that corner to the opposite corner and then fold again along this line. Now draw another imaginary line from the now trice folded corner to the middle of the opposite edge and fold again along this line. You should now have a wedge shaped piece of parchment.

Take the tip of the wedge and place it in the center of your baking pan and flatten it out all the way up to the edge of the bottom of the pan. Now crease it well where the paper meets the wall of the baking pan. Take it out and cut along that crease.

If you did it right, you should unfold the wedge and have a circular piece of parchment that fits ideally in the bottom of your cake pan.

Now for the 12" x 6" strip. Cut in in half length wise so you have (2) 12" x 3" strips. These will line the wall of your pan.
  

What I like to do is pour some water in my baking pan and swish it around to get all the wall wet. Then pour out the water, but not dry the pan. Now when I put the parchment in the pan it will stick to the bottom and walls making it a lot easier to work with for the next step.

 

MAKING THE CRUST

Now your pan should have the parchment all nice and covering the walls and bottom, so you can now pour in some of your crust mix. I prefer to pour in just enough to coat the bottom. Some people prefer a thicker crust, which is ok if you like that (And using a pan deeper than 2") but I use very little crust to great results. People comment positively all the time about the thin crust. So it's up to you, either way the method is the same. Pour in the crust mix to the desired thickness and then use your heavy glass to tap it all down into a uniform flat crust. You don't have to crush it down, just tap tap tap lightly and it will all go into place just fine.

Now you toss the pan into the 325 degree oven just for 10-15 minutes to temper the crust into a semi solid mass. This insures that when you pour in the cheesecake batter it covers the crust instead of separating it and getting it mixed in with the batter.

Why haven't we done the side crust yet? That comes later. In fact at the end. So you can toss that extra cookie crust mix into that medium bowl we have set aside.

Now the fun begins.

THE BATTER

At this time reduce the oven temperature to 250 degrees.

Some people use electric mixers for this and that's fine, but they tend to whip in extra air which makes the batter more....fluffy.. and we don't really want fluffy, we want thick and creamy for this cheesecake. So I go the extra mile and whisk it all together. And with most baking, HOW you mix is almost as important as what you mix.

You should already have all the Oreo stuffing in this mixing bowl so first lets start with the sour cream. Put all 8 ounces into the mixing bowl and stir it around with the wisk to coat the wisk and the sides of the bowl until the Oreo stuffing dissolves. Makes the next part easier, trust me.

Now put in the cream cheese, corn starch and the 1 cup of sugar. Now you're going to be glad you have everything at room temp. Wisk it all together. This is going to take a while. It will seem very hard at first, then it will start blending together and become cottage cheese like in appearance. Keep whisking it together until it is smooth like cake icing. In fact at this point is is cream cheese cake icing. Now you now how to make your own cake icing. You can add flavors at this point and spread it over cake if you like.......but we're not making icing, were making cheese cake....so lets move on.

Next add in your vanilla extract or imitation vanilla and stir with the wisk until it is gone. Then add (1) whole egg and stir until it is completely mixed in. Then add a second whole egg and mix until it is completely mixed in. Do the same with a third whole egg and when it is completely gone you can toss in the yokes of the two remaining eggs and mix them in. Should be very easy to stir at this point and appear more like pancake batter. Last toss in those 2 tablespoons of cookie crumbs.

Now your tempered crust should be cool to room temp and so you can pour the batter in. Use the rubber spatula to get it all out. It will come to the very top of a 2" cake pan, but if you have the lining done right then it should cover the pan an inch over the top to prevent any spillage. 

Now take your larger baking pan and place the batter filled pan in the center of it. Place it in the oven and then pour hot water in the larger pan about 1/2 to 2/3 the way up the side of the batter filled pan.

Close the door and wait an hour.

At 1 hour you need to start checking your cake. Open the oven door and tap the side of the cheesecake pan. Ideally it will wiggle slightly in the middle, but not at all on the edges. If it ripples like it's all liquid, close the door and wait ten minutes before checking again. Repeat this process until the edges don't move and the middle wiggles slightly like firm jello.

Now turn off the oven and let the oven vent with the door open a full minute. Then close the door and let the cheesecake cool slowly in the oven for 1 more hour.

Remove the cheesecake from the water bath at this point and place it in the fridge for at least 6 hours to set completely.

CUTTING THE CHEESECAKE

First we have to remove the cheesecake from the pan. Easy enough. Take your thin knife and cut between the wall and parchment on the sides all the way around to make sure the cheesecake did not get through anywhere and stick to the wall.

Now fill your sink with about 2 inches of hot water and float your pan in it for about 10 seconds to help separate anything sticking to the base of the pan.

Now take one of your flat plates and place it on top of the cake face down. Hold one hand on top of the plate bottom and the other hand on the bottom of the cake pan and flip it over. Put them on the counter and you should easily be able to lift the cake pan off of the cheesecake without issue. You can then just peel the parchment off and you now have an upside down cheesecake on a plate. You're almost done.

Now take your second flat plate (The one you chose for cutting and serving) and place it face down on the cheesecake. Put one hand firmly on the top plate the other firmly on the bottom plate and flip again. Now your cheesecake it right side up and ready to cut.

The long thin knife should be run under very hot water for about 5 seconds and dried before each cut.

Imagine the cheesecake is a clock face. 12 numbers. Make your first cut from the 12 o'clock position to the 6 o'clock position.

Rinse the knife under hot water for 5 seconds and dry.

Next cut from the 3 o'clock to the 9 o'clock.

Rinse the knife under hot water for 5 seconds and dry.

Now from 10 o'clock to 4 o'clock.

Rinse the knife under hot water for 5 seconds and dry.
11 o'clock to 5 o'clock

Rinse the knife under hot water for 5 seconds and dry.

1 o'clock to 7 o'clock

Rinse the knife under hot water for 5 seconds and dry.

2 o'clock to 8 o'clock.

Now you have 12 even slices of cheesecake. But wait. We have to finish the crust for the sides.

Take the cheesecake and hold it over the bowl of crust mix you have left. Just take some mix in your hand and tap it onto the sides of the cheesecake. A thin layer will stick to the side. Do this all the way around holding the section you are working on over the bowl to catch any fall off.

If you prefer a thicker crust, simply microwave the bowl of crust mix for about 30 seconds to get it nice and warm and more of it will stick to the cheesecake when you tap it on. You can mash it in there if you feel adventurous, but I prefer it to be a nice thin layer of crust.

Put all the remaining crust mix in the freezer bag and toss in the freezer for a future cheesecake.....or leave in the bowl, add milk and eat as cereal....Mmmmmmmm.

You now have a ready to eat cookies & cream cheesecake. Enjoy.
 

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