Oreo Cheesecake

First Bikram Yoga class was great. Abit sore in some places, as certain muscles haven't been worked on for 2 weeks now. But it's great to be back in the swing of things. And also great to work off all the 'bad foods' that I ate while studying to become a scuba instructor.

One of those 'bad foods' is the Oreo Cheesecake, which I made on my day off before the first day of the IE. I got this recipe from a Philadelphia Cookbook that I got for free because I bought 3 Philadelphia products at Coles, called Simply Heaven. This is the first edition and there is a Simply Heaven Volume 2 book as well. Actually, I think this recipe is the only one I have tried from these 2 books....


The Oero Cheesecake is exactly that: Simply Heaven. It deserves to be in this book, on the front cover, and in big bold writing with bright neon lights!!

Ingredients:
350g Oreo Original Cookies
80g butter, melted
375g Philadelphia block cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup caster sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup cream
3 teaspoons gelatine, dissolved in 1/4 cup boiling water
200g white chocolate, melted, cooled slightly
Strawberries for decoration
Extra Oreo Original Cookies, broken for decoration, if desired

Method:
1. Place 250g of the Oreo Cookies in a food processor and process into fine crumbs. Add the butter and process to combine. Press the mixture into a greased and lined 18cm x 28cm slice pan and chill

making the base

2. Beat the Philly, sugar and vanilla with an electric mixer until smooth, then beat in the cream. Stir through the gelatine and white chocolate.

3. Roughly chop the remaining cookies and stir through the filling, then pour over the Oreo cookie base. Refrigerate 3 hours or until set. Cut into triangles and decorate with strawberries and extra Oreo cookies. Serve immediately.

making the filling

Since I don't own a food processor, the next best thing to mashing ingredients together is a mortar and pestle. Gaffa's massive heavy stone mortar and pestle works a treat, but takes a bit longer than it would normally. I use a spring form pan and baking paper on the base and around the sides to avoid sticky messes. You need 3 packets of Oreo cookies (you should have about 4-5 cookies left over if you use the correct amounts, but you can always put more in the filling or use them to decorate the top - I just eat them). You also need 2 blocks of Philly cheese, but only require 1 1/2 for this cheese cake. (Hmm so I should find another recipe for the remaining 1/2 block so there's no wastage every time...) Make sure it's quite soft before mixing, otherwise it starts off clumpy and takes ages to get a smooth texture. I never bother with strawberries for decoration, since the cheesecake is good enough without it! 

The cheese cake was a hit with Princess and Fabio, only taking 2 days between the 4 of us to consume it all - along with a Toblerone cake. It was so tasty that I didn't get to take a final photo of it!! 

Enjoy! Oreo cookies are yummy on their own, and even better in this cheesecake. I'm yet to find a cake recipe using Ferrero Rocher, as they're my all time favourite chocolates. If anyone finds one, please let me know!

So, what's your favourite chocolate?