Desserts

Baked Oreo Cheesecake

A buttery oreo biscuit base, followed by a creamy cheesecake layer filled with shards of soft biscuit, topped with even more crushed oreos.

Fact: It’s so rich and decadent that I’m banned from making this more than twice a year in my house. So you guys might as well make it instead.

We love a baked cheesecake over here, texturally it’s completely different from a non baked alternative. It’s creamy but firm, but not cakey. It’s got body to it and an incredible melt in your mouth texture. The buttery biscuit base just crumbles away and the shards of baked oreo pieces have a subtle soft bite that makes this entire cheesecake heavenly. Yup – heavenly.
You just have to make it.

Baked cheesecakes show their face during the summer and every Christmas here. Or… whenever my sister demands it as she’s probably even more obsessed than I am. I can’t stress enough how good this is!

What you’ll need

Cream cheese – a soft white mild cheese, the most popular brand probably being Philadelphia. This is essential for any cheesecake. Other variants like mascarpone can also be used. I haven’t had much luck with vegan cream cheeses, so if anyone does try, please let me know how it goes and the brand you used!
Soured cream – this adds a ton of flavour and helps to keep the cheesecake light and moist
Icing sugar – adds sweetness but also contains some starch to help with binding
Corn flour – helps to bind and ‘set’ the cheesecake
Oreos – obviously essential! These small sandwich biscuits have a rich chocolate outer layer and a creamy filling in the middle.
Vanilla extract – always use a good quality extract for maximum flavour
Butter – either unsalted or salted works fine. I do prefer salted for cheesecake bases as a little salt adds great depth to desserts

Baking and cracked cheesecakes

Normally baked cheesecakes are notorious for developing huge crater-like cracks which are understandably a bit of an eye-sore. There’s a few reasons for this:
-Overbaked and dry cheesecakes develop a crust which can crack
-Whisking too vigorously and incorporating air into the batter. We do not want air in a cheesecake, this will cause these pockets of gas to expand and hence create cracks
Forgetting to grease your tin, if any of the cheesecake sticks, it will contract during cooling and pull apart – thus creating cracks
-Oven temperature too high/ cheesecake too close to heat source- this will cause overbaking or a crust to form. Once a crust forms it’s quite likely to crack

To help prevent this, we’re going to:
–Mix the filling ingredients together with a spatula, not a whisk. The technique to mixing this is to ‘beat’ it to remove any air
–Place your oreo cheesecake in the bottom 1/3rd of the oven to prevent this
–ONLY bake until the outer area has set and the middle 2″ diameter still wobbles, then turn the oven off
–Run a knife around the edge of the cheesecake and place back into the oven with it switched off
–Allow it to cool for a further 1hr in the oven. This gradually drops the temperature to prevent sudden contraction of the cheesecake
–I don’t use a waterbath, I haven’t ever felt the need as I know the settings on my oven to get this spot on. All ovens will vary to some degree so it may take some trial and error to figure out the right method for you. If you do want to use a waterbath, feel free just make sure you seal the cheesecake tin securely with foil to prevent water seeping in and ruining your bake

After baking you can enjoy this immediately, but it’s best after 2 hours in the refrigerator. This will allow it to firm up slightly but also stay creamy.

How long will it last?

3-4 days refrigerated
Remove from the fridge and allow to sit at room temperature for 30mins before serving for best results

And that’s that! I hope you guys all enjoy my baked oreo cheesecake!