Plus, we need to get our last licks: “Cheesecake season” concludes at the end of spring. The dense cream cheese cheesecake we favor is too heavy for summer. So this may be our last recipe until fall.

The recipe is from Lauryn Cohen, a.k.a. Bella Baker. Says Lauryn:

“This is easily the best cheesecake I’ve ever made: a chocolate wafer cookie crust, a rich and creamy cheesecake layer, crushed Oreo cookies mixed into the silky batter and topped with a drizzle of chocolate ganache, chocolate whipped cream and more Oreo cookies.”

We made it for National Oreo Day, March 6th, using Oreo cookies.

 
 
RECIPE: COOKIES & CREAM CHEESECAKE

Ingredients

For The Crust

[1] Cookies & Cream cheesecake: a fusion of two favorites (both photos © Bella Baker [now closed]).

For The Filling

For The Chocolate Ganache

 
For The Chocolate Whipped Cream

1. PREHEAT the oven to 325°F. Generously butter the bottom and sides of a 9-inch springform pan.

2. MIX the melted butter with Oreo crumbs and sugar and press into the bottom of the pan. Bake for 5 minutes and set aside.

3. BEAT the cream cheese with a mixer on medium-high until fluffy, making sure that there are no clumps. Slowly add the sugar and continue beating cream cheese until mixed well. Add the eggs one at a time and continue to beat until blended. Add the vanilla, salt, and milk; beat until smooth and creamy. Add the flour and beat until the batter is satiny smooth. Stir in the coarsely chopped Oreo cookies with a spoon.

4. POUR the cream cheese mixture into the pan and bake for one hour and 15 minutes. After that time, turn the oven off and keep the oven door slightly open. Let the cheesecake stay in the oven for one hour. Remove from the oven and let cool enough to place in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours.

5. MAKE the ganache: Place heavy cream in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Place chopped chocolate in a medium-sized bowl. Once heavy cream has reached boiling pour half the heavy cream over the chopped chocolate. Let sit for 30 seconds, then gently stir chocolate and cream together with a rubber spatula in a figure-eight motion. Pour remaining heavy cream over chocolate and continue to gently stir. Add butter, one piece at a time, until ingredients are fully incorporated and the ganache is smooth and glossy.

6. MAKE the chocolate whipped cream: Beat heavy cream at high speed for about 2-3 minutes. Once the mixture has started to thicken, add cocoa powder and sugar and continue beating until whipped cream mixture has formed.

7. GARNISH the chilled cake. Drizzle the chocolate ganache over the top of the cake, in the grid pattern shown in the photo or in your own artistic interpretation. Pipe the chocolate whipped cream in mounds around the rim of the cake and in the center. Place one mini Oreo in each mound of whipped cream, and a chocolate wafer cookie in the center.

While this recipe may seem over the top to some, you’ll note that it’s a relatively flat cake—torte-like, not like the often-found three-inch-high/four-inch-high New York cheesecake.

So a slice is an indulgence, but not a jumbo indulgence.