Meet Michelle Konkoly, our newest contributor! She’s a student at Georgetown who bakes, decorates cakes and dabbles in all things delicious in her spare time. Be sure to check back the next two Mondays for more great posts from her (and crazy-good recipes!).
One of my roommates turned 21 recently, and I wanted to make a special dessert for her to indulge in after a crazy weekend of celebrating. These chocolate-covered Oreo Cheesecake bars fit the bill perfectly, especially since she’s pretty much gluten-free and not a fan of traditional cake.
These bars are rich, creamy, and filled with awesomeness. A crunchy Oreo crust is topped with cheesecake batter with big hunks of Oreo mixed right in. And of course, the whole thing is covered in chocolate, because, why not? Your friends will go nuts over these, I promise.
These are super simple to make and don’t require any fancy equipment. To make the crust, you need to finely crush Oreos, which you can do by just pounding away at the cookies in heavy-duty Ziplock bag, or if you have a MagicBullet (I love mine!), blender, or food processor, you can pulverize the Oreos in there. Mix the crumbs with a little melted butter and press them in a foil lined pan – I’ve found the best way to press the crumbs in there is to spray your hands with a little cooking spray.
Next, mix up the filling. The recipe calls for sour cream, but I’m a Greek yogurt nut and decided to sub that for the sour cream. Hey, it saves some calories too! Not that this is exactly a diet food…
After the bars are baked and slightly cooled, melt up some chocolate and butter and spread it over the top. Make sure to let these guys cool in the fridge for at least 4 hours or overnight, if you’ve got the time – it helps the flavors come together better.
When you’re finally ready, cut the bars up and be prepared to rival the Cheesecake Factory.
Chocolate-Covered Oreo Cheesecake
Recipe from Kraft Foods
Ingredients:
- 36 Oreos, divided
- ½ cup (1 stick) butter or margarine, divided
- 4 packages (8 ounces each) cream cheese, softened to room temperature
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 cup sour cream or plain Greek yogurt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 4 eggs
- 4 squares semi-sweet Baking chocolate, or ½ cup semisweet chocolate chips
Steps:
- Preheat oven to 325°F.
- Line a 13×9-inch baking pan with foil, with ends extending over sides. Finely crush 24 cookies. Melt ¼ cup butter (half a stick); mix with crumbs. Press onto bottom of prepared pan.
- Beat cream cheese and sugar with hand mixer until blended. Add sour cream and vanilla; mix well. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating after each just until blended. Roughly chop remaining cookies and gently stir into batter; pour over crust.
- Bake 45 minutes or until center is almost set. You want the edges to just be barely brown. Cool. Microwave chocolate and remaining butter in microwaveable bowl on high for 30 seconds; stir. Microwave for additional 20 second intervals until you can stir the mixture. Cool slightly and spread on top of cheesecake. Refrigerate at least 4 hours.
- Use foil handles to lift cheesecake from pan before cutting to serve. When cutting, wipe knife with a damp towel in between each cut.
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