Last week my boyfriend and I started using Blue Apron for our meals. My wonderful parents got it for us while I’m recovering from my food surgery and can’t drive to the grocery store. The meals are way better than I expected and I am enjoying trying all these new recipes, but having these delicious restaurant style dinners is leaving us craving a dessert to finish off our meal. So today after dinner, Mike, our roommate Will, and I realized that we all share a love of cheesecake. After that, I decided what better time to make cheesecake than tonight!? And, BONUS, I have a package of Halloween Oreo’s (impulse purchase) to make a yummy Oreo Cheesecake. 
OREO CHEESECAKE
- 2 1/2 lbs Cream Cheese
- 1 1/2 cups Sugar
- 3 Tbsp Flour
- 5 ea Eggs
- 1 tsp Vanilla
- 6 ea Oreo’s
OREO CRUST
- 1 pkg Oreo’s (minus 6 for chzcake)
- 3 Tbsp Butter
This recipe is a good amount for one 9 inch round cheesecake. I decided to try some mini cheesecakes as well, so I made 12 mini cheesecakes and one 8 inch round cheesecake. A spring form pan is ideal for making cheesecake, and silicon baking molds work wonderfully for mini cheesecakes. If you don’t have those pans, like me in this demo, you can use a muffin pan with cupcake liners for the mini cheesecakes, and a round cake pan with a lot of pan spray and a good freezer for the large cheesecake. Preheat your oven to 300°F.
- The first step is to make the Oreo crust. You can do this in a food processor, or by hand with a Ziploc bag. Take your package of Oreo’s (minus the 6 you will need for the cheesecake batter), and crush them. I put mine in a bag and smashed them by hand, or you can pulverize them in a food processor. Melt your butter. Mix the crushed Oreo’s into the melted butter (either by hand or add the butter to the food processor) and mix until well combined.
- For the mini cheesecake, use a little less than a tablespoon of the Oreo crust for each. Smash it down into the cupcake pan; I like to use a measuring cup to help press the crust into the pan.
For a large cheesecake, cut a piece of parchment paper the size of your pan, spray the pan with pan spray, and then place the parchment inside. Then use the entirety of the Oreo crust and smash it into the bottom of your pan. 
- Now that your crust is ready, we can make the cheesecake batter. The first step is to beat the cream cheese in your mixer, using the paddle attachment, until the cream cheese is very smooth. Make sure the scrape the sides and bottom of your bowl. If your cream cheese is too cold, you can use a kitchen torch on the sides of the bowl to help soften it and beat out any chunks.
- Add your sugar and flour and beat until the mixture is smooth. The flour can be omitted if you have a gluten sensitivity; it just aids in the texture of your final product.
- Now you can add your eggs and vanilla, in two additions. Add half of your eggs/vanilla and mix until it is well combined.
Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl, and then add the remaining eggs/vanilla. The mixture should look smooth and shiny at this point.
- Crush the 6 Oreo’s into medium sized chunks and add them to your cheesecake mixture. Fold them into the mixture until they are well incorporated.
- If you are making the mini cheesecakes, I would recommend using a scoop to portion the cheesecake batter into the cupcake tins. If you are making the large cheesecake, you can just pour the batter into your pan with the Oreo crust.
- Now it’s time to bake the cheesecake. This recipe needs to be baked using a water bath. Place the cupcake pan onto a baking sheet with an edge, and pour water into the corner of the baking sheet, filling the pan about halfway. Place the cake pan into a larger cake pan or Pyrex casserole pan if you have one, and pour water down the side to fill that pan about halfway.
- Bake the cupcake pan for about 30-40 minutes. The larger cake will take about 1 1/2-2 hours in the oven. Be sure your oven is only at 300°F; you want to bake your cheesecakes on low heat for a longer period of time.
- When they are done
baking, they will not jiggle much when you shake the pan. Remove the cheesecake from the oven and allow it to cool at room temperature until you can comfortably touch the pan. Then transfer it to either the freezer or refrigerator to finish cooling.
- Carefully take your cheesecake out of the pan. If you are not using a spring form pan, be sure the cheesecake is completely frozen when you do this! Using a kitchen torch on the sides of your pan will make this process a bit easier, by helping you to loosen the edges from the pan.
- You can either serve as is, or if you’re feeling fancy, you can add a whipped cream topping and some chocolate sauce, sprinkles, or crushed Oreo’s. All that’s left to do is enjoy!
