There are certain recipes that are near and dear to my heart and this is one of them.  The recipe has been handed down from my late great-grandma Mary Ann Seitler to my grandma Marilyn Seitler who has kept with tradition and passed it along to the grandkids where I will pass on to complete strangers via a blog on the world wide web. Just as they did back in their day!! 

An original version of this recipe had previously been submitted in a local baking contest where my grandma had taken 2nd place, so the family is definitely proud of this cheesecake! Today I altered the original recipe because my man loves Oreo cheesecake and we have a saying that goes both ways in our house “what my baby wants my baby gets.”  Trust me on this one, having a mantra like this in your relationship makes things so much easier at the end of the day for everyone involved! I love my man, so if he wants an Oreo cheesecake…challenge accepted!

Here’s what you’ll need:

10-12 chocolate graham crackers or oreo cookies

1/2 cup of unsalted butter (1 stick) melted

12 ounces of cream cheese (room temperature)

2 whole eggs

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 teaspoons of pure vanilla extract

1 teaspoon lemon juice

10 oreo cookies (half for cheesecake mixture – half for whipped topping)

topping:

1 cup sour cream

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

2  1/2 tablespoons granulated sugar

Whipped topping:

1 cup heavy whipping cream

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

3 tablespoons sugar (you can use granulated, powder, or even any sugar substitute)

1/2 oreo crumb mixture from the filling

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

 

Using a blender or food processor, process the graham crackers or cookies into a fine powder and mix in melted butter. Press crust mixture into a 9 inch pie pan or springform. Place crust in freezer to harden while you prepare the cream cheese mixture.

Using a mixer beat softened cream cheese and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, vanilla, and lemon juice until smooth. In a blender or food processor process the Oreo cookies into a fine crumb. Using only half of the Oreo cookie crumbs, gently fold into cream cheese mixture. Pour mixture evenly over the prepared crust and bake in oven for 25 minutes.

While this is baking, prepare the sour cream topping by whipping the sour cream, vanilla, and sugar in a small bowl and set aside.

Remove from oven when the mixture is firm. If it’s still loose, bake for another 10 minutes. After you remove it from the oven let it cool for 10 minutes. Once that’s done, spread the sour cream topping over the cheesecake evenly. Bake in the oven for another 10 minutes. Remove from oven and place in refrigerator for at least 5 hours, or overnight. If you’re in a hurry, you can place it in the freezer for a couple hours until chilled completely. It’s best to make this the night before.

If you want to get super duper fancy shmancy you can make your own whipped topping like I did with the other half of the Oreo cookie crumbs.

Using a hand mixture or Kitchenaid stand mixture whip heavy cream, vanilla, and sugar until peaks form. If you don’t have a mixer you can whip this by hand but you have to put some serious muscle into it to get air in the cream. Gently fold cookie crumbs into mixture and top your cheesecake!

*When Scott and I first started dating I commissioned this job to him until we finally bought a hand mixer. Take notes ladies…you make them see how hard it is and they will feel bad and buy you the proper tools!

NOTE: You can also double this recipe and make a thicker cheesecake, just bake longer in order for it to set up.

Masarap!