Oreo Cheesecake

(Picture from Royal Bakers blog)

Aren't these gorgeous??? When I first laid eyes on this dessert on the internet, I knew that it had to adorn my holiday party table. But first, I had to order the $26 specialty pan that was required to make these. Oh, 7 to 10 business days to ship seemed endless and than finally UPS delivered!!! I could not wait to duplicate this recipe..how could it go wrong...it was a no bake recipe...what could be simpler?? or so I thought.

I followed the recipe exactly and then waited in anticipation as it sat in the refrigerator to set up. Then, six hours later... I became totally frustrated that it did not appear as beautiful, as simple and as elegant as the internet picture, in fact they looked horrible!!

Despite it's looks it tasted great! I was determined not to throw it out. I decided to roll it into balls, thinking that I would then dip it in chocolate (hey, everything is better in chocolate right?), but they were too soft to roll. So then I decided to put it into small bite size glasses, but it looked sad, ok not sad... BAD!!! So, I garnished it with graham cracker crumbs...and then it looked sad and bad!!! Then, I decided to make chocolate garnishes (like a crowned jewel--okay, maybe, that is being a little dramatic, but you get the point!!) Turned out they looked good (certainly not anywhere near the gorgeous internet picture!) and the recipe tasted great, very light and fluffy!! Better than that everyone loved them at our holiday party!

Crust
1 1/2 cup crushed graham cracker
1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
7 tablespoon unsalted butter(melted)

1. Combine graham cracker crumbs with sugar.
2. Add melted butter and blend until combined.
3. Press into pan. Set aside.

Cheesecake

2 ¼ cups heavy cream

1 pound cream cheese, softened

2/3 cup sugar

½ teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon lemon juice

2 teaspoon vanilla powder

¾ cups Oreo Cookies, crushed

Instructions:

1. Beat heavy cream until medium peaks form. Set aside.

2. Add cream cheese, sugar, salt, vanilla powder, lemon juice to a bowl and beat with a paddle attachment until smooth (approximately 3-5 mins). If you do not have a stand mixer or a paddle attachment a hand beater will work as well, but will take twice as long to achieve a smooth consistency.

3. Add cream cheese mixture to heavy cream and beat until incorporated.

4. Gently fold in Oreo cookies.

5. Fill chosen pan with a slight mound at the center, as the cheesecake will become slightly sunken at the center.

6. Refrigerate for at least 6 hours to set or overnight for best results.

7. Layer crust in the bottom of small glasses and pack down, scoop cheesecake mixture next and garnish with chocolate. Makes 16 mini desserts.