Not only are these Cookies and Cream Cheesecake Bars delicious to eat but they’re so light and silky they feel like you’re biting straight into a cloud
Call me strange, but I’m not normally one to go crazy for “cookies and cream” anything… To be honest, I don’t even know why I got inspired to make these Cookies and Cream Cheesecake Bars in the first place. I just got up one morning and felt a sudden urge to make them.
Not that it really matters because I end up giving away pretty much all the baked goods and other decadent stuff that I make for this place, anyways. I usually just get a little taste of my latest creation and then make friends with the leftovers.
But after I got a taste of these bars, I didn’t want to give them away. At all. Not even a single one. I just loved them way too much!
Not only are these things absolutely delicious to eat, but they’re also so light and soft and silky, each bite feels like you’re noshing on a cloud, like your actually eating the sky, one piece at a time.
I’m telling you, if heaven had a flavor and texture, this would be it right here!
They are by far the best “cookies and cream” anything I’ve ever eaten in my entire life.
For the record, I still ended up making friends with those: I brought them with me when I went in for my last tattoo session to finalize my Cinderella sleeve project.
Need I tell you they were a complete hit? I don’t think I’ve ever seen the content of a plate disappear so fast…
I say you should definitely get out there and buy a bunch of Oreo cookies and make these babies!
STEP-BY-STEP INSTRUCTIONS & PICTURES
FOR THE CRUST
Preheat the oven to 350°F
Grease and line a 9″ x 13″ baking pan with parchment paper, leaving a bit of an overhang on either side for easy removal of the bars.
Now I hope you won’t mind but to illustrate the next couple of steps, I borrowed a few pictures from my Raspberry Swirl Cheesecake Bars since the process is the absolute exact same…
First, place the Oreo cookies and melted butter in the bowl of your food processor.
And yes, just in case you’re not exactly sure, that’s the whole cookies, complete with cream and all. And yes, just in case you’re wondering, it does make for an extremely sweet crust. Sweet, but so crazy delicious!
Process the cookies and butter together until the mixture resembles wet mud.
Transfer and press that mixture firmly at the bottom of the prepared baking pan; set aside for now.
FOR THE CHEESECAKE FILLING
Rinse the bowl of your food processor really well and in it, combine the cream cheese, sour cream, granulated sugar, vanilla extract, lemon extract and salt. Process until the mixture is super smooth and creamy, about 3 minutes.
You will most definitely have to stop the motor to scrape the sides once or twice during the process, just to make sure that every last bit gets incorporated.
Add the eggs and corn starch all at once and resume beating until well incorporated, about 30 seconds. You might want to scrape the sides once, just to be on the safe side…
Next, while the motor is running, pour the melted white chocolate through the feeding tube and mix until fully incorporated.
The reason why you want to add the chocolate while the motor is running is so it doesn’t have a chance to seize when it comes in contact with the cold batter. You want it to remain all nice and smooth and silky. You’ll notice that that batter will become much thicker once the chocolate has been added!
Finally, pulse in the Oreo cookies, until they are just combined, no more. You still want there to be tiny pieces of cookies in the batter, so don’t overdo things here.
And again, as you can see, the whole cookies go in, cream and all!
Pour that delicious cheesecake batter over the reserved crust and spread it evenly all the way to the edge.
Bake your cheesecake bars in the preheated oven for about 35-40 minutes, or until the filling is set and golden brown around the edges and jiggles ever so slightly in the middle if you shake the pan a little.
Kill the heat, leave the oven door ajar and let the cheesecake bars cool in the oven until you can safely handle the pan with your bare hands. This simple precaution will help to prevent cracking, although *some* may still occur, apparently!
Let the bars cool completely at room temperature and then place them in the fridge until they are completely chilled, at least 2 hours but preferably overnight, before you garnish them.
TO GARNISH
Once the bars have had ample time to chill, delicately lift them from the pan by pulling on the parchment paper overlaps and place them onto a large cutting board.
Now you’re gonna have to make some whipped cream and lots of it! I actually whipped 4 cups of whipping cream to cover the entire top of this cake. So plan on making four times my Perfect Chantilly Whipped Cream recipe (yeah, that’s a quadruple batch).
Then, pipe large, cloud-like dollops of whipped cream all over the top of the cake…
No need to be fancy about it, cuz these guys are about to get covered in more deliciousness!
Now crush a whole bunch of Oreo cookies, again – that’s cream and all – and sprinkle them over this light and fluffy cushion of whipped cream.
Use as many or as little as you want. 15 to 20 is a good amount, me finds. I used 20. Just saying…
Now all that’s left to do is cut the bars with a long serrated knife. Make sure you wipe the blade clean between each cut!
There’s no need to refrigerate the bars before you cut them… leftovers, though, you will want to keep in the fridge, in an airtight container.
They will keep for up to a week.
Up to, I said….
Up to…
Ingredients
- 40 Oreo cookies, broken into pieces
- 1/2 cup (120g | 4oz) butter, melted
- 3- (227g | 8oz) packages full fat cream cheese
- 1 cup (240ml | 8oz) 14% fat sour cream
- 1 cup (200g | 7.1oz) granulated sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 tsp lemon extract
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 4 large eggs, at room temperature
- 2 tbsp corn starch
- 1 cup (150g | 5.25oz) white chocolate, melted
- 20 Oreo cookies, broken into pieces
- 4 cups (960ml) whipped cream (you'll need to quadruple that recipe)
- 15-20 Oreo cookies, crushed
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F
- Grease and line a 9" x 13" baking pan with parchment paper, leaving a bit of an overhang on either side for easy removal of the bars.
- Place the oreo cookies and melted butter in the bowl of your food processor; process until reduced to fine crumbs. Press the mixture firmly at the bottom of the prepared baking pan. Set aside.
- Rinse the bowl of your food processor real well and in it, combine the cream cheese, sour cream, granulated sugar, vanilla extract, lemon extract and salt. Process until the mixture is super smooth and creamy, about 3 minutes. Stop the motor to scrape the sides once or twice during the process to make sure that every last bit gets incorporated.
- Add the eggs and corn starch and resume beating until well incorporated, about 30 seconds.
- While the motor is running, pour the melted white chocolate through the feeding tube and mix until fully incorporated.
- Pulse in the Oreo cookies, until they are just combined, no more. You still want there to be tiny pieces of cookies in the batter.
- Pour the cheesecake batter over the reserved crust and spread it evenly all the way to the edge.
- Bake the cheesecake bars in the preheated oven for about 35-40 minutes, or until the filling is set and golden brown around the edges and jiggles ever so slightly in the middle if you shake the pan a little.
- Kill the heat, leave the oven door ajar and let the cheesecake bars cool in the oven until you can safely handle the pan with your bare hands.
- Let the bars cool completely at room temperature and then place them in the fridge until they are completely chilled, at least 2 hours but preferably overnight, before you garnish them.
- When ready to serve, delicately lift the bars from the pan by pulling on the parchment paper overlaps and place them onto a large cutting board.
- Pipe large dollops of whipped cream all over the top, then sprinkle with the crushed Oreo cookies.
- Cut the bars with a long serrated knife, wiping the blade clean between each cuts.
- Keep the finished bars in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to a week.
Kuechenrueckwand Folie says
It looks so delicious, I’ll try it too. Thank you for the recipe, I am sure it will taste very good.