Wednesday Recipes--Sweet's Turn

I'm falling into a pattern--sweet one week and savory the next. This week is a tried-and-true recipe that many of my friends and students will recognize: OREO Cheesecake. This is super easy and is great for a crowd! Love to all. :)

Oreo Cheesecake

Ingredients:

1 pkg. (1 lb., 2 oz.) Oreo chocolate sandwich cookies       

¼ cup (1/2 stick) butter, melted

4 pkg. (8 oz. each; I mix full fat and fat free) Philadelphia cream cheese, softened (I let sit out from a.m. to evening, very important to avoid lumps)

1 cup sugar                                                            

1 tsp. vanilla

1 cup sour cream (I actually use fat free)                         

4 eggs

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Place 30 of the cookies in food processor; cover; process 30-45 seconds or until finely ground. (I actually place in a gallon plastic bag and pound until ground—less clean up). Add melted butter; mix well with spoon. Press firmly onto bottom of glass 13 x 9 baking pan.

2. Beat cream cheese, sugar and vanilla in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until well blended. Add sour cream; mix well. Add eggs, one at a time, beating just until blended after each addition. Chop remaining cookies (with knife, into small bite-sized pieces). Gently stir 1 ½ cups of the chopped cookies into cream cheese batter. Pour over crust. Sprinkle with the remaining chopped cookies.

3. Bake 45 minutes or until center is almost set (this means that it barely jiggles). Cool. Refrigerate three hours or overnight. Store cheesecake in refrigerator (if any is left over after being served!).

Note: I've had this recipe for so long that I can't say where exactly I got it, but it does name drop Oreos so I have this vague memory of a recipe on the package of cream cheese at some point.

So good!