Homemade Oreo-Raspberry Cheesecake

Our guests love cheesecake. More importantly they love OUR cheesecake. The secret is steaming the cake for the perfect amount of time, so that it stays silky and smooth. We used our homemade oreo crust, then laid oreo cookies inside, lightly poured raspberry sauce over the cookies, filled creamy cheesecake batter over that, then drizzled the top  with more raspberry sauce and steamed the cake. The outcome is truly delicious. Patience is necessary for cheesecake, as after steaming the cake has to be chilled overnight, but it will not disappoint.

Makes 2, 9" oreo cheesecakes

The Cookie (make the double amount for the crust)

1c unsalted butter, melted
3/4c sugar
1t vanilla extract
1c bittersweet chocolate, melted
1 egg
1 1/2c all purpose flour
3/4c dark cocoa powder
1t salt
1/2t baking soda

In a bowl, whisk butter and sugar well. Add vanilla, melted chocolate and egg. Mix well.
In another bowl sift all the dry ingredients together, including the cocoa powder.
Add the dry slowly to the wet in thirds.
Roll batter into parchment paper, shape into a log. Chill at least one hour, reshaping into a log every 20 mins.
Cut 1/4inch slices and bake at 325F, about 15mins. they will spread a bit, so put 2 rows on your baking sheet.

The Filling

1/2c unsalted butter
1 2/3c powdered sugar
1t vanilla extract
1T milk
pinch of salt

Whisk everything together until smooth and light in color. Put into a piping bag with any tip you like. Use immediately, if it sits it will appear less smooth, so just re-whip. Fill cold cookies, press together gently.

Cheesecake crust

Add about 4 cups finely food processed oreo cookie crumbs, add 1/4C sugar, melt 2 sticks butter and add it gradually mixing with your hands. Don't add all the butter at once, you may not need it all. Squeeze the mixture in your hands, if it holds it's shape without crumbling then you don't need more butter.
Grease the springform, and line it with parchment paper. Put half of the oreo mixture in the pan, press it down, we typically use a metal cup measurer, the crust should only be 1/4 inch thick. Go a little up the sides of the cake. Place it in the oven at 350F for about 12 minutes. Cool.

When the crust has cooled, lay in the cookies, with the filling (see photo above).

Pour a little raspberry sauce over the cookies (optional), or you could put in some raspberry preserves, or fresh raspberries.

Raspberry sauce

1 pint of fresh, washed raspberries put in a blender, add 1/4C simple syrup (equal parts water and sugar brought to a boil and then cooled), blend till smooth. Then strain out the seeds. The sauce is what's left!

Now pour in the cheesecake filling.

Cheesecake filling (for 2 cheesecakes)

6, 8oz room temperature cream cheese blocks.
2C sugar
2T vanilla extract
8 eggs
1 1/2C sour cream

Put the cream cheese and the sugar in a mixing bowl with a paddle attachment, paddle till smooth, scrape down the sides a few times. Add the vanilla, and 2 eggs at a time till smooth, Finish with the sour cream.

Divide the batter between the 2 pans. Pour more raspberry sauce on top, and with a toothpick swirl through the sauce, creating a pattern in the batter. Cover the outside bottom of the pans with aluminum foil, then place the pans in a large casserole dish and fill it with 1 inch of water. This will create steam in your oven, making the cheesecakes smooth in texture.

Have the oven at 300F starting a 45 minutes, check them. The center of the cake should move slightly, if it doesn't move it has been overbaked, if it wobbles too much it needs more time and will not set up when you cut it.

Take it out of the oven, let it cool. Then wrap the cake in the pan with plastic wrap, and chill it overnight. Take it out of the pan the next day.

Serve it with whipped cream, raspberry sauce and oreo cookie crumbles. Enjoy.