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It was my boyfriend’s birthday last weekend and I wanted to make him something special despite the fact that he didn’t really want to celebrate his birthday. The problem is that he doesn’t like many traditional desserts, most especially cake. I can’t even conceive of disliking cake, but somehow he does. Thankfully, though, he does love cheesecake (which he vehemently insists is not really a cake, so much does the taint of the word “cake” bother him). But even having found a dessert he actually likes, he’s almost impossible to entirely please because every single cheesecake I’ve made for him in the past, though always praised as “good” comes with the disclaimer of “but not as good as the New York cheesecake I had that one time”. AAARRRRRRGGGGGGG! So I have made it my mission of find and make a real New York style cheesecake and this time I think I found it. I actually got a “I really like this” out of him, no disclaimers!

This is sort of a mish-mash of a recipe. I cobbled together a recipe from several cheesecake recipes over on allrecipes.com (it’s mostly based on this recipe, though), but I didn’t want a boring graham cracker crust, so I modified a standard crust recipe and used ground up oreo cookies instead (Brandon loves oreos!). Also I followed the instructions of some of the commenters on the recipes, so in the end the final recipe doesn’t resemble the original one that much. But it’s delicious and from what I can tell it’s true New York style cheesecake and the best thing of all is that it’s the only cheesecake I’ve ever made that didn’t crack down the middle. In fact when it came out the oven I was a little worried because it doesn’t look like any cheesecake I’ve ever made. It kind of looked undercooked actually, but no, it’s the smoothest, creamiest cheesecake I’ve ever had. This is definitely my cheesecake recipe for life.

Cheesecake Supreme with Oreo Cookie Crust

Ingredients

Crust:

1. 2-3 cups Oreo cookies with cream center removed, finely ground.  I found this is almost a whole bag.  How many cups you use depends on how thick you like your crust, but I think thicker is better with this crust.
2. 5-6 tbsp. of butter
3. 1/3 cup of sugar
4. 1/8 tsp. salt

Cheesecake:

1. 5 (8 oz.) packages cream cheese, softened
2. 5 eggs
3. 2 egg yolks
4. 2 tsp. vanilla
5. 1 3/4 cups sugar
6. 1/8 cup all-purpose flour
7. 1/4 cup heavy cream

The Process

1. Get out your cream cheese, eggs and cream and let sit while making the crust so that they are at or close to room temp by the time you need them.

2. Grind up cookies in a blender or food processor.  Mix cookies, sugar, salt and butter in a bowl until combined and press into the bottom and about an inch or two up the sides of a 10″ springform pan (springform pan is key, make sure you have one).  Place in refrigerator while you make the cheesecake.

3. DO NOT PREHEAT YOUR OVEN.  In a large bowl, combine cream cheese, eggs, egg yolks and vanilla; mix until smooth.  Add in the sugar, flour and heavy cream and blend until smooth.  Do not over-mix as this will create more air bubbles which can contribute to your cake cracking. Pour batter into your prepared, chilled crust.

4. Place your cake in the oven and then turn it on to 200 degrees (F).  Bake for 3 hours and 10 minutes.  Then turn the over off, prop open the door slightly and let cool for 1 hour.  Finally, place in your refrigerator and chill for a full 24 hours before removing the springform pan’s side and serving.

UPDATE – 12/4/08: After making this recipe again, I tried a slightly different way to cook this that solves the problem of it looking undercooked. It also makes it more like a real New York cheesecake by browning the top and sides just a bit.

4. Place your cake in the oven and then turn it on to 400 degrees (F). Bake for 10 minutes. Turn the oven down to 200 degrees (F). Bake for 3 hours. Then turn the over off, prop open the door slightly and let cool for 1 hour. Finally, place in your refrigerator and chill for a full 24 hours before removing the springform pan’s side and serving.