I've been in a bit of a cheesecake craze lately (by a bit I think what I really mean is a lot), and I think we have reached the point where my cheesecake-loving sister Tanya has decided cupcakes are great and she really does not want to eat another slice of cheesecake any time soon. My cheesecakes are mostly inspired by random ingredients I take an interest in over the week. So for a while when apples were in season and a huge bag of 13 apples only cost £1, we had apple pie cheesecake. Then Lotus biscoff spread was on offer at only £2, so we had a banoffee pie cheesecake.
Today's cheesecake was inspired by failed chewy chocolate brownies, which were horribly stuck to the pan. They were meant as gifts to my clinical group mates, but I was left sorely disappointed at all the broken brownie pieces, and decided to make them into a brownie layer for a cheesecake. Thus the birth of my newest solution to failed brownies: the Oreo brownie cheesecake, which surprisingly went on to receive rave reviews from friends and the sweetest supporters who claimed it was the best cheesecake they have ever had.
Here are some pictures so you get an idea what I'm talking about.
Ft. A happy penguin
Note: This is a no-bake cheesecake recipe, but the brownies were home-baked though I am pretty sure store-bought would do as well. The springform pan I am using is approximately 8 inches in diameter, and I usually line it with a layer of aluminium foil for my own ease of removal, but the crust sets quite nicely so it probably doesn't require it anyway.
So without further ado, here is the recipe!
Chewy chocolate brownies (adapted from Handle the Heat) --please remember to line the tray with parchment paper! It would save you much heartache for sure. Double the recipe for brownie snacking or as additional toppings.
Ingredients
70g salted butter
70g oil
180g granulated sugar
50g brown sugar
3 eggs
75g cocoa powder
60g flour
1/8 tsp baking soda
1 tbsp cornstarch
120g chocolate chips
Melt butter with oil and mix with sugars. Add 3 eggs and mix well. Sift in dry ingredients and fold together. Bake for 30 minutes at 180 degrees in an 8 inch cake tin. Leave it to cool before crumbling into large chunks.
Oreo base crust
Ingredients
2 rolls of 154g Oreo cookies (minus a few cookies to be used as a mix in for the cheesecake layer)
80g salted butter
Blend cookies in food processor to fine crumbs. Melt butter. Combine and mix until resembling wet sand. Press into springform pan to form Oreo base crust. This then goes into the freezer for approximately an hour.
In the meantime, we can start on the cheesecake layer.
Clotted cream cheesecake layer
Ingredients
600g cream cheese
227g clotted cream
80g granulated sugar
0.5 lemon (juice)
300ml double cream
1 tsp vanilla (optional)
In a large mixing bowl, combine cream cheese, clotted cream, sugar, lemon juice. Whip up double cream to soft peaks then mix into cream cheese mixture.
Assembling the Oreo brownie cheesecake
Press chewy brownie chunks into springform pan over the Oreo base crust. Save some brownie chunks to mix into cheesecake layer. Compact brownie layer slightly. Spread a thin layer of cheesecake mixture directly onto chewy brownie layer, then add a few Oreo cookies saved from previously. Top up with more cheesecake mixture and add some saved brownie chunks. Top up with the leftover cheesecake mixture and smoothen the top surface. Chill in the fridge overnight. Before serving, dust cheesecake with cocoa powder. Run a knife along the sides to release the cheesecake.
That's about it! Easy enough and sure to impress. More importantly, it's a great way to make use of failed brownies if you ever end up in the same unfortunate situation of having to scrape brownie bits off the pan. Hope you enjoy the recipe as much as I enjoyed making it and my friends enjoyed eating it lol.
Happy baking xx
Carina
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