Oreo Cookie and Mixed Berries Cheesecake

This cheesecake is a lot of effort, but is worth it. I got the recipe from another blog The Kitchy Kitchen which is one I have only just found but love!

I made the cheesecake for some friends one afternoon, I am making a wedding ‘cake’ for a friend’s wedding and this was test day… we ate a lot of cake. I will show more recipes soon but you will have to wait until October to see which cake won as I don’t want to spoil the surprise.

This one didn’t make the cut purely because it needs a lots of ingredients, it’s quite fiddly in places and its takes a good few hours to make!

You need A LOT of fruit…

You also need quite a few Oreos!

Mixed Berry Cheesecake

For the Crust:

2 cups of chocolate cookie crumbs, such as the cookie part of Oreos (process whole cookies in a food processor until they are crumbs)
1/4 cup white sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted

Cake:
32 ounces cream cheese, room temperature (use full fat, not reduced or fat-free cream cheese)
1 cup white sugar, plus 1/4 cup for the berry syrup
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
5 large eggs, room temperature
1/3 cup heavy whipping cream
1 tablespoon lemon zest
Juice of 1 lemon
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon rose-water (optional, though I think it adds a lovely floral note)
1 tablespoon Chambord
1/2 pint blueberries
1/2 pint blackberries
1 pint raspberries
1 pint strawberries

separating the cookies is very fiddly, and the worst thing is the cookie cream is no good without the biscuits, if anyone has a use for the middle of Oreos let me know, it felt very wrong to throw them out!

Directions:

Grease a 9 inch springform pan. Place the springform pan on a larger baking pan to catch any leakage while the cheesecake is baking. Preheat oven to 350 F with rack in the center of the oven.

For Crust:
In a medium-sized bowl combine the chocolate cookie crumbs, sugar, and melted butter. Press the crumbs evenly over the bottom and about 1 inch up the sides of the springform pan. Cover and refrigerate while you make the filling.

For the Cake:
Combine all of the berries, Chambord, 1/4 cup of sugar, and lemon juice in a sauce pan over medium heat. Stir for 10 minutes, until the mixture has become extremely liquid and reduced a little. Strain the mixture, reserving both the syrup and the cooked berries.

In the bowl of your electric mixer, place the room temperature cream cheese, sugar, and flour. Beat on medium speed until smooth (about 2 minutes), scraping down the bowl as needed. Add the eggs, one at a time, and incorporate after each addition. Add the whipping cream, lemon zest, vanilla extract, rose-water, and 3/4 cup of the berry syrup. Beat until incorporated. Remove the crust from the refrigerator and pour in the filling. Place the cheesecake pan on a larger baking pan and place in the oven.

Bake for 15 minutes and then lower the oven temperature to 250 degrees F and continue to bake for about another 1 1/2 to 1 3/4 hours or until firm and only the center of the cheesecake looks a little wobbly. Remover the cake from the oven and drag a knife around the edge (circumference) of the cake to loosen it from the spring form (this also prevents cracking). The cake will be a little brown on top with a mauve-y purple-pink hue underneath.

Let it cool before covering with plastic wrap and refrigerate over night to let the cake set and flavors deepen.

The next day, take the remaining berries and syrup and pile it on top of the cake. Using a small spatula, cover the sides in the syrup and cooked berries as well.

Do try it, it’s sooo worth the effort!