Oreo cheesecake topped with cookies and cream mousse and chocolate ganache

After a rough sunday in Miami, I am making a plea to the football gods for my Bills for week 11 and am doing so with this request from my husband and a copycat of the cheesecake factory oreo dream extreme cheesecake.

This does take some time, but is worth it.  I used neufactel cheese, which is lower fat and lower calorie, so I added some cornstarch to help firm up the cheesecake layer.

  • Flourless Cake  ingredients
  • 1 cup chocolate chips
  • 8 tbs butter
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 3 eggs
  • 1/2 cup unsweetened baking cocoa

Directions – preheat oven to 375 degrees.  in a microwave safe bowl, heat chocolate chips and butter in 45 second increments until you can stir smooth.  Add sugar, salt, and vanilla.  Blend in eggs well.  Line a 9″ round pan with parchment paper.  Evenly spread batter into pan.   Bake 18 to 22 minutes.  Cool completely

  • Ganache ingredients list
  • 2 cups chocolate chips
  • 2 cups heavy whipping cream

Directions – in a microwave safe bowl, heat cream for 3 minutes.  Add chips.  Let sit for 5 minutes.  Stir smooth.   Place in fridge.

  • Cheesecake ingredients
  • 24 oz cream cheese (I used neufactel,  which is softer and lower calorie and lower fat)
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 2 tbs flour
  • 6 tbs cornstarch (if you are using neufactel or low fat cream cheese)
  • 3/4 cup greek yogurt
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 yolk
  • 2 tsp vanilla
  • 12 to 16 Oreo cookies

Directions – preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Line a 9 inch springform pan with tin foil and spray with baking spray.  In a bowl, cream cream cheese, sugar and flour (and cornstarch if you are using a lower fat cheese).  Blend in Greek yogurt and vanilla.  Fold in eggs and yolk.  Pour 1/3 into prepared pan.  Top with 6 to 8 oreos and press down gently.  Top with a other third of batter and gently press 6 to 8 oreos on top.  Top with remaining third of batter.  Bake 55 to 60 minutes (middle jiggles a little and edges are set).  Turn off oven.   Crack oven and leave cheesecake in for an hour.  Transfer to fridge for a few hours.

  • Cookies and cream mousse
  • 1 cup heavy cream
  • 1/3 cup powdered sugar
  • Crushed oreos (8 to 10)

Directions – in a bowl, whip cream amd powdered sugar to stiff peaks.  Blend in crushed oreos.    Put in fridge.

When ready to assemble – beat chilled ganache for a few minutes so it is spreadable.   Place flourless cake on a plate.  Spread a thin layer of ganache on top.  Gently place cheesecake on top of ganache layer.   Smooth oreo mousse on top of cheesecake layer.  Use rest of ganache on top and sides.  Store in fridge.

  • Layer list
  • Flourless cake
  • Thin ganache layer
  • Cheesecake
  • Cookies and cream layer
  • Frost entire thing with rest of ganache

Thanks for stopping by today!

Victory Monday week 8 treats # 2 – white chocolate brownies with 🎃 sprinkles

For all my non chocolate loving coworkers – white chocolate brownies, with Halloween sprinkles and vanilla frosting.   Super simply and easy.

I added  some of my homemade white cocoa powder to these.  You can absolutely leave it out.  

Remember to scoop your flour from your flour bag so you get the right amount.   Preheat your oven before baking.

  • Ingredients list
  • 8 tbs butter
  • 1 cup white chocolate chips
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 tsp vanilla
  • 1 cup flour
  • 1 tsp salt
  • Sprinkles

Directions – preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line an 8×8 pan with parchment paper.  Set aside.  In a microwave safe bowl, melt butter and white chips in 45 second increments until you can stir smooth.   Add sugar.  Mix in eggs and vanilla.  Fold in flour and salt.  Mix in sprinkles.  Spread into pan.  Bake 20 to 23 minutes (you will see light golden patches on top).  Cool completely. 

Frost with vanilla frosting if you want.  I combined 2 tbs butter, melted, 1 to 2 cups powdered sugar, vanilla and heavy cream

Week 4 victory treats – Cookies and cream cookies stuffed with brownies

Whew!  That was a very stressful Bills win today!  But a win is a win and worthy of victory treats!

I feel like I haven’t made stuffed cookies in a while, so I decided to whip some up.  These are a cookies and cream cookies, with crushed oreos and milk chocolate chips stuffed with brownies.  

You can use your favorite brownie recipe or a mix for these.  After they are completely cooled, I recommend cutting them in squares and putting them in the fridge.  

When baking the cookies – remember to scoop your flour from your flour bag into your measuring cup so you get the right amount.   Also, after assembling the cookie dough stuffed with a brownie, chill the doughs a few hours.  And, preheat your oven before baking.

  • Ingredients list
  • 3/4 cup crisco
  • 3/4 cup brown sugar, firmly packed into measuring cup
  • 1/4 cup plus 2 tbs  sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 2 yolks
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 1 3/4 cups plus 2 tbs flour
  • 1 cup plus 2 tbs cake flour
  • 2  tsp cornstarch
  • 3/4 tsp baking soda
  • 3/4 tsp salt
  • 15 oreos, chopped into pieces
  • 1 cup milk chocolate chips
  • Brownie squares

Directions – in a bowl, cream crisco, brown sugar and sugar.  Blend in egg, yolks and vanilla.  Mix in dry ingredients.   Fold in chopped oreos and chips.  Scoop out 1/4 cups of dough.

Divide in two pieces and flatten each. 

Top with a brownie square

Place other flattened half on top

Seal edges, completely covering brownie.  Chill a few hours.  When ready to bake, preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.  Stagger cookies on sheet. 

Bake 10 to 14 minutes.  Cool completely..

store in covered container

M&M sugar cookies (made with brown sugar because I ran out of granulated sugar)

I wanted to make m&m sugar cookies and frost them.   All well and good, but i did not realize I was out of granulated sugar.   That has NEVER happened to me.  Not sure how I let that happen.   So I just subbed in brown sugar entirely for the granulated sugar.  And, I went and bought 2 huge bags of granulated sugar for future baking.

So I am only bringing in half of these tomorrow, with vanilla frosting.  The other half I will bake in a few days and frost them with chocolate frosting.

Remember to scoop your flour from your flour bag into your measuring cup so you get the correct amount (same goes for the powdered sugar).  chill your individual doughs and form them even taller before baking to keep them puffy. And preheat your oven before baking

  • Ingredients list
  • 1 cup butter, softened
  • 3/4 cup vegetable oil
  • 1 1/4 powdered sugar
  • 1 1/4 cups sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 5 tbs water
  • 2 tbs vanilla
  • 5 1/2 cups flour
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp cream of tartar
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 cup m&ms

Directions – in a bowl, cream butter, oil, sugar and powdered sugar.  Add eggs, vanilla and water.  Blend in dry ingredients.   (It was a little humid the day i made these, so I added an extra cup of flour.  Your call if you want to do that).  Blend in m&ms.  Scoop out 1/4 cups of dough.  Chill a few hours.   Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.  Stagger cookies on sheet, form mounds a little taller.  Bake 11 to 14 minutes.  Bottoms with be lightly golden, tops might be a little gushy, but will be fine.   Cool completely.   

  • Frosting ingredients list
  • 1/2 cup butter, softened
  • 3 cups powdered sugar
  • 2 tbs milk
  • 1 tsp vanilla.

Directions- in a bowl, blend all ingredients well.  Frost cooled cookies.   Store in covered container.

Thank you for stopping by today!

Brown sugar brownies

Stunningly, I am out of sugar.  I have no idea how that happened.  I am usually so on top of things.  But, when I went to bake brownies for Rob, I had no granulated sugar, so i had to use  brown sugar instead.  These are easy to make,  and fudgy and soft.  I will rectify the grave sugar error tomorrow and buy a huge bag from BJs.

Remember to preheat your oven to 350 degrees before baking.  I used an 8×11 Corning ware pan, so these bake in about 22 minutes.  If you use an 8×8 or 9×9, they will take longer.

  • Ingredients list
  • 1/2 cup butter
  • 1 cup brown sugar, firmly packed into your measuring cup
  • 1 cup chocolate chips (I used dark chocolate)
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 3/4 cup flour

Directions – preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray a 8×11 pan with baking sprat and set aside.  Place butter, brown sugar and chocolate chips in  a microwave safe bowl.  Place in microwave for 1 minutes.  Stir until chips are completely melted.  You may have to continue to heat in additional 15 second increments to completely melt mixture. Add 2 eggs and vanilla.  Blend in flour.   Evenly spread into pan.  Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out with a few moist crumbs.  Cool completely.  

Store in covered container. 

Smores graham cracker pound cake

It is a typical summer day here today – hot and humid and close to 100 degrees.  So what better treat to represent such a summer day than smores?  And not just with graham crackers, but a graham cracker pound cake, some pieces topped with fluff frosting and melted hershey kisses and others topped with chocolate fluff frosting.  The pound cake recipe is From one of my grandmothers, given to me a long time ago.

I read the secret to a good pound cake is putting it in a cold oven and then heating the oven to the right temp.  So I tried it.  Also, remember to scoop your flour from your flour bag into your measuring cup so you get the right amount.  Same goes for the powdered sugar in the frosting.

A bit of advice, apply buttercream first, then melted chocolate.  It is much easier than putting the chocolate on the cake first,  then buttercream, I lesson I learned as seen below.

  • Graham cracker pound cake ingredients
  • 16 tbs butter, softened
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 3 eggs
  • 2 tsp vanilla
  • 3/4 cup sweetened condensed milk
  • 1 cup flour (scooped from flour bag into measuring cup so you get the right amount)
  • 1/2 cup finely ground graham cracker crumbs
  • 3/4 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp salt

Line a 8×5 loaf pan with parchment paper and spray with baking spray.  Set aside.  In a bowl, cream butter and sugar.  Beat in eggs one at a time, then mix in vanilla and condensed milk.  Fold in dry ingredients and graham cracker crumbs.  Evenly spread into prepared pan.  Place in oven and turn oven to 350 degrees.  Bake 35 to 42 minutes (toothpick inserted in center comes out with a few moist crumbs). 

Cool completely.  I  sliced the pound cake.

and then cut the slices in half

  • Fluff frosting ingredients
  • 1/2 cup butter softened
  • 1/2 cup marshmallow fluff
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 1 3/4 cups powdered sugar

In a bowl, cream butter, vanilla,  and fluff.  Carefully blend in powdered sugar.   Divide in half.  To one half, add 1/2 cup melted chocolate chips.   frost some cake pieces with melted chocolate

To the other pieces, I topped them with buttercream.

Then scooped some melted hershey kisses on top.

Store in covered container.

Frosted Sugar cookies

Part 3 of my hat trick of cookies for work tomorrow.  Frosted sugar cookies.  Easy to make and the frosting is simple too. 

Remember to scoop your flour from your flour bag into your measuring cup so you get the right amount.  I also slightly flattened the individual doughs and recommend freezing them for a half hour or chilling them for a few hours before baking.  And, as always,  preheat your oven before baking

  • Ingredients list
  • 1 cup butter crisco
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 3 tsp vanilla
  • 3 cups flour
  • 2 tsp baking powder

Directions – in a bowl, cream butter crisco and sugar.  Add eggs and vanilla.  Fold in dry ingredients.  Scoop our 1/4 cups of dough, slightly flatten and sprinkle with sugar.  Freeze a half hour or chill a few hours.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line cookie sheet with parchment paper.  Stagger cookies on sheet.  Bake 9 to 11 minutes.  They will be a little gushy on top.   You can chill them in the fridge to firm them up.

  • Frosting
  • 1/4 cup butter, softened
  • 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 1 to 2 tbs milk

In a bowl, combine ingredients.  You may need to add more powdered sugar/milk to get the consistency you want.  Frost cookies.  Store in covered container.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Magical mermaid graffiti sprinkle cookies

What the what?  I know, a weird name for a cookie.  I saw these sprinkles at price rite and thought “how magical for a cookie.”  So I made a funfetti like cookie dough with cake batter extract and vanilla extracts and poured in a container of magical mermaid graffiti.  Perfectamundo, to paraphrase Arthur Fonzarelli. 🙂

Of course, if you don’t have cake batter extract, you can use vanilla or almond extract. 

Remember to scoop your flour from your flour bag into your measuring cup so you get the right amount.  Also chill the dough for a few hours.  And, preheat the oven before baking.

  • Ingredients list
  • 1 cup butter, softened
  • 1 1/2 cups sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 tsp cake batter extract
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 3 cups flour
  • 4 tsp cornstarch
  • 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 2.5 Oz container of sprinkles

Directions – in a bowl, cream butter and sugar.  Add eggs and extracts.  Fold in dry ingredients.  Mix in sprinkles.  Scoop out 1/4 cups dough. 

Chill a few hours. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or nonstick baking liners.  Stagger cookies on sheet. 

Bake 11 to 13 minutes.  (Bottoms will be lightly browned).  Cookies may be a little gushy.. but let them cool down and pop them in the fridge to firm them up. 

  • Frosting ingredients
  • 1/2 cup butter, softened
  • 1 1/2 to 2 cups powdered sugar
  • 1 tsp cake batter extract
  • 2 tbs milk.

Directions – in a bowl, combine ingredients and mix well.  Frost cooled cookies. 

Store in covered container. 

Frosted Cake Batter Cookies

I am always looking for ways to tweak recipes and, while walking in the baking aisle, I noticed cake batter extract, so i added it to my flavoring collection (vanilla, almond, lemon, maple).  And today, instead of making vanilla flavor cookies, I went with cake batter.  Cake batter frosting too.  Some are topped with sprinkles, others with mini m&ms (bc the mini m&ms bag lasts forever).

Of course if you don’t have cake batter flavoring, vanilla is just fine. 

Remember to scoop your flour from your flour bag into your measuring cup so you get the right amount.  I also chilled the individual doughs overnight to keep them from spreading too much.

  • Cookie ingredients
  • 1 1/2 cups butter, softened
  • 1 1/2 cups sugar
  • 3 eggs
  • 2 tsp cake batter extract
  • 4 1/2 cups flour
  • 3 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp salt

Directions – in a bowl, cream butter, sugar, eggs and extract.  Blend in dry ingredients.  Scoop our 1/4 cups of dough.   Chill, in a covered container, a few hours or overnight.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or nonstick baking liners.  Stagger on prepared sheets.  Bake 13 to 15 minutes.   (Bottoms will be lightly browned).  Mine were a little gushy on top, so I popped them in the fridge to firm them up.  Cool completely.

  • Frosting ingredients
  • 1 cup butter, softened
  • 3 cups powdered sugar (scooped from your container into your measuring cup so you get the right amount)
  • 1 tsp cake batter extract
  • 4 tbs milk

Directions- in a bowl, blend all ingredients well.   Frost cooled cookies.  Top with sprinkles or m&ms.  Store in covered container.  (I put mine back in fridge)

Thanks so much for stopping by today!

Turtle cookies

Today’s treat – turtle cookies.   A large chocolate cookie with topped with homemade caramel,  melted milk chocolate and crushed oreos.  feel free to use any flavor frosting you want.  Vanilla would be great, at would peanut butter, chocolate or marshmallow fluff frosting.

I did add some finely ground  pecans to put to the cookie dough.  You can’t  even detect them.  You can leave them out if you want. 

Remember to scoop your flour from your flour container into your measuring cup so you get the right amount (same goes for the baking cocoa)

I advise chilling the scooped out dough a few hours.  Also preheat your oven before baking.

  • Ingredients list
  • 1 1/2 cups butter, softened
  • 1 1 /2 cups brown sugar (firmly packed into measuring cup)
  • 1/4 cup corn syrup (or honey)
  • 4 eggs
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 1 cup unsweetened baking cocoa
  • 3 3/4 cups flour
  • 2 tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp salt

Directions – in a bowl, cream butter, brown sugar and sugar.  Add eggs and vanilla.  Blend in dry ingredients.  Scoop out 1/4 cups of dough.  Place in a covered container and chill a few hours or overnight.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.   Bake 11 to 13 minutes.  Cool completely.

  • Homemade caramel ingredients
  • 4 tbs butter
  • 2/3 cup brown sugar
  • 1/4 cup heavy cream

Directions – in a saucepan, combine and stir butter and brown sugar, over low -medium heat, to a boil.  Boil and stir one minute.  Remove from heat.  Stir in heavy cream.  Let set 15 minutes.   Scoop a tbs on top of cookie.

Top with melted chocolate.

Top with crushed oreos.

Store in covered container.

Thanks so much for stopping by today!