Chocolate Cookie Dough Cheesecake Bars

I am just writing this post after submitting the last assignment of my life. I do have a dissertation due, but this is the last assignment ever. I'm pretty saturated with all the writing, so I'm going to keep this one short.

I was assigned Dancing Veggies blog, and had a lot of great options, but picked these bars, but forgot a step where I had to add the chips into the cookie layer. I made up for it by putting a chocolate layer on top, and these tasted amazing. I've changed up the proportions a bit, because I feel they need more of the cheesecake taste.

Chocolate Cookie Dough Cheesecake Bars

Inspired by Dancing Veggies

1 cup [120 g] flour

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking soda
1 stick [113 g / 8 oz] butter
1/3 cup white sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 cup chocolate chips - or alternately, you can add a chocolate layer like I did, following this recipe
For the cheesecake layer.
16 oz cream cheese
4 tbsp white sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla

Instructions -

1. Preheat oven to 350 F (180 C). Grease and line a 9x9 pan, with overhang
2. In a large bowl, sift together the flour, salt and baking soda.
3. In another bowl, cream together the butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Now beat in the egg and mix well.
4. Add the flours to the butter mixture, and mix until just incorporated. Fold in the chocolate chips, if using. Lay this onto the pan.
5. In a clean bowl, cream together the cream cheese, sugar, egg and vanilla. Pour onto the cookie dough layer. Bake for 25 minutes, until the center is a little jiggly and the sides are set. 
6. Cool, and if using a chocolate layer, pour on top. Cut into squares and serve.

Oreo Cheesecake Cupcakes

 
Nom nom nom.

Oh these cheesecakes!! I simply don't know what to say about them. These were amongst the top 10 desserts I've ever eaten, that's all.

On Saturday, 2nd of April, India won the cricket world cup, to become world champions! The entire nation erupted, cricket is more of a religion here. I've never been much of a sports person, but the atmosphere here during the final few matches couldn't be missed, and I actually watched about 9 hours of cricket for each match!! And when we won! It was insane, there are tons and tons of news articles about it, so I won't go into it too much. The sense of joy and celebration on the roads was just unbeatable, no other day could you dance on the roads at 2 am with a hundred strangers and not be worried about your safety.

The adrenaline hangover went way into Sunday, with everyone being at their laziest best. That's when I made these.. no experimentation, nothing complicated, just pure comfort food. I've made these cheesecakes quite a few times, the tangy, slightly sour taste combined with the crunch of the oreos is just heaven.

Oreo Cheesecake Cupcakes

Recipe from one of my favorites - Martha Stewart's Cupcakes [India]
Yield - 30

42 cream-filled sandwich cookies, such as Oreos, 30 left whole, and 12 coarsely chopped
2 pounds [4 8oz blocks] cream cheese, room temperature
1 cup [240 g] sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
4 large eggs, room temperature, lightly beaten
1 cup sour cream
Pinch of salt

Instructions -

1. Preheat oven to 275 degrees. Line muffin pam with paper liners. Place 1 whole cookie in the bottom of each lined cup.
2. In a large bowl, beat cream cheese until smooth, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Gradually add sugar, and beat until combined. Mix in vanilla. Add the eggs one at a time, beating between each addition. Beat in sour cream and salt
3. Stir in chopped cookies by hand, or they might break up too much.
4. Divide batter evenly among cookie-lined cups, filling each almost to the top. Bake, rotating pan halfway through, until filling is set, about 22 minutes.
5. Transfer to wire racks to cool completely. Refrigerate at least 4 hours (or up to overnight). Remove from tins just before serving.

Chocolate Hazelnut Cheesecake

I made a miniature cutesy professional looking dessert!!! Yayy :D




Cheesecake has been on my way too long to-bake list since forever, but I always put it off after hearing scary stories about cracks, and how hard it is to keep those away. One day when I was at the store, I just bought some cream cheese, and then decided not to put it off any longer. Cheesecake is my next favorite thing to order when out, after chocolate. Why not try making it at home, where I can play with the flavors exactly as I like?  Since I was already a little terrified of making it, I decided to go with the tried and trusted and much loved recipe used by the Daring Bakers last year. The result? Oh my. It was pure sin. I used the idea by one of the most creative food bloggers out there, Rita of Clumbsy Cookie.




She made a simple cheesecake totally sinful by adding Nutella, hazelnuts, and a chocolate crust. It was dreamy. The play of textures on your tongue leaves you vying for more. It's a perfect blend of creamy, chocolatey and crunchy! Look at the picture below, and I just know you'll be running out to the kitchen immediately!!







If you want to remove the cheesecakes from their pans, and don't have those nifty removable bottom individual pans, just lay on a piece of parchment as elow, it works almost as well!







Ferrero Rocher Cheesecake
Adapted from Clumbsy Cookie


For the crust -


2 cups [180 g] graham cracker crumbs - I used chocolate cookie crumbs and omitted the cocoa powder
1 stick [113 g/ 4 oz] butter, melted
2 tbsp [25 g] sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract / half a vanilla bean
4 tbsp cocoa powder


For the cheesecake -


3 sticks [24 oz] of cream cheese
1 cup [220 g] sugar
3 large eggs
1 cup [8 oz/225 g] heavy cream
1 tbsp vanilla extract / half a vanilla bean
1 tbsp liqueur, optional - I didn't use
1/2 tsp salt
About 15 Ferrero Rocher Chocolates, one for each individual ramekin. Alternatively, if making in one large dish, you could cut these up into large chunks
3/4 cup Nutella
2 tbsp chopped roasted hazelnuts, for decoration - I chose to leave mine plain


Instructions -

1. Preheat oven to 350 F [180 C]. Begin to boil a large pot of water for the water bath.
2. Mix together all the ingredients for the crust and press into your preferred pan. You can press the crust just into the bottom, or up the sides of the pan. Set crust aside.
3. In a large bowl, cream together the cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Mix in the eggs, one at a time, fully incorporating each before adding the next. Add heavy cream, vanilla, and licquer and blend until smooth and creamy. Lastly add the chopped Ferrero Rocher, if using.
4. Pour batter into prepared crust and tap the pan on the counter a few times to bring all air bubbles to the surface. Place pan into a larger pan and pour boiling water into the larger pan until halfway up the side of the cheesecake pan. If cheesecake pan is not airtight, cover bottom securely with foil before adding water. 5. Bake 45 to 55 minutes, until it is almost done - this can be hard to judge, but you're looking for the cake to hold together, but still have a lot of jiggle to it in the center. You don't want it to be completely firm at this stage.
5. Close the oven door, turn the heat off, and let rest in the cooling oven for one hour. This lets the cake finish cooking and cool down gently enough so that it won't crack on the top. After one hour, remove cheesecake from oven and lift carefully out of water bath. Let it finish cooling on the counter, and then cover and put in the fridge to chill. Once fully chilled, layer on the Nutella, and serve.