There are so many things about my junior high school prom that I’ll never forget. I’ve never been much of a fancy girl, but it was exciting to go hunting for a nice dress with my closest friends, and deciding on what jewelry we were going to wear, how our hair would be styled, who was going to do our make up, the fact that my mom was letting me borrow HER car instead of mine for all of us to ride in, the fact that I was going to attempt to walk in heels… Oh, so many things about it that were fun, and styles were a little different back in 1997.
Me and my BFF. I’m on the left…for years, we got mistaken for sisters, even though you can see there’s quite a height difference.
The reason for this post goes along with going out to dinner that night. It was a fancy restaurant that I had never been to, and although I can’t remember the entrée that I ordered, scarfing it down was the only option since I was a bottomless pit at that age, but it was dessert that got me. When our waitress came back to the table and handed us the dessert menus, I was looking over a list of incredible desserts…and looked no further when I saw it. Oreo Cheesecake. My jaw dropped. My eyes got as big as baseballs. I asked the waitress, “Is this right? Oreo Cheesecake? As in, cheesecake with OREOS in it?” She smiled at my reaction, and said, “It sure is.” Even though I had stuffed myself silly on dinner, that didn’t matter. All that mattered was getting my hands…or should I say my mouth…on that Oreo cheesecake. I truly savored each bite, and literally at each bite, I would say, “Mmmm! This is awesome!” Luckily, they didn’t have to cart me out of the restaurant, although that may have been an option, considering how much food was in my belly. In our group, there were five girls, and only one of us had a date. He was a ladies’ man that evening. He ordered some sort of chicken dish, and he didn’t finish all of his meal. My other friend wanted to try a piece, so she was munching on his leftovers as we were walking out the door and into the parking lot, and she swallowed wrong. She started to cough, and we asked her if she was okay. In between coughs, she responded, “I’m choking on Adam’s chicken!” not even realizing what she had said…until we doubled over in laughter. I started choking too, simply because I couldn’t breathe from laughing so hard, which made her laugh on top of coughing. So there we were, all fancied up in our dresses, done-up hair, thick make up and high heels, laughing like a bunch of monkeys in the parking lot. I was slapping the hood of my mom’s car from laughing so hard. We thought it was a little funny. To this day, we still randomly throw out that sentence and hysterically start laughing.
Fast forward to present time. There’s a family friendly restaurant in town that has a HUGE menu…included on that menu are some truly amazing desserts. When you walk in to the restaurant, straight ahead and to the right consists of the actual restaurant. To the left, there’s a display case of some of the most amazing pies and cheesecakes. Every time we go in there, it’s like a supernatural power that pulls me to the left. Almost like a magnet. I stare at the case, drool over the items in it, make mental notes of things that I want to make. When I get asked, “Can I get you anything?” I always want to say, “Yes please. All of it.” Among that incredible dessert case always includes an Oreo Cheesecake, and I have ordered it several times. One of the greatest things I realized while eating this cheesecake that was made in my kitchen was the fact that it tasted just as delicious as the one at the restaurant. I may have to start really practicing different cheesecake recipes now…
Oreo Cheesecake Recipe:
1 package Oreo cookies
1/2 stick butter, melted
4 packages (8 oz.) cream cheese, softened
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
8 oz. sour cream
4 eggs
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Place 25 of the cookies in a food processor or food chopper. Cover and process until finely ground. Add butter, mix well. Press firmly into the bottom of a 9 inch springform pan. Beat cream cheese, sugar and vanilla in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until well blended. Add sour cream, mix well. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating just until blended after each addition. Break up remaining cookies into small pieces, gently stir the cookies into cream cheese batter. Pour over crust. Wrap aluminum foil around edges of pan, so that all of the bottom and sides are completely covered (to make sure it’s completely covered, wrap the pan with two pieces of foil in opposite directions). Place inside a larger pan, pour water to make a 1 inch water bath around the outside of springform pan (this will keep the cheesecake from cracking during the baking process). Bake for 1 hour to 1 hour and 15 minutes, until cheesecake is puffed up, the edges are a light golden brown, but the center is still a little jiggly. Remove from oven, cool on cooling rack for 1 hour. Place in refrigerator and to let set overnight. Serve with whipped topping and mini Oreo cookies. Store in refrigerator.
