Oreo Cheesecake

Last Christmas, I got a springform pan…so I figured I should finally use it!  We’ve got a ton of toppings leftover from The Scoop; so when we were asked to bring a dessert for our Thanksgiving, we thought this would be a great way to use up some of it!!!

INGREDIENTS:

Crust:

• 1 1/2 cups Oreo cookie bits (about 23 Oreo cookies finely chopped, if you don’t have a bag of pre-chopped crumbles like us)
• 2 tablespoons melted butter

Filling:

• Three 8 ounce packages of light cream cheese, room temp
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 5 large eggs, room temp
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1/4 cup flour
• 6 - 8 ounces nonfat Greek yogurt (or light sour cream, or a combination of both if your refrigerator requires it); room temp
• 3/4 cup Oreo cookie crumbs
• For the top: More Oreo cookie crumbs (or about 10 coarsely chopped Oreos)

DIRECTIONS

Preheat the oven to 325F.

Crust: Mix the Oreo crumbs with the melted butter and press into the bottom of a 10-inch springform cheesecake pan.  Stick this in the fridge to chill while you prep everything else.

Put the cream cheese in a large bowl and beat on low speed with your mixer until it's light and fluffy (super easy if you have a stand mixer). Slowly add the sugar until well incorporated, scraping the bowl periodically.  Now add the salt, vanilla, flour and Greek yogurt/sour cream and beat some more until everything is mixed in and smooth.

With your mixer on low, add the eggs one at a time, beating each egg fully into the batter and scraping down the sides of the bowl again before adding the next egg. You don’t want to over-beat the mixture after the eggs have been added in.

Gently fold the 3/4 cup of Oreo crumbles into the mixture. Then pour the batter into the prepared springform pan. Sprinkle the top with more Oreo cookie crumbs.

Set the top and bottom racks of the oven far enough apart so that you can set a pan of water on the lower rack and the cheesecake on the top rack. Set a roasting pan filled 2/3 of the way with water on the lower rack. (This acts as the "water bath" without having to go to all the trouble of actually putting the cheesecake in the water. Way easier—I’ve had other cheesecakes get a soggy crust because of water infiltrating the pan with a regular water bath.)

Place the cheesecake on the top rack of the oven and bake for about an hour. When it’s ready, it should jiggle slightly in the middle. When you reach this point, turn the oven off, prop the door of the oven open, and let it sit for an hour. Then remove, cover, and stick it in the fridge for 8 hours (or overnight).

Run a knife around the edge of the pan before you pop off the springform.  Then serve at will!  It’s pretty rich, even with the lower-fat ingredients in there, so serve small slices.

NUTRIFACTS: (16 slices)

  Calories 347.0

  Total Fat 18.2 g

  Saturated Fat 8.4 g

  Polyunsaturated Fat 0.3 g

  Monounsaturated Fat 0.9 g

  Cholesterol 116.4 mg

  Sodium 394.5 mg

  Potassium 114.0 mg

  Total Carbohydrate 36.6 g

  Dietary Fiber 1.2 g

  Sugars 26.7 g

  Protein 8.3 g

Caramel Apple Cheesecake Burritos!

Oh yes.  Yes indeed.  I saw these on Pinterest and there was no turning back.  Especially since we had some apples in our fruit basket that were starting to soften.  I don’t know about you, but once an apple loses that reallllly crisp crunch, I don’t want to have anything to do with it in its raw form.  In their baked form?  But of course!

As you know, I’m usually all about FeauxFrying foods by baking them at high heat in the oven.  But sometimes…you just really gotta fry something.  There’s a crispiness and a golden color that just can’t be matched by oven frying.  But we can make it healthier by pan-frying rather than deep frying, and using juuuuuuuuust enough oil to coat the pan, rather than several cups worth.

FYI….this is totally delicious and decadent.  AND super easy.  I whipped them up in under 15 minutes.

Ingredients: (makes 4 burritos)

8 ounces of fat free cream cheese, softened
4 Tbsp powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp cinnamon
4 flour tortillas (soft taco size, 6 or 8")
2-4 Tbsp vegetable oil, for frying (the original recipe calls for using a lot more, but it’s really not necessary.  You just need enough to coat the bottom of your pan.)

2 apples, peeled, cored, and diced
1/2 stick light butter
1 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup pecans
2 Tbsp sugar free caramel sauce
A few dashes of apple pie sice (for garnish)

Directions:

In a saucepan, combine the apples, butter, sugar, pecans and cinnamon over medium-low heat, for about 10 minutes or until apples are tender.

On a separate burner, start a large skillet with the oil over medium high heat.  The oil should just barely start to smoke.

In a small bowl, combine the cream cheese, powdered sugar, vanilla, and cinnamon.  Use a spatula to divide the contents of the bowl into four fairly equal portions.  Lay out your tortilla, and place one portion of the cream cheese filling in the center. 

Fold in the sides, and then roll to make a cute lil’ flat burrito.

Place this in your skillet, fold-side down.  (Cooking the fold side first helps seal the packet and firms up hat side so it won’t flop open while cooking.)

It shouldn’t take long—just cook until lightly golden & then flip.  Once both sides are cooked, then let drain on a paper towel while you cook the rest.

Serve each burrito on it’s own plate, and top with 1/4 of the apple mixture.  Drizzle 1/2 Tbsp of caramel sauce over the top of each, and a dash of apple pie spice if desired (or just more cinnamon if you prefer).

De…freakin’…vine.  And so easy.

Now: is this a “healthy” dessert?  At 489 calories….err…Not quite.  But given that the original version (with extra oil, full-fat cream cheese, regular butter, and regular caramel sauce) would run about 850 calories per serving, we’re DEFINITELY doing better.  And this is a fairly decent sized dessert.  So if you’re looking to serve 4 people (who are all watching their waistlines), you could opt to make two burritos and have two people share.  After all, isn’t that half the fun of a dessert—the sharing?  :)

NutriFacts: (per burrito)

Calories 489.1

  Total Fat 22.5 g

  Saturated Fat 6.6 g

  Polyunsaturated Fat 5.8 g

  Monounsaturated Fat 7.1 g

  Cholesterol 10.0 mg

  Sodium 902.1 mg

  Potassium 149.9 mg

  Total Carbohydrate 59.7 g

  Dietary Fiber 4.5 g

  Sugars 21.6 g

  Protein 13.6 g