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This Oreo Cheesecake will have you swooning. Simple ingredients and simple directions (with no water bath required) means a fantastic show stopping dessert that is perfect for any holiday or special occasion. Based off my Original Classic Cheesecake Recipe, this is made with an Oreo cookie crust, whole Oreos baked into the cheesecake filling with whipped cream and whole cookies as decoration.
Quality Ingredients with Delicious Results
While this Oreo Cheesecake recipe doesn’t really have a super long ingredients list, each ingredient is important! As long as you’re using good quality products, you will have results just as good as mine.
- Use Philadelphia Cream Cheese. I test all my cheesecake recipes with Philly cream cheese because it is the best cream cheese. It’s just the right amount of creamy and tangy and widely available to you, so you can make this exactly how I did.
- Classic Oreo Cookies. Please go for name brand Oreo Cookies with the classic amount of filling. No double stuff or mega stuff. Original is best! Also, I do grind the cookies WITH the creme filling to make up the crust. Some stores do carry Oreo crumbs, but I can usually never find so I grind them myself with a blender or food processor.
- Good Quality Vanilla Extract Goes A Long Way. While I’m certainly not against imitation vanilla, for a decadent dessert like cheesecake that has very few ingredients to begin with, you’re going to want to use the good stuff because it makes a difference. This vanilla extract is a great one.
A Few Basic Cheesecake Making Tips
Use Room Temperature Everything. Eggs, cream cheese, sour cream. This will help create a smooth, lump-free filling.
Add in the Eggs Last. Whisk your eggs separately before adding them into the cheesecake batter. Eggs hold air and air can cause cracking in a cheesecake so adding them in last and stirring them in until *just incorporated is a great way to give you a perfectly smooth cheesecake.
Tap Out Air Bubbles. Before pouring the cheesecake batter into the Oreo crust, tap the bowl on the counter for a good 45 seconds to remove as many air bubbles as you can. Removing air bubbles means less cracking.
Bake Low and Slow Without A Water Bath. I personally hate water baths, so I have come up with a great way to bake a cheesecake WITHOUT a water bath. Water baths help bake any cheesecake gently and evenly all the way through without cracking. However, you can also achieve this by baking it slowly without one! See the recipe card for full details.
Be sure to see all my cheesecake recipes here from my archive.
How to Make Oreo Cheesecake
Like I mentioned above, this recipe for Oreo Cheesecake is really quite simple. It has minimal ingredients and is pretty no fuss. The only thing you need to know is it takes some time to make. Time to let your ingredients come to room temperature, time for baking and time for chilling. I recommend making this in an afternoon, chilling overnight and enjoying over the next few days.
1. Make the Oreo Crust
Start by grinding the Oreo cookies with the creme centers to create crumbs. Pour into a bowl and stir together with melted butter. Press this mixture into a 9-inch springform pan. Bake 7 minutes and set aside to cool.
2. Make the Filling
Add blocks of room temperature cream cheese to the bowl of a stand mixer and stir until smooth. Add in granulated sugar and stir again to incorporate. Scrape sides to ensure even mixing. Mix again briefly. Stir in sour cream and vanilla. Scrape sides and bottom of the bowl. Continue mixing and scraping until the filling is completely smooth. (It shouldn’t take long if you are using room temperature ingredients.)
In a separate bowl or liquid measuring cup, whisk eggs together. Pour entire contents into the cheesecake filling mixture and stir until just incorporated. Remove bowl from mixer and scrape the sides and bottom ensuring everything is evenly mixed. Tap the bowl on the counter 45 seconds to 1 minute to remove air bubbles. Gently pour filling into Oreo crust.
3. Add in the Cookies
Using a toothpick or the bottom of a wooden spoon, slowly sink whole Oreo cookies into the cheesecake about halfway down. Spread filling evenly across the top and bake.
4. Bake and Chill
The most important step in the baking process is leaving the cheesecake in the oven without opening the door to peek. It needs a slow and steady temperature for baking and opening and closing the door to check on it can affect the outcome. Start by baking at 325° F and then reduce temperature to 250° F for the remainder of the time. Then leave the cheesecake in the oven for carryover cooking and so it can slowly come down in temperature; another way we reduce cracking. You may get small brown circles on the top of your cheesecake from where the Oreos were sunk down into the filling which is totally normal! We can cover these with decorations. Once it has completely cooled, cover gently with plastic wrap and refrigerate until completely chilled 4 hours to overnight.
5. Decorate and Serve
Remove springform pan collar and add tall whipped cream rosettes. Top with whole Oreo cookies and serve!
Other Cheesecake Toppings
While I’m a bit of a plain Jane when it comes to cake decoration in general, feel free to up my game. A chocolate ganache would work beautifully as a shiny glaze! Cool whip would be pretty piped onto the top, chopped Oreo cookies are always a welcome addition as are mini Oreo cookies. Melted peanut butter is a different (delicious) twist as a topping but hot fudge sauce or Hershey’s chocolate syrup is a more classic choice. As long as it’s chocolatey, it will be delicious.
Freezing Directions
This is one of the best make ahead desserts ever because it stores so well for up to 7 days in the fridge or for up to 3 months in the freezer. You can freeze it whole or in slices.
Freezing A Whole Cheesecake. Once the Oreo Cheesecake has been chilled, remove the collar and freeze for about 1 hour, wrapped gently with plastic wrap. After it’s firm but not quite frozen, pop the bottom of the springform pan off, wrap in a layer of plastic wrap and then two layers of foil. Freeze for 3 months.
Freezing Cheesecake Slices. Once the Oreo Cheesecake has been chilled, remove the collar and cut into slices. Wrap each slice in wax or parchment paper, then aluminum foil. Store in freezer for up to 3 months. To defrost, simply transfer to the refrigerator for 24-48 hours before serving. Garnish after defrosting.
Other Cheesecake Recipes You Will Love
- Classic NY Cheesecake
- Blackberry Cheesecake
- Mini Cheesecakes (made with Oreos in a muffin tin!)
- Lemon Meringue Cheesecake
- Pumpkin Cheesecake
- Nutella Cheesecake
- Cheesecake Factory Copycat Vanilla Bean Cheesecake
Anyways, I hope you love this recipe as much as me and my family did! It’s an amazing, jaw dropping treat everyone loves! Have a great day, friends!
If you make this recipe, I would really appreciate it if you would give it a star rating and leave your review in the comments! If you have a picture of your finished dish, post it on Instagram using the hashtag #laurenslatest and tagging me @laurens_latest.
Oreo Cheesecake
Ingredients
For the Oreo Crust:
- 2 cups oreo crumbs
- 5 tablespoons melted butter
For the Cheesecake Filling:
- 40 ounces cream cheese at room temperature (5-8 oz. packages; 2 1/2 lbs total)
- 1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup sour cream at room temperature
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 4 large eggs at room temperature
- 7 whole oreo cookies
- any desired cheesecake toppings whipped cream, more cookies, etc..
Equipment
Instructions
- Place oven racks in the center of the oven. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- In a medium sized bowl, stir oreo crumbs together with melted butter until well incorporated and mixture looks like damp sand. Using the bottom of a measuring cup, press crust into the bottom and half way up the sides of a 9-inch springform pan. Bake 7 minutes. Remove from oven and set aside.
- Reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees.
- In a large bowl or bowl of a stand mixer, mix cream cheese 30 seconds 'til smooth. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl and add in granulated sugar, sour cream and vanilla. Mix again until incorporated. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl and mix again briefly.
- Crack eggs into a liquid measuring cup and using a fork, beat until well scrambled. With the mixer on low, slowly pour in the eggs into the cream cheese mixture and stop stirring once egg has been incorporated. Remove bowl from mixer and scrape the sides and bottom again, ensuring the entire mixture is smooth. If there are a few small lumps, try to fold in using the rubber scraper.
- Once the batter is completely smooth and ready, tap the bowl on the counter for 30-45 seconds to remove as many air bubbles as possible. You should see them popping on the surface as you tap the bowl. Pour filling into the center of the graham cracker crust and gently smooth the top. Will be very full!
- Sink 7 whole oreo cookies into the cheesecake filling, 6 around the edges and one in the middle. Only press them in half way down using a toothpick or bottom of a wooden spoon. Smooth the top again.
- Bake for 40 minutes at 325 degrees. Reduce temperature to 250 degrees and continue cooking for 45 minutes more. Once this time has elapsed, turn oven off and keep cheesecake inside for another 30 minutes for some carryover cooking without opening the oven door. Crack oven door to let cheesecake cool slowly for one hour before removing. You may see some brown spots on the cheesecake from where you sunk the Oreo cookies into the filling. This is totally normal and can get covered with whipped cream. At this point, cheesecake should be slightly warm. Bring cheesecake to room temperature on the counter (3-4 hours) before covering with plastic wrap and transferring to the fridge.
- Refrigerate until chilled completely (6 hours to overnight). To serve, open springform pan and remove collar. Decorate as desired. Dip a sharp knife into hot water, wipe off any excess water and slice. I like to dip my knife in water between each slice to get really clean-looking pieces.
I’m so sad!!! My cheesecake cracked and I followed the recipe and instructions to the tee!!!!
Hi there! I’m curious if mixing pieces of Oreos instead of whole cookies could work well in this recipe? Thanks!
I haven’t tried that….it might cause cracking because those little pieces can hold air bubbles and air bubbles can cause cracks. But it’s worth a try?! It’ll still taste amazing.
I did add Oreos. But I didn’t tap it to get air bubbles after adding. Is that maybe why?
Hi can you tell me how many oreo cookies I need to 2 cups of oreo crumbs.
Also I use 7 oreo’s for the centre and 6 for the top correct?
I jus want to know how many packages of oreo’s I need to purchase.
Thank you for your help.
I think 20 cookies were used to get 2 cups of crumbs if my memory serves me correctly. One package should be fine as long as you don’t have people in your house who will find the package first before you attempt to make the cheesecake. Then get the family size.