After making my refined sugar free peanut butter cheesecake, my husband requested a cookies and cream version. Of course, with my love of sweets I was quick to agree. This cookies and cream cheesecake recipe was the result and he loved it! Make your own homemade oreo’s to eliminate any unnecessary ingredients, making this cookies and cream cheesecake an even better, wholesome dessert.
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Ingredients
While it may seem like a lot of ingredients at a glance, this cookies and cream cheesecake is really simple and easy to make. Let’s break it down into its parts. First, the crust:
- Almond flour – you can easily make this yourself if you’d like. You’ll get some almond milk out of it, too.
- Cocoa powder – cacao powder can also be used.
- Butter
- Dates – pitted medjool dates
You could use oreos here, there are plenty oreo crust recipes out there, afterall. However, my goal is to reduce the overall sugar in my families diet (so that I can feel less guilty about my sweet tooth 😅), and support our overall health.
Next, for the filling you’ll need:
- Cream cheese softened to room temperature
- Sour cream
- Eggs
- Maple syrup or honey
- Vanilla extract – always the real stuff. It’s also easy to make yourself!
- Salt – just a pinch, we love Redmond’s Real Salt. It’s unrefined mineral salt so I try to put a little bit in just about everything we eat.
- 12 oreo cookies – it’s totally up to you if you want to leave the filling in the cookies or scrape it out. Whatever floats your boat. If you are making these cookies from scratch you could omit the filling and just bake up the cookies.
You’ll want all the ingredients for the filling to be room temperature when you go to combine them. This will keep the cream cheese from firming up, giving you the smoothest finish.
At this point the rest of the ingredients/toppings are completely optional. If you’d like to make a ganache you’ll need:
- Dark chocolate chips – we like this kind, it only has three ingredients that even my brand new readers can pronounce
- Heavy whipping cream – it is like magic what this does to melted chocolate. It’s so dreamy 🤤
You can also top off your homemade cookies and cream cheesecake with whipped cream and crushed oreos if you’re feeling extra fancy.
Making Cookies and Cream Cheesecake
Start with the crust.
Preheat the oven to 350F. Line an 8″ spring form pan with parchment paper and set it aside.
Now, remove the pits from your dates. Add the almond flour, cocoa powder, butter, and pitted dates to a blender or food processor. Pulse until the mixture is smooth, pausing every now and again to push down the sides. The mixture will be crumbly but holds together when pressed.
Pour the crust mixture into the spring form pan, press it into the pan and up the sides about an inch. Bake for ten minutes. The crust may puff up while baking, don’t fret. You can gently push it down or wait for it to cool.
Let the crust cool completely before adding the cream cheese filling. This is a great time to pull out the filling ingredients so they warm up to room temperature.
Make the filling
Preheat the oven to 325F and adjust your oven rack to the middle if it’s not already there.
In a large mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, add cream cheese, sour cream, eggs, maple syrup, vanilla and salt. Beat together until smooth, about two minutes. Scrape the bottom of the bowl to ensure everything is mixed up evenly.
If you haven’t crushed your oreos yet, go ahead and do so now. Pour the crushed oreo’s onto the filling mixture. Gently fold to incorporate. We don’t need this super evenly dispersed, just mixed enough to get the cookies throughout the cake.
Pour the filling into the crust.
Now prepare your water bath. Place the spring form pan into a high rimmed baking sheet. Pour water into the baking sheet to create the water bath.
Place the water filled – spring form pan topped – baking sheet into the middle rack of your oven and bake for 55 minutes. The edges should be slightly puffed while the center looks decidedly under cooked and very jiggly.
Cool for 30 minutes to an hour before transferring the cheesecake to the fridge to cool overnight or for at least 12 hours. Cheesecakes taste best aged, if you are patient enough, give your cake two to three days to chill before enjoying it. Trust me, it’s so worth it.
At this point you could call it a day, but if you want to add some topping you totally can. A dark chocolate ganache is amazing on this cheesecake (or any really), add some homemade whipped cream and some more cookies and you’ve got a homemade, super fancy, beautiful dessert perfect for birthdays, holiday’s or any other special occasion.
You could even make a strawberry jam/syrup to go on top, or some chocolate covered strawberries. Sweet cherries would also be amazing. Raspberries…. does any fruit not go well with chocolate???
The point is, add whatever toppings to this cookies and cream cheesecake that you’d like. Afterall, you are making it for you and yours so do what you want!
If you give this recipe a try, let me know in the comments below! I’d love to hear how it turns out for you!
Happy baking! 😊
Cookies & Cream Cheesecake Recipe
Ingredients
Equipment
Method
- Line a spring form pan with parchment paper and preheat the oven to 350F.
- Add almond flour, melted butter, pitted dates, and cocoa powder to blender. Blend until fully combined, pausing to push down the sides as needed.
- Press crust into spring form pan, pushing the crust up the sides about an inch.
- Bake for ten minutes. Allow to cool completely. Pull out ingredients for the filling now so they have time to warm to room temperature before you mix them up.
- Preheat oven to 325F.
- In a large mixing bowl, or the bowl of a stand mixer, combine softened cream cheese, eggs, sour cream, maple syrup, vanilla and salt. Beat together until fully combined. Using a spoon or rubber spatula scrap the bottom of the bowl to ensure all ingredients are fully mixed.
- Fold in crushed oreos (to keep the oreo filling or not is up to you).
- Pour cream cheese mixture into the cooled crust.
- Place spring form pan onto a high rimmed baking sheet or baking dish to use as a water bath. Add water to the pan and place the baking sheet, with the spring form pan in it, into the oven. Bake for 55 minutes or until the edges are puffed up slightly and the middle remains very jiggly.
- Allow the cheesecake to cool on the tray for 30 minutes to an hour before transferring to the fridge to chill for another 12-24 hours. Cheesecakes taste best after they have aged for a day or two.
- Add dark chocolate chips and heavy whipping cream to a microwave safe bowl, or the bowl of a double boiler.
- In the microwave, heat for 30 seconds then stir. If the chocolate is still firm, return to the microwave for another 20-30 seconds. Stir until chocolate mixture is smooth and no traces of cream remainIf using a double boiler, stir frequently while the chocolate heats up, remove from heat when the chocolate mixture is smooth and no traces of cream remain.
- Remove the sides from the spring form pan. Pour ganache over the top of the cheesecake, using a knife or spatula spread the chocolate over the cake, allowing some to drip down the sides.
- Return to the fridge to chill for another 30 minutes before serving.
- If desired, top with some homemade whipped cream and more crushed oreos.
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