oreos? yes, please..

Know what's good? Oreo cheesecake. Know what's not good? Having to make it and wait forever. Seriously, cheesecakes take forever. They are worth the wait.....unless of course, you are pregnant, and want it now. Because I've come to realize that when I crave something, if I take a while to make it, by the time it's ready I don't want it anymore. This is why I haven't made lasagna - ONCE - while I have been pregnant. Husband hasn't said anything to me about it, which surprises me, because he usually asks for it after going a couple of months without it. I was talking about making manicotti the other night though, so that's a possibility on the horizon. But in any case, back to cheesecake. I don't know if I've ever blogged my cheesecake recipe or not. I'm not sure I will. Frankly, there are some recipes that aren't recipes I want to share with others. Why? Because, then everyone will know how to make it and nobody will tell me how amazing my cheesecake is, because they can make it themselves and take credit for it. I may have made the mistake of blogging it already, but if not...well, I don't know if I will. I might. I might not. It doesn't matter.

Because today I wanted an Oreo cheesecake and I refuse to take the time to make it. It doesn't take long to put together. It's the baking that takes a while. You have to bake it at one temperature for a certain amount of time, then lower the temperature and bake it longer, then shut the oven off and leave it in the oven with the door closed for a certain amount of time, then crack the oven door and leave it in there for a certain amount of time, then let the cheesecake cool on the counter for a certain amount of time, and then chill it overnight. It's literally almost two days before it's ready. Now, mind you, most people don't do cheesecake this way. Most people don't even use a water bath when they do it (I use a water bath). But their cheesecake is also dry, heavy, and cracked in the middle. Mine is perfect. You can't rush perfection.

You can and must rush cravings though when the time calls for it. Thus, no-bake Oreo cheesecake or pie is just fine. It's definitely not the same, but it's just fine.

What do you need?

1 package of Oreos
1/4 cup butter, melted
4 packages of cream cheese, softened to room temperature
1/3 cup of sugar (I forgot to mention this before. Oops. That'd be gross otherwise)
1 teaspoon of vanilla
1 tub of Cool Whip (thawed)

Coarsely chop 15 Oreos and put them in a bowl. Move it away. Finely grind the rest of the Oreos in a food processor and then mix with the melted butter. Yay, crust! Press into the bottom of a 13x9 inch pan. Throw in the fridge while making the filling.

Beat cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla in a large bowl with the mixer until well blended. Gently (with a spatula or spoon) fold in the Cool Whip and chopped up cookies and spread onto the crust. Refrigerate for a few hours until firm. You can save some cookies to throw on top to make it look nice.


Personally, I like to do it in muffin cups instead. Especially if you're trying to be somewhat accountable for what you are eating, then at least you won't sit down and eat half the pan.


Then I put it in my freezer so it would set up faster. My freezer is kind of a mess. Look at it. But I can tell you exactly what is in there. At least there isn't anything mysterious. Frozen cookie dough, venison chops wrapped in butcher paper, fresh picked raspberries from last summer, gluten-free tortillas, ice cream, snowman ice cream bars, black bean burgers, fake chicken patties, some frozen veggies I don't want to eat... 4 different pints of ice cream, garlic toast, a chocolate bar, some juice, frozen mango... I feel like most of this stuff should be thrown. Some of it has been in there for a while. I'm sure things go bad even in the freezer.


You can use the Golden Oreos or the mint ones or any of them really. I like the double stuffed.

If you don't want to do all of this work, honestly, the Jell-O no-bake boxed mix is good, but not as good. But really, it's pretty good. And I have a confession. I didn't make this recipe today. I made the boxed mix.


I found it in my cupboard when I was pulling ingredients for brownies (I was going to make brownies) and then decided to make this instead. But it made me think about the actual no-bake recipe, and I had to share it with you. Because I care, and I think that it's important to do nice things for people, like share good recipes. You'll thank me one day. Probably the day that you make this dessert.

My nails look bad. I need to re-do the polish.