Oreo Cheesecake Bars

Oreos and cheesecake. What could be more decadent? I decided to make these brownie bars for our Christmas dessert. It was sort of similar to the pumpkin swirl cheesecake bars that I liked so much, so I figured, why not with chocolate and Oreos! These were definitely dense and oh so decadent.

I wasn’t sure what dark cocoa powder was, so I assumed it was dutch process cocoa. I reduced this by 1/4 cup, since I thought 1/2 cup was a bit much. I’ve had recipes that call for 1 TBSP and it still comes out very chocolaty. I also reduced it because Jen mentioned the batter seemed thick. I was thinking to myself as I was pouring, OK, I guess the batter doesn’t seem so thick, since I reduced the amount of cocoa powder. That’s when it dawned on me that the Oreos weren’t in there!! The bag of chopped Oreos I had ready for the batter was still sitting there on the counter, staring me in the face! I ended pouring it over the mixture and mixing it in as best as I can. That’s why mine isn’t nicely layered like the source recipe.

Despite the mishaps, it still came together very nicely. Definitely worth trying again, as long as I remember to add the Oreos!

Oreo Cheesecake Bars
adapted from: Beantown Baker

 printable recipe

ingredients:
1 cup flour
1/4 cup dutch process cocoa
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 package (8 oz) cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup confectioners' sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 eggs
1 1/3 cups coarsely chopped Oreo cookies (about one row from a package)

directions:
Preheat oven to 350° F. Grease and flour an 8x8 baking pan. Sift together flour, cocoa powder, and salt. Whisk until combined and set aside.

Melt the butter in a small saucepan, over medium heat. Whisk in sugar and bring to a boil, whisking frequently; boil for 1 minute. Set aside to cool for 5 minutes.

In a small mixing bowl, using a mixer on medium speed, beat together cream cheese, confectioners' sugar and vanilla extract, until well combined, about 1 minute.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together eggs, until combined. Whisk in melted butter-sugar mixture until well combined. Stir in flour mixture until just combined, followed by Oreo cookies.

Spread half of brownie batter into baking dish, followed by cream cheese layer; dot the top with remaining brownie batter, and spread evenly, as best as you can. Run a knife through batter to make "swirls".

Bake for 23-28 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out semi clean (there will be residue from the melted cookies).

Cool on a wire rack to room temperature before slicing. For easier slicing, try freezing the brownies for 30-60 minutes.

Makes about 16 squares (more or less depending on how big you want to cut them)