Hello again friends to another baking blog. I have been trying to make each recipe a bit harder than the last or at least more out of my comfort zone. And this week I did just that. A little while ago I went to a restaurant and had a slice of Oreo cheesecake for dessert, and ever since that night I have been going cheesecake crazy. I have been constantly craving it so I thought I would just go ahead and try to make it. Before I set my mind on it, I researched how to actually make a cheesecake to check out the level of difficulty. I came across an Oreo cheesecake recipe that was rated pretty high by users and didn’t seem too complicated. This recipe had a total of 6 ingredients and 6 steps.
After reading the minimal amount of ingredients I asked myself why I never made a cheesecake before? What was I doing with my life? It seemed too good to be true. The first thing that I did was make the Oreo crust which was just crushed Oreo’s and melted butter. This took me about 5 minutes to make and prepare in the pan. Next was to mix the cream cheese with the sugar. This is also where I had a slight mental breakdown trying to figure out how a mixer works. After spilling and mixing half of my cheesecake batter all over the kitchen I used my one help line to call my mom to walk me through how to properly use a hand mixer. After having my pride crushed just a little I resumed with my recipe and added the rest of the ingredients then set it into the oven for about 35-40 minutes.
Aside from the mixer incident, the hardest part of this recipe for me was knowing when to take the cheesecake out of the oven. One recipe that I looked at said that it should be golden brown and semi firm throughout, another said that the middle ring of it should jiggle, so honestly I don’t know. After the 35 minutes it still seemed like it needed more time so I put it back into the oven for another 5, but when I came to check on it after the 5 minutes it didn’t seem like anything changed, so I just took it out. After removing it from the oven, I set it on the counter for 3 hours to cool and set.
Then the moment of truth came when I dipped my knife into the cake to cut a piece. Right when I cut down the center of the cheesecake it seemed to sink right in and reveal a gooey center. Now, I am no cheesecake expert but I am sure that cheesecakes do not ooze, so this meant that the cheesecake is either under-baked or still needs time to set or both (which would be a big bummer). I was almost tempted to fire up the oven again but I know baking doesn’t typically work that way. Reluctantly I continued to cut a slice to analyze the taste and overall flavor. It wasn’t too sweet which was nice and the Oreo crust offered a nice bitterness to it. It wasn’t bad! I would give it a solid 6.5/10.
I am hoping overnight it will set more and the center won’t stay gooey (i’ll update you next week). I was definitely disappointed in how this week’s baking went, but after reflecting on today’s events I came to a realization. Baking is like my experience with teaching in a classroom this year, no matter how prepared you feel, sometimes things won’t work out, and that’s okay because it is a part of learning. It is impossible to expect yourself to be amazing and an expert at something when you haven’t done it before. It is a learning curve, but with a little time and effort things will start to become easier.
