My Heavenly Baileys & Oreo No Bake Cheesecake

Whenever I’m invited to a family gathering or get together of some sort and I’m asked to bring a plate I automatically go to dessert…. I honestly swear I’m not really that addicted to desserts and chocolate. No wait, No, I need to be strong. I’ve already admitted to being a chocolate addict in a previous post so there’ll be no backsliding here, my sponsor would kill me (ie. my husband!!) hehe.

Sometimes though when it comes to crunch time (you see what I did there…??) I end up a bit blank and I generally find myself falling back on to some of my classic recipes like my Lemon Berry Cheesecake. This is a gorgeous cheesecake, one of my favourites but it really is more of a summer dessert and the weather here lately has been swinging between torrential rain and freezing cold.

This left me drawing a complete blank. I didn’t even have the urge to resort to flicking through my Nigella Lawson collection for inspiration. So there I sat, at my computer, staring at a google search bar wondering what on earth I was going to cook.

Now in complete sincerity I can say I don’t think I’ve ever had this problem before. It’s normally the opposite way around with my baking wish list measuring as long as my arm, so here I sat twiddling my thumbs (well chasing a toddler around the house) but still, mentally twiddling my thumbs.

Suddenly like a bolt of lightning I was thinking all things cookies and cream… yuuummmm am I right? and I just new I had to do something involving these flavours and eventually I found myself thinking Cookies and Cream cheesecake! 

Now I’ve made my share of these before, always no bake of course as they’re just so simple to whip up and virtually impossible to ruin. This time though I wanted something different. I wanted something silky, more decadent, more…. moreish! Some how my crazy brain made the jump to the gorgeously smooth texture of a glass of Baileys over ice and as Gru from Despicable Me says…. LIGHT BULB!!!!! (Yeah OK I’ve been watching too many kids shows lately!) I just knew I had to combine the flavours.

Now I’m just going to add a little disclosure here…. I suggest not overly tasting the mixture whilst preparing this… I know that’s a very hard thing to do. But as I can attest, there is quite a lot of alcohol in this bad boy… so you know… take it easy! Otherwise you’ll end up calling your partner in and asking in a slurred voice “Does this need more Baileys in it? I can’t tell anymore!”

And on that note…. here it is. My Heavenly Baileys & Oreo No Bake Cheesecake recipe!

My Heavenly Baileys & Oreo No Bake Cheesecake
Serves: 8
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Chilling Time: 4-5 Hours or Overnight

Ingredients:
80g Butter, melted
320g Chocolate & Cream Biscuit (like an Oreo, or use a Gluten free substitute!)
500g Philadelphia Cream Cheese, room temperature
1/4 Cup Caster Sugar
3 tsp Gelatine powder, dissolved in
1/4 Cup Boiling Water
300ml Thickened cream, whipped
50ml Baileys (or more.. because you know adult’s only folks!)

Method:
Grease and line a 22cm spring form tin with baking paper and set aside. Then in a food processor blitz all of your chocolate and cream biscuits until a fine crumb forms. You’ll want quite a smooth crumb for your base so that it holds together nicely and sets firm, so be sure to watch those cream centers get completely blitzed down. Use only approximately 200g of this crumb to create your base so remove the rest and set aside for later.

Add the melted butter to the 200g of biscuits and mix until it starts to come together. Turn the mixture out into the base of your prepared tin and using the back of a spoon or your hands start to spread it out to the edges and press down firmly. You can make your base as thick or thin as you like, just alter the butter and cookie ratio, or you can even increase your mixture (by almost the same again) and have enough to go all the way up the sides of your cheesecake. Go with whatever look you want to achieve as flavour wise it won’t matter too much. Pop that into the fridge for 20-30 minutes to set hard or alternatively whack it in the freezer for approximately 10 minutes if you’re in a rush. Whilst that’s chilling we can move onto the cheesecake mix itself.

In a food processor pop your cream cheese and blitz until it becomes completely smooth. Add in the sugar and gelatine dissolved in boiling water and blitz again. I normally recommend beating this on high for a good 2 minutes or so to really ensure everything is well incorporated, the last thing you want is little globs of gelatine showing in your cheesecake. Now comes the fun part. Add in your Baileys and blitz again, how much more you add after the initial 50ml is completely up to you! Though don’t base it too much on the flavour you taste now, it will reduce once you add the cream and chill it. Add in as much or as little as you like, either way you can add more later.

In a small separate bowl whip the thickened cream till stiff peaks form and add this to the cream cheese mixture. Be sure to only gently fold this through as you don’t want to deflate your cream and lose all your fluffiness! Now grab those biscuit crumbs from earlier and throw in, well, as much as you like. Be sure to leave a little though to sprinkle on top, but it is up to you as to how much you’d like as a ‘crust’ or if you’d prefer more through out.

Mix this gently through and have a taste. If you want more of a zingy Baileys flavour add a little more and gently fold it through, keep in mind too that the flavour will be less intense once it’s chilled.

By now your base should be set hard, so remove from the fridge and pour your gorgeous creamy mixture straight over top. Smooth it off, give your tin a good bang on your counter to remove any air bubbles, cover and pop straight into the fridge. You’ll want to let it refrigerate for a good 3-4 hours but I always make mine the day before and set overnight, just to be sure.

When you’re ready to serve you can easily pop it out of its tin and onto a pretty plate. Sprinkle the remaining biscuit crumbs over top and ta-dah! You are done! Let the cheesecake drop a little in temperate (say 10 minutes or so) before slicing so that you can easily cut through the base and the cheesecake will take on a truly smooth and creamy texture.

Now if you can… save some for later… but I really don’t think that will happen!

So there you have it guys. My seriously decadent, heavenly Baileys and Oreo cheesecake that you honestly won’t be able to stop eating! Now go and enjoy, we all need a little treat every now and again.

*Please note: This recipe is adults only and as it contains a high degree of alcohol is recommended for ages 18+ only*