I make this Vanilla Bean Cheesecake more than any other kind of cheesecake and my favorite crust with it is this Oreo Cookie crust. The smooth, intensely vanilla cheesecake paired with a dark chocolate cookie crust is a standout on its own but it also plays well with others when you want to get creative with toppings! For this As with all cheesecakes, I find the best strategy is to use a food processor and room temperature ingredients.

For the crust:
Ingredients:
– 20 Oreos
– 2 Tbsp melted better

How I make it:
– Pulse cookies in food processor until they become fine crumbs.
– Pour in melted butter and continue to pulse until thoroughly mixed, scraping the sides and bottom of the processor once or twice, as needed.
– Pour buttered crumbs into a springform pan and tamp down with your fingers or the flat bottom of a measuring cup until the crumbs are evenly packed together.
– Bake 350 for 10 minutes.
– Wipe out food processor and carefully wipe off blade with paper towel or kitchen towel and reassemble to make the batter.

For the Batter:
Ingredients:
– 4 pkg (8 oz each) cream cheese (I always use Philadelphia brand), brought to room temperature
– 1 cup granulated sugar
– 4 large eggs, brought to room temperature
– 1 vanilla pod
– Pinch of Kosher Salt

How I make it:
– Reduce oven temperature to 300.
– Slice Vanilla Pod in half lengthwise and use the back of your knife to scrape as much of the seeds out to use for this recipe & see tips below for how to use your empty pod.
– Pulse cream cheese, sugar, and salt in the food processor until combined.
– Break eggs into a measuring cup or small bowl, add vanilla seeds, and mix with a fork to break up the yolks; then gradually add to ingredients to mixture in the food processor.
– Pulse until ingredients are thoroughly combined and batter is smooth, scraping down the sides of the processor with a spatula at least twice.
– Pour batter over crust and tap pan lightly to help eliminate air bubbles.
– Bake at 1 hour.
– Allow to cool at room temperature for 3 hours.
– Refrigerate for an additional 3-8 hours before releasing the springform pan and serving.

Variations:
– You can substitute the cup of granulated sugar for your preferred sweetener. Cheesecake is a great dessert to use any crystalized or powdered sweetener. I haven’t tried using a liquid sweetener for this, so I don’t know how it may alter the consistency of the finished product.
– If you don’t have a vanilla pod, you can use 1 Tbsp of the best vanilla extract!
– If you want to decrease the fat, you can substitute as much as half of the cream cheese with 1/3 Less Fat (Neufchatel) Cream Cheese, but you need to keep at least 1/2 of it regular cream cheese or it won’t have the characteristic velvety mouthfeel of cheesecake.
– You can serve this cheesecake with any topping or accompaniment that suits your fancy or serve it as naked as it came out of the oven.

Tips:
– Make sure that your bring all ingredients to room temperature before mixing them or hot will have a lumpy cheesecake. I leave mine out for 1 to 3 hours before mixing.
– If you don’t have a food processor, you can use a mixer to make your batter and bash your cookies to smithereens in a lock top bag.
– To keep the cake from cracking, you want to handle it very delicately and only when necessary. It is also best allow it to cool gradually. A great way to do this is to shut off your oven and crack the door after the hour of baking and allow it to cool in the oven, however the presence of children and animals in my home usually prevents me from being able to do this.
– If it does crack, that’s what topping is for!
– Don’t throw your empty vanilla pod away; pop it into your favorite bottle of vodka and it will take on the vanilla flavor in a week or two OR allow it to dry and put it in an airtight container with granulated sugar to make vanilla sugar.

If you follow Optimistic Kitchen at all, you probably know the importance that cheesecake has in my life. It’s always simple to make; always delicious to eat; and it makes people really happy!

Happy Eating!

Related Recipes:
Pumpkin Cheesecake with Spiced Waffers Crust