Girl Scout Samoa® Cookie Ultimate Cheesecake | Recipeish | Gustus Vitae
- Yield: 1 Outrageously decadent cheesecake.
- Time Estimate: 3 Hours, including 2 1/2 hours unattended + an overnight.
- Storage Notes: Will keep, loosely covered and refrigerated, for up to 3 days.
- Difficulty: Easy.
To reduce this to just "the ultimate cheesecake" would be doing this outrageous dessert a disservice. We'll go instead with "one of the best things ever created" instead.
Please - don't take our word for it. Make this and be happy.
It's Fall, and baking season is here - this hits all the right comfort notes, and is built for sharing with those you hold dear.
Ingredients
For the Crust & Filling
- 30 Oreo® cookies (both cookie and filling)
- 1 Cup Greek yogurt
- 4 Eggs
- 1 tsp California Sea Salt
- 3 Blocks (24oz) cream cheese
- 4 Tbs unsalted butter
- 1 Full tin Crystallized Honey Cane Sugar
- 1 Full tin Vanilla Bean Cane Sugar
- 1 & 1/2 Full Tins Salted Chocolate Cane Sugar
For the Topping
- 1 Full jar caramel sauce (about 20oz)
- 1/3rd Jar chocolate sauce (about 7oz)
- 2 Cups shredded sweetened coconut shavings
- Preheat oven to 325F.
- Add cookies to a food processor and pulse 3-4 times, or until mostly broken down. Briefly melt room temperature butter in the microwave - around 30 seconds should be sufficient - and add to food processor, along with California Sea Salt.
- Pulse another 3-4 times, until butter is fully incorporated and the consistency is a mostly uniform black paste.
- Wrap a 9" springform pan with long lengths of tinfoil to about 1.5" above the bottom, making sure there are no cracks/openings where water could get in.
- Press in cookie mixture, firmly and in a uniform level, around the bottom of the springform pan.
- Bring a large pot of water up to a low boil, and hold at temperature.
- Find a large oven-safe receptacle for the spring form pan, and place the tinfoil-coated pan in it. We ended up using a big paella pan, but anything that will accomodate the pan will do.
- Dump cheesecake in a large mixing bowl, and beat with an electric mixer to aerate, 3-4 minutes. Add Crystallized Honey Cane Sugar, Vanilla Bean Cane Sugar, and 1 tins of Salted Chocolate Cane Sugar, and cream for a further 3 minutes.
- Add eggs, one at a time, and beat until incorporated.
- Pour entirety of mixture into the pan, and pop pan & receptacle in the oven.
- Pour simmering hot water into receptacle, up to around the 1" - 1 1/2" mark, just below where the tinfoil wrap stops.
- Bake, uncovered, for 90 minutes.
- Turn oven off, open the door halfway, and allow your cheesecake to cool gradually for a further hour.
- Remove from oven, run a sharp knife around the edges to separate crust from pan, and allow another hour to cool at room temperature.
- Cover with saran, and pop in the fridge overnight.
- The following day, remove from the fridge, remove saran, and run knife again along the edge, before releasing the cheesecake from the springform pan.
- Preheat oven to 350F.
- Spread shaved coconut over a wax paper covered baking tray, and roast for 5 minutes, before stirring, and roasting for a further 5, then pouring into a medium mixing bowl. Pour in 1/3rd (about 7-8oz) of the caramel sauce, sprinkle over a half tin of Salted Chocolate Cane Sugar, and stir to combine.
- Pour 1/3rd of the caramel sauce over the cheesecake, spreading to evenly distribute. Top with caramel & coconut mixture, again carefully spreading to cover the entirety of the cheesecake.
- Using two piping/icing bags, or in pinch, ziplock bags with a little hole poked out in a corner, pipe over chocolate and caramel sauce in stripes.
- Return this masterpiece to the fridge until ready to serve - it'll keep for a couple days, loosely covered with foil in the fridge, and each slice is so rich you only need a sliver.
- Serve, devour, smile.