Monday, August 20, 2012

Today's Request

Sometimes I'm feeling extra nice and I actually take requests for baked goods. Today, despite the fact that it was a Monday, I took a request for oatmeal raisin cookies. Now I'm always a fan of the traditional things in life but instantly I thought of how I might be able to spice up an oatmeal raisin cookie... Off to Pinterest I went!

The decision (after confirming that the requester also liked cheesecake) was to make oatmeal raisin cookie cheesecake bars. Yeah the name is a mouthful... a mouthful of deliciousness!

Credit for the recipe goes to...  http://www.eaglebrand.com/recipes/details/default.aspx?recipeID=5325


Ingredients

  • 1 package (16 oz) Pillsbury® Big Deluxe™ refrigerated oatmeal raisin cookies (12 cookies)
  • 2 cups Fisher® Chef's Naturals® Chopped Pecans
  • 2 packages (8 oz each) cream cheese, softened
  • 1 can (14 oz) Eagle Brand® Sweetened Condensed Milk
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 2 EGGLAND’S BEST eggs
  • 1 cup Pillsbury BEST® All Purpose Flour
  • 3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup cold LAND O LAKES® Unsalted or Salted Butter
  • 3/4 cup Hershey’s® cinnamon chips
  • 1 cup raisins
  • 1/2 cup old-fashioned or quick-cooking oats

Instructions


  • Heat oven to 350°F. In bottom of ungreased 13x9-inch pan, press cookie dough rounds evenly for crust. Sprinkle with 1 cup of the pecans; press firmly into dough. Bake 13 to 17 minutes or until golden brown.
  • Meanwhile, in large bowl, beat cream cheese with electric mixer on medium speed until smooth. Add milk, vanilla and eggs; beat until well blended. On low speed, beat in 1/2 cup of the flour. Pour over crust; spread evenly.
  • In medium bowl, mix brown sugar and remaining 1/2 cup flour. Cut in butter, using pastry blender or fork, until mixture looks like coarse crumbs. Stir in cinnamon chips, raisins, oats and remaining 1 cup pecans. Sprinkle over cheese mixture.
  • Bake 35 to 45 minutes longer or until set. Cool completely, about 2 hours. To serve, cut into 4 rows by 4 rows. Store in refrigerator.
I liked the sound of the recipe because half of it allowed me to cheat which was perfect for a weeknight baking adventure. The only thing missing from my recipe is the raisins... I was rushing at the grocery store and you know what - who actually likes raisins anyway? 

Squish the cookie dough down into the bottom of the pan... Don't worry about a utensil - get in there and get your hands dirty. It also says to use a cup of pecans here... I opted for a sprinkle because quite frankly I don't like nuts at all but I don't speak for everyone so I used a few. 


Bake the cookies about 14 minutes - You want to make sure they're done enough because they're going to act as the base for the cheesecake and the crumble. I had tried a similar recipe in the past and I think I would have purchased a second pack of cookie dough and crumbled that on top of the cheesecake - in addition to the crumble of course because everyone loves a good crumble. 


Cheesecake... I have no witty comments or additional thoughts on this part - just follow the directions. 


They say medium sized bowl for this part... They are liars. Use a big bowl because my crumble topping was all over the place. It could have been the bowl size or maybe I was just a bit too aggressive with the cutting in of the butter. Again I used way less than a cup of pecans. Also, I only did a 1/2 cup of the cinnamon chips and a 1/4 cup of mini chocolate chips. 


Pour the cheesecake over the cookie crust & spread all the topping over the cheesecake. I baked my for exactly 35 Minutes. It says to bake until it is set... Not a clue how you're supposed to know that when all of the cheesecake is covered in tasty crumbles but I stuck a toothpick in a few spots and it appeared to come out clean. 


The official Pinterest photo but I'm being ambitions and hoping that mine will come out exactly like this - minus those raisins on top because raisins shouldn't be recognized as a food anyway. I'll update on how they turned out after they cool - which is apparently 2 hours. See ya tomorrow cheesecake bars! 


**Post eating update - they said you could put the cookies onto the ungreased pan - don't ever believe them like I did. Give the pan a good spray first because the cookies definitely stuck to the bottom when it came time to cutting them. **

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