No Bake Oreo Cheesecake

For my man's birthday, I tried my hands on making this sinful, high-calorie, I-love-you-but-I-hate-you No bake Oreo Cheesecake..and I am proud to say it turned out pretty well.. :) A number of friends came asking me for the recipe and here's it: 

No Bake Oreo Cheesecake

(Serving size: one 6’’cake)

Ingredients:                       

(A) Crust:

• 100 g Oreo biscuit
• 50 g butter (melted)

(B) Filling:       

• 250 g Philadelphia Cream Cheese to room temperature (take out from fridge 1 hr  before use)
• 65 g castor/icing sugar
• 150 g yogurt to room temperature
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• 10g (1 ½ tsp) gelatin powder
• 30 mL warm water
• Whole Oreo biscuits

Directions:

(A) Crust

1. Separate the Oreo cookie biscuit from the cream, blitzing them in a food processor until rough crumbs form. Alternatively, put in zip-lock bag and mill them using rolling pin. (Optional: Set aside 2-4 tablespoons aside for decoration of the cheesecake)
2. Stir in melted butter and mix well.
3. Press the biscuit base into a greased 6’’ springform pan, and refrigerate for 30 minutes. 

(B) Filling

1. Whip the yogurt and vanilla essence until thick and stiff.
2. Cube the cream cheese then beat until smooth. When it’s smooth, beat in the sugar.  Fold in the whipped yogurt.
3. Dissolve the gelatine powder into the warm water, making sure to keep stirring it, otherwise it will clump up. Drizzle it around your filling mixture as you continue to beat it. Make sure the gelatin and filling mixture are about the same temperature. Else, the gelatin will clump.
4. Pour on top of biscuit base, using a rubber spatula to spread it all the way to the sides of the tin, otherwise you will end up with air pockets.
5. Refrigerate for half an hour then sprinkle with reserved cookie crumbs and wedge in the whole Oreo cookies evenly around the sides. Put in 2 at a time (opposite each other) for  an even, symmetrical look.
6. Refrigerate the cake for 24 hours in the fridge before serving. 

Note:

• Most recipes suggest the use of whipping cream, not yogurt. I believe whipping cream would give a creamier texture. If you are using whipping cream, add in about 10 mL of lemon juice. I opted yogurt as I do not have whipping cream at home and it turned out good!
• Allow the cheese and whipping cream/yogurt to come to room temperature before making the filling. 
• If you have electric mixer, use it in preparing the filling. Else, whipping using hand (which I did) will also be fine. But remember to beat the cheese until smooth, before the subsequent steps.
• I also added some whole Oreo cookies in the middle of the filling layer  :)