Oreo Cheesecake Brownies

Epically fudgy brownies on the bottom, creamy cheesecake on top and loads of Oreo cookies mixed in - what's not to love?! These easy Oreo Cheesecake Brownies are the ultimate layered dessert bar.

Jump to:

• Why you'll love these brownies
• Equipment
• Ingredient Notes for the Brownie Layer
• Ingredient Notes for the Cheesecake Layer
• How to Make Oreo Cheesecake Brownies
• Expert Tips
• Substitutions and Variations
• Storage Tips
• FAQs
• Oreo Cheesecake Brownies

Why you'll love these brownies

• Fun layered dessert bar - I love a layered dessert bar! Look at my Brookies or my Paradise Pie Blondies for some of my faves. These Oreo Cheesecake Brownies are right up there with the best layered dessert bars on offer! Brownie on the bottom and cheesecake on top, where can you go wrong?
• Cookies and Cream at its finest - gooey and rich brownies packed with cream cheese morsels, topped with an Oreo cookie filled creamy cheesecake.
• Easy recipe with minimal equipment - you'll need a few mixing bowls, a whisk and a spatula. There's no need for blenders or electric beaters.
• 8" square pan bake - no special pans needed here, just your old faithful square baking tray.

Equipment

• 8" square baking pan - you can make this in other pans, but the timings will vary.
• Mixing bowls - depending on how inclined you are to rewash mixing bowls during the making of this recipe, you can get away with just 1 bowl! Though you might want to have 2 on hand.
• Whisk - just a standard balloon whisk works best here. Wipe it down or wash it off between making your brownie layer and the cheesecake layer to prevent brownie batter streaks in the cheesecake filling.
• Spatula - I like to use a large rubber spatula. This will help stir the thick brownie batter and is the best way to scrape your mixtures into the pan.
• Sieve - to sift your dry ingredients into the wet ingredients for the brownie batter. Honestly this isn't 100% required and I've certainly made this without sifting before. But, for best results and the avoidance of any powdered sugar lumps in your batter, I recommend sifting.
• Parchment paper - for lining your baking tray. A lot like the sieve, this isn't absolutely required and you can certainly successfully bake these bars without parchment. However, the liner will make it a lot easier to serve the cheesecake brownies when the time comes and will reduce stress around getting the slices out of the pan!

Ingredient Notes for the Brownie Layer

For the brownie layer, you'll need:

• Eggs - large eggs, ideally at room temperature for baking.
• Oil - a flavorless oil such as sunflower oil or canola oil work best here. You can substitute with olive oil, but this will lend a flavor to the overall bake.
• Water - just a couple of tablespoons of tap water.
• Vanilla extract
• Flour - all purpose flour or plain flour.
• Cocoa powder - I like to use dutch-processed for the richest brownie results.
• Sugar - granulated sugar or caster sugar.
• Powdered sugar - sometimes called icing sugar or confectioner's sugar.
• Salt
• Cream cheese morsels - these a little cream cheese flavoured chips. They're usually available in the aisle with the chocolate chips and other morsels, or online. If you aren't able to find them, substituting with white chocolate chips will also work here for a similar effect.

Ingredient Notes for the Cheesecake Layer

To make the cheesecake layer, you'll need:

• Cream cheese - this recipe has been developed using soft spreadable cream cheese from a tub. This should be full fat and does not need to be specially drained or brought to room temperature, it can be used straight from the fridge. If you only have block cream cheese available, you can use it in this recipe, but you will need to soften it at room temperature first. You will also notice that block cream cheese takes longer to beat smooth.
• Sugar - granulated sugar or caster sugar.
• Sour cream - this will give your cheesecake a bit of a punchy tang, typical of New York style cheesecakes.
• Vanilla extract
• Egg - a large egg at room temperature.
• Oreos - standard stuffed Oreo cookies broken up roughly into small pieces. I crush these with my hands.

This recipe doesn't need any specialist equipment - you don't even need an electric beater! All you'll need:

How to Make Oreo Cheesecake Brownies

This recipe is fundamentally divided into two parts - the brownie layer and the cheesecake layer. You'll want to start off with the brownies on the base of these gooey dessert bars.

Brownie Layer

1. Begin by lining your baking pan with parchment paper and preheating your oven to 325°F (165C/145C Fan).
2. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs, oil, water and vanilla until emulsified. This takes only about a minute (image 1 below).
3. Then, sift the flour, cocoa powder, salt, sugar and powdered sugar into the wet ingredients.
4. Using a spatula, stir this together until just combined into a thick glossy batter (image 2 below).
5. Finally add the cream cheese morsels and stir to distribute (image 3 below).
6. Pour this batter into your baking pan and spread gently into the edges and corners so that you have an even brownie layer (image 4 below). Set this aside while you prepare the cheesecake portion.

Cheesecake Layer

1. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the soft cream cheese and sugar until smooth, this can take a couple of minutes.
2. Add the egg and vanilla, whisking to incorporate and then add the sour cream (image 5 below).
3. Crush up about 6 standard stuffed Oreos (cookies and filling all together) and add to the cheesecake batter. Stir this through with a spatula to distribute (image 6 below).
4. Pour the cheesecake filling on top of your brownie layer and gently spread into an even layer (image 7 below).
5. Crumble the remaining Oreos into pieces over the top (image 8 below).
6. Bake in the centre of your preheated oven for about 35-40 minutes, until the cheesecake is set.
7. Remove and allow to cool completely. Chill thoroughly before cutting and serving.

Expert Tips

• I highly recommend lining your baking pan with a couple of pieces of parchment paper. This will make your life a lot easier when it comes time to slicing and serving, since you'll be able to quickly and lift the full pan's worth of brownies out onto a cutting board or serving tray.
• When spreading the cheesecake layer over the brownie mixture, do so carefully. Due to the crumbled pieces of Oreo, the batter will have large chunks of cookie in it. This means spreading forcefully may cause the cookie pieces to mix with the brownie batter, disturbing the fudgy brownie layer.
• When baking these dessert bars, you're looking for the cheesecake layer to be set. This is usually a jiggle test. Lightly jiggle the pan - if the centre of the cheesecake wobbles slightly it's done. If it appears too wet or loose, keep baking. The top of the cheesecake may go lightly golden, but avoid letting it brown. You can also test using a toothpick, but this will leave a hole in your cheesecake brownie.
• Wait until the cheesecake is chilled before trying to slice. For the cleanest slices, you'll need to use a long sharp knife. Press straight down and avoid dragging the knife through the Oreo cheesecake topped brownies. Wipe the knife well between each cut.
• Serving these chilled is best for the flavours and textures of the cheesecake and brownie.

Substitutions and Variations

• Different pans - you can bake this recipe in a 9" square pan easily, just keep in mind that the larger the pan, the thinner the layers. You could also make this in a 7", 8" or 9" round pan easily. Do just keep in mind that a different size (or shape) pan will also impact baking times, so you'll need to keep an eye on it!
• No cream cheese morsels - I've been able to get the morsels (a lot like chocolate chips) in my grocery store. But, I'm aware that these aren't always easy to find! If you can't find them, or prefer not to use them, there are other options here! You can easily substitute with white chocolate chips, semi-sweet or dark chocolate chips.
• Different flavor Oreos - a super simple way to impose some personal style into this recipe is by changing up the Oreos in the recipe. The recipe has been developed using standard stuffed basic Oreos. You could use any Oreo in this recipe to receive similar results. Just keep in mind a flavoured Oreo will impart flavour to the overall recipe, so be sure to work with flavours that go well with the fudgy brownie base!

Storage Tips

These Oreo Cheesecake Brownies need to be kept in the refrigerator. For best results, keep them in an airtight container or cover with plastic wrap.

They'll stay good for a few days if well wrapped. If left open to the refrigerator, the cheesecake layer will become a bit rubbery after a day or two.

FAQs

Looking for more Oreo? Try one of these recipes:

• Cookies and Cream Cinnamon Rolls
• Mini Oreo Cheesecakes