The Great Oreo Cookie Quest

Oreo cookies are the Marmite of the biscuit world. Some people claim them to be the food of Gods, some cannot quite understand all the devotion (and there are even some heathens who call them the spawn of the devil... Don't believe me?! Search some of the Oreo threads on Mumsnet, and prepare to be amused).
We are very partial to Oreos, and have been for a good number of years, as you might already know, if you frequent my blog.

I have fond memories of little Sash lovingly twisting each Oreo, licking off the white icing inside and then eating the chocolate wafers.
Eddie is also a big fan of these cookies. I often buy a big box of Oreos in Poundland for £2 which has small sealed packets of two - very handy to carry around in a lunchbox.

We are happy to eat them neat (though never dunked, we are not dunkers as a rule) with hot chocolate or tea, or in any cakes and bakes. There's definitely more to Oreos than a "twist-lick-dunk" mantra of the old ads.

This scrumptious biscuit makes a versatile ingredient for many bakes.
We loved Oreo cheesecake i

Oreo brownies are lush too.

Hot chocolate with whipped cream and crushed Oreos is a decadent treat. Especially when coming home semi-frozen from the snow.

... but it's the White chocolate Oreo fudge that gets requested most often in our house. I do prefer dark chocolate, but even I cede my willpower when I cut this fudge into thick chunks. It's sooo good.

You might wonder why am I going all rhapsodical about Oreos.

Have you spotted promotional Oreo packs in supermarkets?

Its biggest promotion for 2018 is called the Great Oreo Cookie Quest. Technically there are separate promotions by Oreo. One is an instant win competition, where you enter a unique code from a promotional pack to try to win a trip to San Francisco or smaller prizes.

The second promotion requires you to download the Oreo Search mobile app and use it to scan real and virtual cookies to earn points in order to win prizes.
If you want to know how exactly to do it, watch an informative fun video by Di at her blog Superlucky.

I don't think we'll be entering this competition, but I would like to wish everyone else Good luck!

Our own Oreo Cookie Quest is the search for the best recipe with Oreos. Do you have a favourite recipe with Oreos you would like to share with us?


This post is an entry for BritMums #OreoCookieQuest, sponsored by Oreo.


Disclosure: Please don't be misled by the word sponsored above. In our case it means we received two packs of promotional Oreos.

Oreo Cheesecake (baked)

It's not a secret that we love Oreos. This scrumptious biscuit makes a versatile ingredient for many bakes.
I have fond memories of little Sash lovingly twisting each Oreo, licking off the white icing inside and then eating the chocolate wafers. Now Eddie is a big fan of these cookies.

I remember seeing an Oreo cheesecake on Pinterest. I have looked online for a recipe, a lot of them were for non-baked Oreo cheesecakes. Finally I found what I wanted on AllRecipes - see Easy Philly Oreo cheesecake.
I have used a full-fat cream cheese. In the past I used light versions of cream cheese, but I found them too runny for cheesecakes.
I followed the recipe closely, adding a few minor changes, but overall this is not my recipe, all credit goes to Philadelphia for the most delicious cheesecake.
I added a bit of soured cream, as it gives a good tang to cheesecakes, but a Greek style yogurt would be another possible addition.

Oreo Cheesecake
Ingredients:
25 Oreos (16 for the crust and 9 for the cheesecake layer)
50g butter, melted
ground vanilla (optional)
3 packs of Philadelphia cream cheese (280g each)
150g caster sugar
4 medium eggs
4tbsp soured cream
1tbsp vanilla paste

Divide Oreos into two groups of 16 and 9. Then carefully open up each of 16 cookies and scrape off the white icing (it will go inside the cheesecake topping). Place all the black biscuits inside a plastic bag, and bash it with a wooden rolling pin until you get a crumb consistency.
Melt the butter and mix with cookie crumbs. If using, grate some vanilla over the crumbs.
Line a spring cake tin with a parchment circle and oil sides. Put the cookie/butter mix in the bottom of the tin and spread evenly. Using hands, press the crumbs together.
In a deep mixing bowl beat together cream cheese with sugar. Add eggs, one at a time, then soured cream, white icing from cookies and vanilla and mix well. The cheese has a runny consistency.
Pour a half over the crumb base. Break half of the remaining Oreos over the cheese.
Pour more cheese, and break more cookies over.
Place the tin in the oven preheated to 180C.
Bake for about 45-50 minutes. If the cake gets too browned, cover it with a foil.

Remove from the oven, and let the cake cool. It will still have a wobble, when you take the cake out.

Now the most difficult part: waiting for it to set. Ideally it should stay overnight in the fridge.
The next morning you will have the most scrumptious cheesecake.

It would also be interesting to play around with different types of Oreos, maybe use Golden or Peanut Butter Oreos.
If you love Oreos as much as we do, you might be interested in trying to make your own White chocolate Oreo fudge (our family favourite) and Oreo brownies.

Oreo Brownies

TGIF and all that! On Fridays Eddie often has his best buddy over after school. They love to watch Youtube videos together, maybe have a Roblox session on my ipad and share a big bag of Doritos between them, i.e. the whole kaboodle.
My guys love Oreos in all guises and disguises, of all sizes and most flavours (all but minty ones). Since trying a recipe for white chocolate Oreo fudge back in summer, I've been making it regularly.
But today I decided to make brownies with Oreo Thins instead of fudge. I'm hoping my guys and Eddie's friend will love them as much as they love Oreo fudge.

I have looked online for a recipe, and the one I liked the most could be found on Marsha's Baking Addiction blog, see her recipe for Fudgy Oreo Brownies.
I have adapted the recipe: used her list of ingredients, but changed quantities. For the original recipe check out the link above.

I used a pack of Oreo Thins, but standard Oreos would be perfect as well.

Oreo Brownies
Ingredients:
140g butter
90g dark chocolate (I used Green & Black's Velvet edition dark chocolate, 70% cocoa)
200g caster sugar
100g self-raising flour
1tsp baking powder
35g cocoa powder
1tsp vanilla paste
a good pinch of sea salt
3 medium eggs
a pack of Oreo Thins (16 biscuits)

Melt butter and dark chocolate together in a metal mixing bowl over simmering hot water pan. Once melted, set aside. Add the sugar and mix, sift in the flour, baking powder, cocoa and mix in vanilla and salt. Beat in 3 eggs, one at a time. Mix well till you get a batter of thick and smooth consistency.

Preheat the oven to 180C.
Line a brownie tin with parchment paper, and oil a bit. I use an oil spray.
Pour in half of the dough mix inside the tin and spread it evenly with a spatula. Put 9 Oreo cookies on top and press in lightly.

Scoop the remaining brownie mix over the Oreos, and spread evenly.
Break the remaining Oreos over the top of the brownie and press them in gently.

Bake at 180C for about 30 minutes. If the toothpick comes out clean, they're ready.

These are lovely chocolatey brownies, a bit too sweet for me. I have already reduced the amount of sugar from the original recipe, but I would go lower on sugar next time I would make it, perhaps 150g rather than 200g.

Adding my brownies to #WeShouldCocoa linky hosted by one and only Choclette at Tin and Thyme.

White chocolate Oreo fudge

We are just back from a week-long holiday in Cornwall. Every day, walking to the beach we passed by a house which had a mini-counter with homemade jams and fudge on offer.
It had an honesty box with an amusing warning along the lines "Underpaying equals stealing" or something like that. Though we paid in full for our treats, I can see why someone might have been tempted to pay less. Each small jar of jam was priced at £3, and a pouch of fudge costs £2.
We've seen big boxes of fancy fudge in Penzance for the same amount.
I suppose, one can only commend them for the capitalist initiative.

One day we bought a small pouch of white chocolate Oreo fudge. My guys gobbled up all fudge in five minutes. The next few days it was rainy, and the mini-shop was not operating.
Eddie was distraught that we couldn't buy any more Oreo fudge, and I promised him that I'd make him some fudge when we come home.
Just how difficult could it be? I googled for the recipe, there are dozens of identical recipes online, so it's not quite clear who was the original author. But whoever you are, thank you from the bottom of my heart for this easy recipe, you are a genius!

All you need is a pack of Oreos (12), 5 bars of white chocolate and a tin of condensed milk (397g).
If you have a microwave, follow the recipe as, for example, found on AllRecipes.

I don't have a microwave, so I have melted 5 bars of white chocolate (a mixed bunch of Waitrose 1 white chocolate, Milky bars and cooking white chocolate) in a big bowl, which I put over a pan of simmering water. Once the chocolate melts, add a tin of condensed milk and mix well.

Place a piece of parchment paper inside a brownie tin and layer half of broken Oreos (not too small chunks).
I used a pack of double Oreos. I think strawberry or mint Oreos will look very pretty too.
Spoon in the chocolate mix, top up with more broken Oreos and slightly push them in.
Let the mix cool and set for at least 4 hours.

My guys were all impatient to try it so I have cut a few pieces after 3 and a half hours, and the fudge was still soft in places. The remaining fudge stayed covered with film in the fridge overnight, and was perfectly set by morning.

It is so easy to make this fudge, yet it's so moreish. A lovely treat to go with tea or coffee.

Now that I have discovered this recipe, I imagine I will be making it again very soon.

You might like to experiment with different flavours of Oreos - double, blonde, mint, strawberry, original.
There is a variation of the recipe on CreateBakeMake blog, where the author adds less chocolate (4 bars rather than 5).
The Happier Homemaker makes very pretty fudge, by layering very big pieces of Oreos. She is obviously an Oreo lover, as in that post she adds several links to recipes made with Oreos (cupcakes, truffles etc).
I am still trying to dig out who was the original creator of the recipe to link up with them, so if you know, please give me a shout!