A sweetie for sweeties

Alicia Barger, the Inn’s pastry chef, had our mouths watering as she whipped up this guest favorite: Chocolate Cheesecake starring OREO^® cookies! We talked her into sharing her recipe with us, which is a perfectly simple and absolutely delectable dessert for Valentine’s Day.

The recipe calls for a food processor to make the OREO crust. If you don’t have a food processor, Alicia has a trick:  Place the OREO cookies in a large sealable plastic bag. Press bag to remove excess air, then seal it. Use a rolling pin to crush cookies to form fine crumbs. Add the melted butter and squeeze the bag to evenly moisten the crumbs.

Inn on Biltmore Estate Chocolate Cheesecake

For Crust

3 tablespoons butter, melted

36 OREO cookies

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Place cookies in food processor until finely ground.

Add butter and mix until moistened.

Press crumb mixture onto bottom of 9” x 13” pan sprayed with cooking spray.

Bake at 350 for 10 minutes. Cool before filling.

For Filling

1 1/8 cups sugar

¼ tsp salt

3 tablespoons butter, melted

1 pound, 14 ounces cream cheese, softened to room temperature (just under four 8-ounce packages from your grocer’s dairy case)

1 cup sour cream

1 cup chocolate syrup

4 large eggs

¾ cups whipping cream

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.

Cream sugar, salt, and butter until light and fluffy.

Add cream cheese, scraping sides of bowl frequently.

Add sour cream and chocolate syrup. Scrape bowl well.

Add eggs and cream in increments, scraping well between additions.

Pour into cooled OREO crust-lined pan and bake for 1 hour. Test by lightly tapping on the top of the cake. It should be firm but slightly jiggly.