487.Strawberry oreo cheesecake

very berry yummy

      Today was not such a great day for me. From the time I woke up I was on the go and trying to juggle so many chores all together. In all this what did I sacrifice? My exercise. By noon I was feeling a bit relieved that chores were getting ticked off my list. However come evening and again I experienced a general slum in my overall existence. Felt bad that I sacrificed exercise to do other chores. I questioned myself and thought why didn't I sacrifice my meal time? However, things had to be done so there was no other option. To add to the fight for time, I had to sit at the national id card office for over two hours. According to their records my new id card was prepared and ready. However, they couldn't find it. I knew that if I left their office leaving the relevant details with them, nothing will be done. I will be forgotten and would still have to spend the same amount of time waiting for my id card. Till it was time for them to close they could not find my id card. So that task still remains to be tackled. It really baffles me why government offices can never work with efficiency and they clearly have not heard of consumer rights. They behave as though they are doing us a great big favour. One of the staff, a lady was 'barking' out instructions. Yes  barking... there was no politeness and she spoke to everyone with anger. It took a great effort on my part to keep my mouth shut as I knew if I told her something, she would actually make getting my id card even more difficult if she wanted to.  
    Coming to today's recipe, I've always wanted to try making a cheesecake using sweetened condensed milk. Finally made the cheesecake when I was in Bangalore visiting my daughter. Made the cheesecake for my birthday but didn't get time to post it then. Lovely strawberries, kept on beckoning me so made strawberry oreo cheesecake. Instead of making one big cheesecake I decided to make it in different containers, muffin cups, small pie dish, glasses etc. I found the the individual cheesecakes so much more appealing and easy to serve. Coming to the oreos, the dark black colour is does not appeal to me so hardly ever have them. However, after making this cheesecake, I have changed my mind... as the saying goes 'do not judge a book by its cover'. 

Share your thoughts:
Do you dread going to a government office to get any work done?

STRAWBERRY OREO CHEESECAKE
8-10 Servings (depends on the size of the containers)

For the crust :
150 g oreos- (about 1½ cups crushed) 
2 tbsp butter

For the cheesecake :
250 g fresh strawberries (will get 1 cup crushed)
1 cup fresh cream
½ tin (200 g ) sweetened condensed milk
3 tbsp agar agar powder or 5 tbsp agar agar flakes
½ cup water
1 cup curd cheese (yogurt with whey removed) or cream cheese
2-3 tbsp powdered sugar

For topping :
sprinkles, oreo, fresh chopped strawberries

Preparation of the crust :

1. Crush the oreos lightly in a food processor along with the oreo cream. Or alternatively you can crush them with a rolling pin.
2. Melt butter and add to the crushed oreos.
3. Divide the crumb mixture into the individual containers.
4. Press gently. 
5. Put the containers in the fridge to allow the crust to set.

Preparation of  the cheesecake :

1. Add the agar agar to the water and leave it on the side for 5 minutes.
2. Wash and hull the strawberries. Crush into a puree in a food processor.
3. Whisk curd cheese, condensed milk, sugar and cream together.
4.  Keep on stirring the agar agar mixture over very low heat till the agar agar dissolves.
5. Heat the strawberry puree over low heat till it is a bit hot.
6. Mix the agar agar mixture into the strawberry puree. Mix well.
7. Let the mixture cool down till it is warm.
8. Add it to the curd cheese mixture and whisk it gently.
9. Top the oreo crust with the curd cheese mixture.
10. Put the cheesecakes in the fridge to set. Its best to leave it overnight for a good set. 
11. To serve, add a topping of your choice, sprinkles, oreo cookies or chopped fresh strawberries or chocolate curls.

Tips :

• If you don't want to use oreos, use any chocolate cookies for the crust.
• If you want to use gelatin instead of agar agar, use 2 tbsp gelatin. Let it bloom in the water for 5 minutes. To dissolve it place the bowl  with gelatin mixture into a hot bowl of water. Mix till it dissolves. Add the gelatin mixture to the warm strawberry mixture. 
• The fresh cream I bought was sour so instead of that I used amul cream. It worked well.

You may want to check out the following :

orange cheesecake

lemon poppy seed cheesecake

passion fruit cheesecake

Sending this recipe to the following event :

simply food