Cookie Dough + Cheesecake = ?

September 3, 2012 5:28 AM

I need to create a cookie dough cheesecake with an American theme - help?

So, a group of friends and I have created a 'Cheesecake Club' where we meet on a monthly basis and each bring along a cheesecake based around a specific theme. We then get to sit around and eat five cheesecakes. August's theme was 'Indulgence' and I made a truly kick-ass baked white chocolate and Baileys cheesecake. However, September's theme is 'American' and I'm a little stuck.

I have a perfect biscuit base, on top of which I am adding a 1/2 inch layer of home-made (egg free) chocolate chip cookie dough that is just perfection. This layer doesn't really 'bake' and remains fudge-y and unf and guh.

Now, for the topping... I'm thinking something very light and creamy and perhaps even a little bland to balance the stodgy base/cookie dough. I have an ordinary, baked cheesecake recipe which is plain enough, but has quite a bit of lemon zest. I am unsure whether lemon would complement my cookie dough, or just be kinda too sour and weird? Replace lemon with vanilla? Having the topping flecked with vanilla seeds might be nice.

I've tried to think of other complementary combinations for the topping: a white chocolate chip (or is that too much chocolate chip-ness going on and finding 'bits' in the creamy part of a cheesecake is ick?). I've heard of adding egg whites to lighten things up. I was also thinking an 'ice-cream' type topping, but wouldn't know how to work that - add lots of cream and icing sugar to the cream cheese? Someone is already doing a blueberry pie cheesecake and another is making a Mississippi mud cheesecake, so I plan to really own the cookie dough element. Plus, 'cookie dough ice-cream cheesecake' sounds pretty amazing.

Googling 'cookie dough cheesecake' seems to focus more on having the cookie dough in balls or as an adornment/afterthought, rather than as a layer in the cake. So if anybody has any ideas at all, I'd be more than grateful!

posted by Chorus to Food & Drink (14 answers total)

Well, there's the old whipped cream dodge: soften a brick of cream cheese by beating it on high with a mixer (or hand-held beaters). The goal is to get it well incorporated with air. Mix some sugar into it (I like a golden brown sugar), but not too much. You just want enough to get the cheese loose and allow air to be incorporated into it. Now, clean the beaters and whip 2 c of whipping cream until stiff peaks, adding sugar to stabilize. Fold the whipped cream into the whipped cream cheese. This doesn't require cooking, but is served chilled.

The cheater's way is to use that frozen whipped topping product whose name I have voluntarily excised from my memory. It works, but I don't recommend it, based on taste alone.
posted by LN at 5:35 AM on September 3, 2012

Now that I've read through your question more thoroughly, maybe there's *is* a way to do the ice-cream thing....just thinking out loud here. Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams cookbook uses cream cheese as a binder in her custards, rather than eggs. Maybe you can riff off that. Here's her recipe for Ugandan Vanilla Bean Ice Cream:

2c whole milk
1 Tbsp plus 1 tsp cornstarch
1 and 1/2 oz cream cheese, softened
1/8 tsp fine sea salt
1 and 1/4 c heavy cream
2/3 cup sugar
2 Tbsp light corn syrup
1 vanilla bean, split and scraped out, bean and seeds reserved

So, in her method, you mash the cream cheese with the salt, mix 2 Tbsp of milk with the cornstarch, and mix the remaining ingredients in a pan on the stove. You boil for 4 minutes, remove from heat, whisk in the cornstarch, put it back on the heat to boil 1 more minute, then take it off the heat again and gradually whisk in the hot milk to the cream cheese, to make a smooth custard. This you allow to cool, and then process in the ice cream maker to make the ice cream.

So, what if you played with the recipe proportions? Up the cream cheese to your usual amount, bring down the liquid ingredients, but still heat them and steep with the vanilla bean to let the flavour bloom? Let cool and whip before adding to the cheese, so that the cheesecake isn't stodgy?

What do you think? Without knowing your cheesecake recipe, I feel like I'm talking out of my ass, but I think maintaining the ice-cream theme throughout your cake would work the best.
posted by LN at 5:58 AM on September 3, 2012

Use blueberries, redcurrants, strawberries or raspberries to create an American flag. A bit like this or this. If you use redcurrants, be aware tha they'll be quite tart so you'll need some strawberries/raspberries too.

Your base and cheese topping can be what you want them to be. It doesn't matter if your cheesecake is round. The stars can either be puffs of cream or it is easier just to leave gaps between the blueberries.
posted by MuffinMan at 7:05 AM on September 3, 2012

I saw a pumpkin cheesecake at the store the other day and it tempted me as I like pumpkin-flavored things. Doesn't fit with the cookie dough very well - though perhaps with some daring and panache you could pull it off - but you could also decide to stake out pumpkin as your domain within the cheesecake battlespace, as well as/instead of cookie dough.
posted by XMLicious at 7:21 AM on September 3, 2012

I will share my multi-prize winning cheesecake cookie recipe with you. My cheesecake cookies have been banned from the annual dessert contest at work having won the top award for 3 years in a row. It is from the cookbook Jambalaya - A Collection of Cajun & Creole Favorites from The Junior League of New Orleans.

The crust layer is similar to your cookie dough layer. I would omit the crust in this recipe and add the filling and glaze layers. I usually garnish each cut square with a halved maraschino cherry. Maybe use two blueberries with a raspberry or strawberry as your garnish. Any of these fruits would compliment the chocolate layer. Good luck!

Cheesecake cookies
yields 4 dozen cookies

Crust:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1 cup finely chopped pecans
1 stick butter, melted

Filling
2 (8-oz) packages cream cheese
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 eggs

Glaze
2 cups sour cream
6 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla

In a small bowl, mix together all crust ingredients. Press into a 9x13 inch baking dish. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 to 15 minutes or until browned. To prepare filling, beat cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla in a bowl. Add eggs and beat well. Pour over baked crust. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. While baking, combine all glaze ingredients in a small bowl. Pour over baked filling. Bake 3 to 5 minutes longer. Cool and refrigerate before cutting into squares.
posted by JujuB at 8:28 AM on September 3, 2012

Reading this thread is making me hungry! I like the idea of keeping the top layer more plain, though I agree that the lemon in your basic recipe would be a bit odd. What about an upper layer of peanut butter? It would taste amazing with the cookie dough
posted by eralclare at 9:18 AM on September 3, 2012

*peanut butter cheesecake, that is, not straight PB.
posted by eralclare at 9:20 AM on September 3, 2012

So, you have an awesome biscuit base, an awesome layer of cookie dough, and a sure-to-be-awesome basic cheesecake base. I agree that lemon might be a bit odd, and I'd use either vanilla extract or a combo of vanilla and almond extract. What about using baked homemade chocolate chip cookies on top? You could crush them or make them small and keep them whole, and do a ring of small round cookies around the outer edge. When you slice it, slice it so that every piece gets a full small cookie!

Nothing is more american that chocolate chip cookies!
posted by shortyJBot at 9:32 AM on September 3, 2012

I would make a vanilla cheesecake layer, and top with a glaze full of blueberries, cherries and white mini-marshmallows choc. chips.
posted by theora55 at 10:13 AM on September 3, 2012

Lemon zest is not sour. Lemon zest just adds a wonderful fragrant element which experienced bakers will recognize, and everyone else will just think "oh man that smells like my grandma's/mom's/favorite aunt's cheesecake that I'd forgotten all about and GET OUT OF MY WAY I NEED SOME RIGHT NOW."

Plus, it is totally American because it is the typical flavoring for "New York style cheesecake." So you're mixing two American traditions in one cheesecake. One might say it is a melting pot of American traditions.

Enjoy, it will be awesome.
posted by fingersandtoes at 10:55 AM on September 3, 2012

Mix the cream cheese layer with molasses as the sweetener. It's the flavor in brown sugar, concentrated, and very American. Top it with crushed salted and roasted peanuts for a wonderful contrast and added Americanism.
posted by mightshould at 11:41 AM on September 3, 2012

OMFG YOU CAN HAVE A CHEESECAKE CLUB??????????

1. I am starting one SO FAST.

2. I like the idea of a vanilla bean cheesecake over the cookie dough. I agree lemon might be weird with cookies. What about chocolate cheesecake, since the cookie dough has chocolate in it? Or something nutty?!?! Oreo cheesecake and go all cookie?!!?
posted by masquesoporfavor at 1:58 PM on September 3, 2012

Do your vanilla cheesecake, but before it sets, use a pipette to squirt in some dobs of chocolate cheesecake here and there, thus giving your entire cake the appearance of a chocolate cookies.
posted by robocop is bleeding at 2:59 PM on September 3, 2012

I was going to suggest peanut butter, but eralclare beat me to it. Nothing is more American than peanut butter, and it goes well with cookie dough. There are tons of peanut butter cheesecake recipes online.

Otherwise, I vote for vanilla over lemon zest. Maybe chocolate or chocolate chips...
posted by oneirodynia at 4:42 PM on September 3, 2012