I’ve been in a pretty domestic mood lately. A few weeks ago, my friend Lauren posted on Facebook about how she was making a Bourbon Apple Pie, and since then, I’m been jonesing to bake. (Well, I haven’t made the Bourbon Pie yet, but it will happen soon). Yesterday, I posted about how I want to learn how to cook. I blogged about this a while ago too, and when I did, I promised I would share photos of my experiences. So…. drumroll please…here goes nothing!

I kept bugging Mr. O about baking. I wanted an excuse to make a pie, but neither of us wanted to eat the whole thing. We’re trying to eat more healthy. So I decided no matter what, I would bake this evening; I could just give the pie to his parents or my parents if we didn’t want to eat it. So I was planning on making the aforementioned Apple Pie and a Pumpkin Pie, but last minute Mr. O suggested an Oreo Cheesecake, and I decided to go for it. I found an amazing recipe here, and followed it pretty closely.*

I didn’t take as many pictures as I would have liked, but here they are, start to finish.
I baked the cheesecake in my mom’s kitchen so that I could use her KitchenAid mixer. (I want one!) I wish I would have put the eggs or the sour cream in with the cream cheese, because let me tell you, no matter what mixing head you use, it is very difficult to mix cream cheese alone.

* Obviously, the recipe I was following was for Oreo Cheesecake Cupcakes, but I decided to make an Oreo Cheesecake in a graham cracker crust. There was some extra mixture, so I made four cupcakes as well. I put a whole Oreo at the bottom for a crust, and then filled the cupcake liners almost to the top.

Then everything went into the oven! Again, I followed the recipe and cooked the cupcakes and cheesecake at 275 for 22 minutes. But I ended up increasing the heat to 325 halfway through. The cupcakes only took about 25 minutes total, but the cheesecake took about 35-40 minutes at 325.

After I took the cupcakes out, I let them cool in the pan for about 15 minutes. Then I took them out, put them on a plate and they immediately went into the fridge. The cheesecake kept cooking during all of this.

I knew the cheesecake was done when it wasn’t so wobbly when I tried to wiggle it (fancy cooking terms, i know). I let the cheesecake sit for about 15 minutes at room temperature, and then I stuck in in the fridge.

Since I made the cheesecake for Mr. O to eat, I rushed the cooling process a bit. I’d say I put it in the fridge for about 2 1/2 hours, then the freezer for about 45 minutes, and then the fridge for another 45 minutes before we ate it. It tastes great, but from what I understand, most people will tell you to wait at least 24 hours before serving.

Note: If you clicked over to the blog I found the recipe, you might have noticed that the recipe calls for 1/2 cup of sour cream. Well, Mr. O hates (really hates) sour cream. But, since this was the first cheesecake I ever made alone (and the ones I assisted my mom in cooking before all had sour cream in them, I decided to go ahead and use the sour cream). His verdict? He liked the cheesecake a lot, but he did think it was a little tart, and wished it were a bit sweeter. He wasn’t all that excited when he found out I used sour cream in the recipe, but he is kind enough to admit that he still enjoyed my baking. And because I love him, I’ll refrain from the sour cream next time.