Cravings—why fight them? What’s the point? Eventually one way or another they always seem to prevail. That always seems to be the case—for me at least. Besides, aren’t cravings a way for our bodies to tell us they need something?
This past weekend for example, my body apparently was in desperate need of circus animal cookies. So, like a good keeper of my body I drove myself to the store and picked up a couple of bags—hey, it was a substantial craving—then I came up with the perfect solution to satiate it. Well, at least for a week or two.
I’ll go ahead and share it with you just in case you ever find yourself in the same situation.
Circus Animal Cookie Cheesecake
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
Author: daydreamerdesserts.com
Serves: 12-16
Ingredients
Crust
- 12 ounces Circus Animal cookies, finely ground
- 4 ounces unsalted butter, melted and cooled
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 15 Circus Animal cookies, broken in half or roughly chopped
- 1 teaspoon cake vodka (optional)
Batter
- 4 − 8 ounce packages cream cheese, room temperature
- 1½ cups granulated sugar
- 4 eggs, room temperature
- 1½ tablespoons cake vodka (optional)
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ cup color of choice sprinkles (optional)
Glaze
- 8 ounces sour cream
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon cake vodka (optional)
Instructions
Crust
- Double wrap the bottom of a 10″ springform pan with aluminum foil.
- In a medium bowl whisk together ground cookies and sugar. Pour melted butter and vodka (if using), blend thoroughly with a fork or wooden spoon.
- Press crust over the bottom of the prepared springform pan top with remaining broken cookie bits.
Batter
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Have an oven-safe dish or pan big enough to contain the springform pan ready for a water bath.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer whip the cream cheese until light and fluffy 3-5 minutes on medium speed.
- Add sugar to batter and mix on medium speed until well incorporated. Add vodka and vanilla extract continue mixing on medium speed until combined.
- Add eggs one at a time and mix on low speed just until combined.
- Remove bowl from stand and stir in sprinkles (if using).
- Pour filling over crust prepared crust.
- Place the cheesecake inside the larger pan and place in the oven, with a measuring cup fill the larger pan half-way up with warm water.
- Bake cheesecake for 1 hour 10 minutes or until center is set. Remove cheesecake from water bath and allow to chill for 10 minutes.
Glaze
- Combine sour cream, sugar, and cake vodka in a small bowl. Spread evenly over cheesecake. Return cheesecake to oven and bake for an additional 10 minutes.
- Remove cheesecake from oven. Transfer cheesecake to a cooling rack. Once cheesecake has cooled place in the refrigerator for at least 8 hours, preferably overnight.
Notes
You’ll need two 14 ounce bags of Circus Animal cookies if you want extra cookies for garnishing the cheesecake.
If you wish to leave out the vodka from the batter, instead of ½ teaspoon of vanilla extract use 2 teaspoons.
If you wish to leave out the vodka from the glaze, replace it with ¼ teaspoon of vanilla extract.
{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
Um, this is GENIUS!!! I’m just in awe of this recipe/idea!!!
I just think this cheesecake is absolutely adorable! i LOVE it!
Beyond brilliant and fun cheesecake variety!
When I made the mini version of this on my blog, I was in loooooove! It’s so good! Your version is beautiful, missy, and I love the simple cracker garnish
I love the hit of pink in the crust! This is one amazing looking cheesecake!!!
WHAT. I love this! It looks fantastic. Despite the pink color of it, I kind of want to make this for my boyfriend’s birthday… way back when we first started dating, he used to carry around a bag of circus animal cookies in his backpack, so I’m pretty sure he’d love this.
This cheesecake is totally amazing! Who doesn’t love animal circus cookies? I’m featuring your post on my side bar’s Food Porn Friday spot, and linking back of course.
Ha, LOVE this! I definitely need to incorporate more circus animal cookies into my life!
This is incredible! I haven’t had those crackers/cookies in forever
Recipe was awesome. This cheesecake is not dense which is the way I like it. Great competition for Cheesecake Factory. Will likely decrease butter in crust next time around because oil was seeping out of pan.