No-Bake Chocolate-Orange Cheesecake

No-bake cheesecakes are the easier version of ice-cream cake, in my opinion. I tried this version as a birthday cake for my husband last year. Despite the lackluster "finish", it was appreciated and relished. I tried to skimp on the "fat", and the consistency of the filling suffered as a result. If you're going for a cheesecake, just go with the full fat versions of cheese/cream, or compromise on how the cake appears :).

Ingredients:

For the crust and filling

1. 1 pack of chocolate oreo cookies (about 12-14 cookies)
2.  1/4 cup melted butter
3. 1.5 blocks of cream cheese (about ~ 12 ounces)
4. 1 cup heavy whipping cream
5. 3/4 cup confectioner's sugar (powdered sugar)
6. 1 teaspoon orange extract
7. 2 tablespoons orange zest (grated orange peel)
8. some orange food coloring (optional)

For the Ganache

1. 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
2. 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate, chopped roughly
3. 1/4 teaspoon orange extract

Preparation:

1. Grind the oreo cookies (with filling) by periodically pulsing until they turn into crumbs
2. Mix the melted butter with the cookie crumbs and pack them into a 9 inch springform pan. Pat the bottom and a little bit on the sides of the pan. Place in the fridge to chill for at least 30 minutes while the filling is prepared
3. Whip the cream (make sure the cream is cold) until soft peaks form. 
4. Separately whip together the cream cheese, sugar, orange extract, orange zest, and food coloring until smooth.
5. Add the whipped cream and gently fold into the mixture.
6. Evenly spread this filling into the chilled oreo crust, and return to the fridge
7. Bring the cream to a simmer in a saucepan (do not let it boil). Turn off the heat, add the chopped chocolate, stir briefly and cover the pan. Let it rest for 10 minutes. Stir again (with a whisk) until the ganache is smooth. Let it cool for another 5 minutes, and gently stir again to ensure there are no lumps
8. Pour the ganache on top of the cheesecake filling. 
9. Let the cheesecake rest in the fridge overnight to set
10. Gently run a warm knife around the edges of the pan and remove the springform side. Slice and serve!

Notes/lessons learned: I used reduced fat cream cheese and directly added it to the whipped cream, so my filling was not as smooth as I would have liked. Go for the full fat version, and separately add the whipped cream to the beaten cream cheese for a smoother, richer filling.

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