Cookie Crust Cheese Cake and more on the Disney Dream Cruise Ship

One of our east coast aunts use to make a killer cheesecake. This was not a New York style cheescake but more the creamy type. Other than the rich sweet creaminess, I think the thing that made it killer was the crust, which she made with Lorna Doone Shortbread Cookies and good 'ol artery enriching butter (haha... yeah!). The following is a varient of her original recipe.

Ingredients

1 regular sized pkg of cookies (e.g. Oreos, Lorna Doones, Oatmeal, Ginger Snaps, Vanilla Wafers, etc... any crunchy type variety, not the soft or chewy kinds)

1 cube Butter

16oz Cream Cheese (e.g. 2 pkgs)

1 cup Sugar

2 tsps Vanilla Extract

3 Eggs

1 cup Sour Cream

1 large pie plate (the size of one of those humungo costco pies)

To prepare the cookie crust

Crush the cookies into fine crumbs (with a hammer? food processor? fingers?) in a large bowl

Melt the butter then mix well into the cookie crumbs

With your fingers, pat down the cookie crust mixture onto the sides and bottom of the large pie plate

Preheat the oven to 350

To prepare the main filling

Soften the Cream Cheese in a large bowl

Mix in 3/4 cups of the sugar

Mix in 1 tsp of the vanilla extract

Add the eggs and mix until the whole mess is smooth

Spatula the filling mixture over the pie crust

Bake @ 350 for 20 mins

To Prepare the topping (while the crust & filling is baking)

In a small bowl, mix the remaining 1/4 cup sugar and the sour cream

Stir in the remaining 1 tsp of vanilla extract

After the filling has been baked for the 20 mins above, remove from oven and spoon the topping evenly over the top

Return to the oven and bake for another 10 mins

I think it tastes better cold... let it cool for 30 or so mins... then refrigerate for another hour... or two... or overnight...

you can use variations for the filling such as, if you're using oreos for the cookie crust, you might want to consider adding a bar of melted dark chocolate to the filling... be creative with the combos...

That's it! Enjoy!

AOL Travel takes a look behind the scenes of the Disney Dream

AOL Travel was given video access to see the work of creative and technical geniuses developing features for the latest Disney cruise ship. While the 4,000-passenger Disney Dream, it's first new ship in a decade, is being built at a shipyard in Germany, it's in Glendale where the magic begins. About 140 creative and techie types (Imagineers) are working on innovations for the Disney Dream and it's sister ship, Fantasy (which debuts in 2012). The following are some of the AOL Travel videos taken during their visit...

Disney Imagineering
The Walt Disney Imagineering campus is a place where trade secrets are carefully protected. AOL Travel was given exclusive video access to see the work of creative and technical geniuses developing features for the latest Disney cruise ship.


Enchanted Art
Disney Cruise Line will be premiering a new form of interactive storytelling on its soon-to-debut Disney Dream, and it's hidden in the ship's artwork.


Virtual Portholes
Windowless, inside staterooms on cruise ships are not particularly desirable to most cruisers, most often being snatched up by bargain-hunters looking for a deal. In a clever move, Disney is looking to change that on the new 4,000-passenger Disney Dream cruise ship, which debuts in late January.


Magic Play Floor
Remember when youth counselors used to have kids sit in a circle and listen to a book? Well that's probably not the option the kids will choose on the new 4,000-passenger Disney Dream.


The Animator's Palate Restaurant
"Fran, Have you ever spoken turtle before?" says surfer-dude sea turtle, Crush. I answer -- without stopping to think that I'm talking to an animated character, who referred to me by name.


The Remy Restaurant
In the kitchen of the award-winning Victoria & Albert's at Walt Disney World's Grand Floridian Resort & Spa, Chef Scott Hunnel is carefully spooning caviar on top of paper thin crepes stuffed with king crab, giving AOL Travel an exclusive look at some of the culinary creations on the soon-to-debut Disney Dream.
In the kitchen of the award-winning Victoria & Albert's at Walt Disney World's Grand Floridian Resort & Spa, Chef Scott Hunnel is carefully spooning caviar on top of paper thin crepes stuffed with king crab, giving AOL Travel an exclusive look at some of the culinary creations on the soon-to-debut Disney Dream.


Castaway Cay
Castaway Cay feels so perfect, you wonder if a sprinkling of magic pixie dust was involved in its creation. On a recent behind-the-scenes visit, AOL Travel discovered the "pixies" are actually Disney's creative geniuses, who have been busy upgrading the private island in preparation for the arrival of the Disney Dream.