Oreo Cheesecake Bars

I recently met up with two of my High School friends I haven't seen in 21 years. We all lived in Hawaii at the time (Go Rams!) but we've talked a lot of Facebook over the last couple years. We met at my place for dinner and dessert as we flipped through my year books wondering where so and so was now. It was great seeing them again, and didn't seem like it had been 21 yrs.

I grilled some steaks and grilled corn on the cob and had my baked beans for dinner. I wanted to keep dessert fairly simple, something I could make ahead of time. I choose these Oreo cheesecake bars. YUM! I mad them the night before so they had lots of time to chill and become even better. I read the reviews of other bakers, saying it needed more Oreos, so I used about 1 1/2 pkgs all together (using a little more for crust and mixing into the batter and topping). It's a good thing are just bars, you can cut them to whatever size, but I'll warn ya, these are rich! A little slice is all you need.

Oreo Cheesecake Bars
slightly adapted from Kraft

1 1/2 pkg. (1 lb. 2 oz. pkg size) OREO Cookies, divided
1/4 cup butter, melted
4 pkg. (8 oz. each) Cream Cheese, softened
1 cup Sugar
1 tsp. Vanilla
1 cup Sour Cream
4 Eggs

HEAT oven to 325ºF.

LINE 13x9-inch pan with parchment paper, with ends of parchment extending over sides. Process 40 cookies in food processor until finely ground. Add butter; mix well. Press onto bottom of pan.

BEAT cream cheese, sugar and vanilla in large bowl with mixer until well blended. Add sour cream; mix well. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating just until blended after each. Chop remaining cookies; stir 1-1/2 cups (or more) into batter. Pour over crust; top with remaining chopped cookies.

BAKE 45 min. or until center is almost set. Cool completely. Refrigerate 4 hours. Use foil handles to lift cheesecake from pan before cutting to serve.