Brian's Cheesecake off the Floor 4.19 Afterboom

“It would be like a dare.” “I once ate cheesecake off the floor on a dare.” “Cheesecake…”

Ingredients:

For the cheesecake:

• 2 ¼ cups Oreos, filling removed and crushed to crumbs

• 6 tbsp melted butter

• 24 oz cream cheese, softened

• 2 oz Oreo filling

• 1 cup sour cream

• ½ cup heavy cream

• 1 ½ cups granulated sugar

• 1 tbsp instant coffee granules dissolved into 1 tbsp hot water

• 2 tbsp Kaluah or other coffee liquor

• 1 tsp vanilla extract

• 4 eggs

For the coffee whipped cream:

• ½ cup heavy cream

• ⅓ cup+ 3 tbsp powdered sugar

• ¼ tsp vanilla extract

• 1 tsp instant coffee granules dissolved into ½ tbsp hot water

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease a 13-inch springform pan and wrap the edges with parchment paper.

2. In a small bowl, combine the crushed Oreos and melted butter.

3. Press the crumb mixture along the bottom and up the sides of the prepared springform pan to form a crust.

4. Bake the crust at 350 for 15 minutes. Then set aside to cool.

5. While the crust cools, prepare the cheesecake filling. In a large mixing bowl, combine the cream cheese, Oreo filling, sour cream, heavy cream, granulated sugar, coffee, Kaluah, and vanilla. Mix until fully combined and a smooth consistency forms.

6. Mix in the eggs one at a time until smooth and creamy.

7. Carefully pour the cheesecake mixture onto the cooled Oreo crust. Use a spatula to spread evenly if needed.

8. Wrap the bottom of the springform pan in two layers of foil. This will prevent water from leaking into the pan.

9. Place the springform pan in a large baking dish that’s big enough to hold the springform pan.

10. Carefully add water into the baking dish to fill about 2 inches high. This will help prevent your cheesecake from cracking.

11. Place the baking dish with the cheesecake in the oven and bake at 350 for about 70-80 minutes.

12. The cheesecake will be ready when it’s a dark golden color and the center jiggles just slightly when shaken.

13. Allow the cheesecake to cool to room temperature before removing from the baking dish and placing in the refrigerator for at least 6 hours to set.

14. While the cheesecake sets, prepare the coffee whipped cream by adding the heavy cream, powdered sugar, vanilla, and coffee to a medium mixing bowl and whipping until soft peaks form.

15. Once the cheesecake has set, remove from the springform pan and pipe or spread the whipped cream on top of the cheesecake.

16. If you are going to replicate the off-the-floor look, take a clean piece of cardboard and trace a shoe onto the cardboard. Cut out the shoe outline.

17. Flip the cardboard over to the clean side and add hot glue in a squiggly pattern to replicate the bottom of a shoe

18. Allow the hot glue to dry then dip into flour. Tap the excess flour off the cardboard.

19. Press the flour side of the cardboard down into the cheesecake to create the appearance that someone stepped in it.

20. Lightly sprinkle a few Oreo crumbs onto the fake shoe print the create fake dirt.

I added a shoeprint to the bottom of cardboard with hot glue.

I am so excited to share this one with you! Back in October, I attended the Gilmore Girls Fan Fest (tickets are now on sale for the 2022 Fan Fest). When I met John Cabrera (the actor who plays Brian on the show), I told him about this project. He asked if I had made the cheesecake that Brian ate off the floor on a dare. When I shared I hadn’t yet, he had the idea of squishing a cheesecake with a shoe and adding oreo crumbs to create dirt. I still wanted to be able to eat the cheesecake after it, so I decided not to use an actual shoe, but to create a shoe-like shape so that it appeared someone had stepped in the cheesecake while it was on the floor. I always wondered if this line was a reference of the Friends episode, The One with All the Cheesecakes in which Chandler and Rachel also eat cheesecake off the floor.

This is what happens to a cheesecake when it's left on the floor. But don't worry, it's still edible!

When I was deciding which flavor of cheesecake I was going to make, I of course had to go with coffee! This is a Gilmore Girls food blog after all. I still had some Kaluah leftover from when I made my coffee biscotti at the beginning of season 4, so I decided to add some to my cheesecake filling. And what better way to top my coffee cheesecake than with homemade coffee whipped cream? Even if you don’t want to recreate the cheesecake on the floor, you can still certainly enjoy this coffee cheesecake.

Happy Cooking from the Hollow!

If you missed what I made last episode, catch up here!

Enjoy your cheesecake before it ends up on the floor!