Key Lime Cheesecake
with a no-bake chocolate cookie crust
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This is one of my favorite dessert recipes. I’ve been making it for years, really since I first saw Nigella Lawson make it, which at this point has got to be some 15+ years ago. This version is based on a recipe I saw her make on Nigella Bites. I swapped in Oreos for the chocolate cookie base and use key limes, at least when I can get them. Love a key lime.
I can inhale this cheesecake, which is the reason I’ll only make it occasionally. Usually if I get a request for it. The crust here is no-bake, just the cookies and butter. Super easy. Very delish. And the filling, or cheesecake part, is very, very limey. It’s sour, fragrant, and has a super smooth, just barely set texture. It doesn’t have that chalky texture some cheesecakes can get.
Full disclosure here, I only like the cookie part of an Oreo. I could care less about the filling. I like that dark crumbly choco goodness. So even though this is a no-bake crust, there is a bit of finicky prep stuff to do. And that’s scraping, or squeezing out the filling from all the cookies. It really doesn’t take that long, and you don’t need to be super disciplined about it. Just get the majority out. But, if you’re super opposed to doing that, you could also just leave the filling in and omit the butter for the crust. There is enough fat in that filling to compensate for the butter and solidify when cooled. I prefer the taste of butter over the Oreo filling, so I’ll take the extra few mins to scrape it out. You pick you own adventure. Ok, now onto the recipe…
Prep Time: 30 mins
Cook Time: 1 hr 10 mins
Ingredients
for the crust
200g chocolate cookies – I like Oreos with the center scraped out, usually about 1/2 a pack
4 tbsp butter (1/2 stick) – melted
for the filling
3c (3 packets) Philadelphia cream cheese – make sure it’s room temp
1c sugar
4 whole eggs + 2 yolks
juice from 10 key limes or 4-5 regular limes
pinch of salt
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350°F / 180°C
Line an 8” spring form pan with foil. Place foil on the base, secure the exterior ring part and then fold the foil up the sides.
To make the crust, pulse your cookies in a food processor until they are nice and crumbly. You can also crush them in a plastic bag if you don’t want to use a food processor, don’t have one, hate cleaning it, etc. Add in your melted butter and pulse, or shake, to combine. Tip everything into your spring form pan, and press down firmly. Using a flat bottomed glass or measuring cup to make it perfectly smooth in a nice touch. Stash in the fridge while you get your cheesecake filling together.
Add your room temp cream cheese into a mixing bowl and beat until smooth. Add in your sugar, beat until combined. Add in one egg at a time, mixing to combine, then the two yolks, and keep mixing until everything is nice and smooth. Add in your lime juice, pinch of salt and mix.
Time to bake. Pour your filling over the base and place in the center of a large roasting tray. Place in the oven and then pour hot, just boiled water into the tray just until it reaches about halfway up the sides of your pan.
Bake at 350°F (180°C) for about an 1hr 10 mins. You want to check at around 1hr or so. It’ll be soft set and should still have a slight wobble in the center when you nudge it. It’ll finish setting up once you let it cool.
Remove your cheesecake from the oven, out of the water, and immediately tear off the tinfoil from the outside of your pan to ensure no excess moisture makes its way to your chocolate crust. Let the cheesecake cool at room temp and then stash it in the fridge for about an hour before you go slicing into it. The wait is worth it. Then, go ahead and eat up!
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