Mini Oreo Cheesecake with Chocolate Mousse Topping

This is part 2 from a post back on April 19, I completely forgot to share Brooke's WINNING dessert with you! If you remember, we had another Chopped competition - I made Caramel Apple Pie with Crumb Topping (seriously, how does that not win? click here for that post)- to keep it fair we served our desserts anonymously and she was, once again, crowned the winner. Brat. I gotta say though, this is a good recipe and she rocked it. Make them both and decide for yourself (and if you pick my pie please leave me comments below so I can share with her hahaha!!).

Ingredients

For the Oreo Crust:

18 whole Oreos-crushed into a fine crumbs

1/4 cup unsalted butter- melted

For the cheesecake filling:

16 oz cream cheese- softened to room temperature

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup sour crème

1 Tablespoon flour

3 egg whites

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the chocolate mousse:

3 egg yolks

6 Tablespoons powdered sugar

1 2/3 cups heavy whipping cream

5 oz semisweet baking chocolate-finely chopped

4-5 Oreos crushed

2-3 Tablespoons milk (or more if needed)

16-18 mini Oreo cookies for garnish

Instructions

To make the crust:
• Preheat oven to 350 F degrees, line cupcake pans with 18 liners, set aside.
• Stir together melted butter and finely crushed Oreo. Press 1 heaping Tablespoon of mixture into the bottom of each liner. You should have enough for 16-18 cups. Bake for 5 minutes and allow to slightly cool.
To make the cheesecake filling:
• In a large bowl beat the cream cheese on medium speed until completely smooth. Add the sugar and sour cream and beat on medium speed until combined. Add the egg whites, one at a time, beating on low speed after each addition. DO NOT OVER MIX IT!
• Beat in the vanilla extract and flour. Spoon the cheesecake batter onto the crusts to make the cups almost full. Bake for 20-25 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool at room temperature, then transfer to the refrigerator to chill completely.
To make the chocolate mousse:
• In a medium sauce pan stir together egg yolks, powdered sugar and 1/3 cup heavy whipping cream, cook over low heat until it’s start thickening and almost double in size WHISKING CONSTANTLY (you don’t want to make scrambled eggs).
• Remove from heat and stir in chopped chocolate until it’s melted completely.Let it cool to room temperature stirring occasionally.
• Separately beat remaining 1 1/3 cups heavy whipping cream until stiff peaks form. Whisk one fourth of mixed cream into chocolate custard to lighten. Fold in remaining cream gently but thoroughly.
• Stir in crushed Oreos.
• If the mousse is too thick for piping, stir in milk (add 1 tablespoon at the time until reach desired consistency)
• Garnished with mini Oreos before serving.
• Store in the fridge and bring to room temperature before serving.

Note: Brooke wouldn't type all this out so I copied directly from the original source - omgchocolatedesserts.com. click here for that post. 

Ireland

After our few days in Inverness touring with Scott, he dropped us in Glasgow where we explored on our own for a day and then flew to Ireland. 

We arranged to have Jack, another local driver/guide, pick us up and take us to Killarney where we spent 3 nights and did day tours based from there with Jack showing us everything. Once again we all agreed that having the driver/guide worked out best for us and I recommend doing that if you have the chance. We were able to see so much this way - long days in the car but worth it. We saw castles and ruins, cemeteries, amazing scenery, sheep and cattle, Rock of Cashel, Blarney Castle, lots of water and islands, did the Ring of Kerry drive and the Dingle Peninsula...and lots more!

Here is Jack with Dave, Cathy, and Al...and I have no idea what they are doing, but it made me laugh:

Ireland is beautiful; it differs from Scotland which kind of surprised me, I thought they'd be the same! Much greener, there are low rock walls dividing up hills and fields making for almost "natural" fences for the sheep, horses, and cattle - there are less sheep but still lots of sheep (!), and because of all the water the fish and seafood is off the charts delicious...I had the best mussels in my whole life 2 days in a row and if they would have offered it on the third day I'da had them again ;). Seriously I was in heaven.

the farmers can tell which sheep belong to them by painting
different colors on them - this farmer is going for the tie-dye look!
most seemed to just do one color for marking.

On our way to Killarney the first day we stopped at the Blarney Castle near Cork to see the Blarney Stone. Again, not what I thought it was (perhaps I should have done more research before going on this trip?!)...you climb up a narrow, dark, twisty stone staircase for a few flights to arrive on the roof of the castle (it's a partial ruin now). The Blarney Stone is in the oddest place - how did anyone figure out that you need to lay on your back and do a backbend to kiss the stone upside down in order to receive the "gift of eloquence"? I always thought it was the gift of gab, but nope - it's for eloquence. When Dave said he wanted to kiss it we all said he certainly didn't need to have help with the gift of gab hahaha, but once we found out it's actually the gift of eloquence then we said oh yeah, he should def kiss it LOL. Check out the pic of how you reach the stone!

up the twisty castle stairs...

kissing the Blarney Stone.

A few more pictures from our first couple of days in Ireland:

we got to watch a sheep herding demonstration - 2 border collies are in the front of the picture and all of the sheep are up at the top against a hedge. The shepherd uses a series of whistles to tell the dogs what he wants done - each dog has it's own specific whistle tone! The guy could make them go left, right, slow down, speed up, etc. It was SO fun to watch (and judging how these dogs responded to sound I realized that Sarge can hear me WAY better than he pretends he can, Brat!).

you can get an idea about the stone hedges dividing up the land into plots.
the bright green area on the left middle is the easiest square to see is full of sheep
being contained in that square. these stone fences are everywhere. everywhere!

I so want to live in one of these little houses on the edge of a cliff looking at that beautiful water! 

putting my feet in the Atlantic. yep, it's super cold water but Cathy and I couldn't resist. 

After leaving Killarney, Jack drove us to the Cliffs of Moher and the Burren on our way to Galway. The morning we hiked the Cliffs was pretty much the only rain we saw on our whole vacation and it was the perfect time to get some rain - it added to the whole atmosphere and dramatic cliffs. One tip if you are traveling here - be prepared with hats, warm layers, waterproof jacket! Even without the rain I'm pretty sure it's going to be windy and cold out there, Cathy and I wished we had gloves (and she went back to the car for warmer socks!). The Burren is made up of limestone fields, I wasn't paying a whole lot of attention (not gonna lie) but I think they were carved out after a glacial period - however they were formed they are incredible, it totally seemed like what the surface of the moon would look like - rock as far as you could see.

We only had a day in Galway to explore on our own - it's a cute city with a pedestrian only area that was fun to stroll thru. We did a hop-on hop-off bus ride around town, after seeing the sights we decided to walk out to a lighthouse that looked closer than it was (HA!) and after getting out there realized it's closed to visitors...uh wish the bus guide would have mentioned that when he suggested walking out there! While walking though we saw a black swan mixed in with a bunch of white swans and ducks, that was pretty cool.  

the black swan is in the upper middle
of the picture, closest to the rock wall

The next morning we took a train to Dublin where we had a very short day to explore - that night we got the best surprise when we stumbled on a fun, entertaining, and really good Irish band playing at a little bar down the road from our hotel. A great treat (we bought their cd we enjoyed them so much) and the perfect ending to our trip. We didn't spend much time in Dublin, pretty much all the info we got while planning the trip was to get out of Dublin - it's a big city and I'm sure tons to do there, but the beauty of Ireland is getting out into the countryside. We didn't regret that decision at all and LOVED our time exploring outside of the city.

The Celtic Gypsies

If you're still reading - thank you for being interested in my travel blogging!! It's a great way for me to have a journal of some of the things we did...I used to write about our travels in a diary but now with blogging the last couple of trips I've just put it on here. Hopefully you enjoy reading about our adventures - and if you are planning a trip anywhere we have been and have questions just give me a holler and I'll try to help! Number one tip from this trip? LAYERS! ;).

Oh, and number two tip is don't ask about rainbows (I did catch this little glimpse of one!), pots of gold, or leprechauns...they really don't like it!

Happy Memorial Day!

Day Trips from Inverness

We had another couple days with our Scottish guide (coincidentally named Scott!) and did a whole lot of driving, sightseeing, photographing, and eating...we went to Loch Ness, Loch Lomond (PS: "loch" is a lake), a bunch of castles including Eileen Donan and Urquhart, Isle of Skye, lunch in Portree (cute little village) and Glencoe...so much we wanted to see. We based in Inverness and did day trips from there - in order to see everything we ended up in the car a lot and the days were really long but it's the only way to get it all in! I bet all you really want to know is if I saw the Loch Ness Monster. I put my hand in the lake and called "here Nessie, Nessie, Nessie..." but the monster was a no show...that day anyway.

Cathy standing in front of Loch Ness...and apparently
not worried about the monster getting her.

one of many many tombstones - this one dated 1859

Eilean Donan Castle

Portree

war graves - isn't this a beautiful resting place? 

Al with our guide Scott

my new favorite - it's a Highland Cow
or as they say - a "highland coo"

we finally found a Scottie in Scotland!

hard to see but all the white dots are sheep. there are
sheep everywhere here!! 

Urquhart Castle

The Road to Inverness

After a couple days discovering Edinburgh we were picked up by our driver/guide Scott (who arrived in a kilt! How cool - even it when it was chilly he still wore the kilt. No, we did not ask if he had anything under it - ewwww that you even wondered LOL!) and headed for Inverness. We debated how we were going to get around Scotland - we could rent a car, ride the train, take a bus...we settled on hiring someone who knew the area and all of us came to the same conclusion that it was the best way to see everything and get around. Perfect blend of being on our own in a car without being in a big tour bus or mindlessly riding a train and not finding out anything or know what we were looking at. He was a great guide and never stopped talking, telling stories, pointing things out...he knew it all. Fascinating history, beautiful scenery, great food, perfect weather - what a great trip! We went to St. Andrews Golf Course - we didn't golf but stood on the course just to say we did. We didn't think about it at the time but should have hit up the gift shop for souvenirs! 

St. Andrews

Many stops along the way to see old monuments, cemeteries, castles, battlefields...one time I was in the car with Scott while the others were off looking at something (or hitting a restroom!) and he mentioned we would be going to "Braemar" for lunch. I said that there seems to be a lot of things that start with "brae" and what does it mean? He replied "it means hell". So I asked the obvious which was "why are we going to lunch in hell? and what does "mar" mean then...hole?" hahaha. He laughed and that was the end of the conversation. So later in the day he pointed at a mountain and said the name was something "hell" and all the sudden it occurred to me that he wasn't saying "hell" earlier, he was saying "hill" LOL. I said "wait, when you said brae means hell you actually said that brae means hill?" We didn't have trouble understanding his Scottish accent at all, other than a few little words like that! (Although I did point out that he called me "Jill" just fine and it didn't sound like "Jell" hahaha). 

Anyway...the drive from Edinburgh to Inverness is only a little over 3 hours but we spent the whole day sight-seeing on the way and the last stop before dropping us at our hotel was at a whiskey distillery for a couple little tastings, it was interesting and fun (although 3 out of 4 of us didn't love the whiskey!) and they gave us tiny baby whiskey glasses when it was done. Cute.

As I mentioned before for anyone wondering what to wear for a trip like this - layers! Being in and out of the car helped, we had our coats and suitcases with us if we would have needed anything. It was a pretty sunny day so I wore black leggings, tall brown boots, a button up shirt, long cardigan and a lightweight scarf - didn't need a jacket until later at night.

Edinburgh, Scotland

in front of the castle

We flew into Edinburgh from Amsterdam and I gotta say we were a little concerned at first for a couple reasons: 1) when we asked our taxi driver what the beautiful fields of yellow flowers are he pointed at a dandelion on the side of the road and said that's what is growing in the fields. Um, yeah - we're from Michigan and are pretty sure growing entire fields of dandelions aren't a thing. So we all rolled our eyes behind his back and knew we'd have to ask someone else later (turns out it's "rapeseed" which is grown for cooking oil, from what I can tell it's another name for canola oil; it's a very pretty yellow flower and looks nothing like a dandelion Mr. Taxi driver)...and 2) he had to let us out across the street from our hotel because it was seriously under construction and he couldn't get close. I'm talking totally under construction with scaffolding and plastic the entire front of the huge hotel. Uh oh, I was sure I was going to get in trouble for choosing this one haha. Turned out once we were inside it was beautiful behind the scaffolding and we were not inconvenienced very much at all. Whew. Anyway...

Edinburgh is a great city, probably my favorite of the whole trip. It's big but not too big, safe, tons of things to see (we did an open-air bus tour of the city, I def recommend those to get a good pretty quick overview of any new city you go to time permitting); food was great (check out my pic below of the best fish and chips I've ever had, they used panko breading and it was fabulous!); people very friendly and helpful. At our first Scottish dinner the rest of my group tried Haggis for the first time but I was chicken (no, not chicken - more like just grossed out! do you know what haggis is? look it up and tell me you want to eat that) - they all loved it so there ya go. We did a tour of the Edinburgh Castle which is very impressively set on top of a huge rock mountain in the middle of Old Town, I guess lots of groups tried to overtake it thru the years with not much luck - look at the pic to see why it was a great place to build your castle!

PS: if anyone cares or is wondering (or has a bet with anyone) the proper way to say 'Edinburgh' isn't like we would say it (I said edin-burG) but even though that's totally acceptable and everyone knows what you mean and won't correct you haha, there will be some know-it-all in your party that insists you say it in the Scottish way which is more like "edin-burrow" or "edin-burra" and correct you every time. LOL. (yes that made me say it edin-burG just to annoy him hahaha, whatever). Now you know.

Edinburgh Castle

overlooking part of the city towards the ocean. bottom left corner
 of this picture shows the "cemetery for soldier's dogs" at the castle.
the dog cemetery is still in use today.

we hiked up a big hill, oh geez I don't remember what it's called!
We had a great view of the city from up there, lots of monuments and trails...
saw this cute house/castle on our walk up. 

check out the old phone booth turned into an ATM - good thinking.

best fish and chips I've ever had! and now my mouth is watering...

More From Amsterdam...

A few more pics before I move on - these flowers are too gorgeous not to share! These are giving me ideas about planting this year, I love how different kinds and colors are blended together - and no "little soldiers" in sight (I dislike flowers all planted in little rows!), the natural flowing bed shapes are just beautiful...I can't do this in my whole yard like I'd love haha, but maybe in some big containers.

Here's an interesting "craft" idea that I saw in the gardens - wrapping felt pieces around tall thin vases or plant holders and tying them with thin wire. The mixed colors and solid green are both so cool - I'm going to figure out where I can do this at home!

 More pictures from our lunch in the little fishing village:

cheese sticks wrapped in what seemed like egg roll wrappers and fried, served with sweet chili sauce. so good!