I’m pleased with how this idea turned out. It looks pretty, tastes great, and has the option for some variety, depending on which type of Milano cookies you use. For mine, I did the ‘wall’ mostly milk chocolate, and the base dulce de leche, and it’s delightful with a drizzle of caramel sauce! The cheesecake itself is smooth, creamy, and simple. Perfect!

Ingredients:

• 2 packages Milano cookies, variety of choice
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
• 3 8 ounce packages cream cheese, room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 3 eggs

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Wrap an 8″ springform pan in several layers of foil and set aside. Grab two cookies from one package and all the cookies from the other, and chop a small slice off one end of each, to give a flat surface that they’ll later stand up on.

checking size

Toss the chopped off slivers into a medium bowl. Crush the remaining Milanos – you could use a food processor, but because I already had the cutting board out, I just minced them. Put the cookie crumbs to the medium bowl, then add the brown sugar and butter and stir together.

Press the crumbs evenly into the bottom of the pan and bake 10 minutes. Pull the baked crust out of the oven and reduce the heat to 325 degrees. Set the crust aside to cool while you make the filling.

To make the filling, beat the cream cheese in a large bowl until smooth.

Add the sugar and vanilla and beat until smooth.

Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each, until well combined.

Place the springform in a larger dish, such as a 9×13″ casserole. Carefully stand the remaining Milanos on their cut ends, lining the inside of the pan.

Gently pour the cheesecake filling into the pan, avoiding jostling the Milanos.

Add water to the outside pan, making sure to stay at least an inch below the top of the springform, or however much lower is necessarily to safely transfer the pans to the oven.

only spilled some before it was heated, good enough

Bake 1 hour, or until the edges seem somewhat firmer than the center when you jiggle the pan. Crack the oven door open, turn off the heat, and let cool 90 minutes, then remove from the water bath and refrigerate 6 hours, up to overnight.

For the most part you don’t even really need to run a knife around the inside of the walls before popping off the wall to serve, but it can’t hurt in case the cookies shifted and allowed filling to touch the wall as you moved the cake into the oven. Pop off the wall of the pan, slice between cookies, and enjoy!

Milano Cheesecake

• 2 packages Milano cookies, variety of choice
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
• 3 8 ounce packages cream cheese, room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 3 eggs

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Wrap an 8″ springform pan in several layers of foil and set aside. Grab two cookies from one package and all the cookies from the other, and chop a small slice off one end of each, to give a flat surface that they’ll later stand up on. Toss the chopped off slivers into a medium bowl. Crush the remaining Milanos. Put the cookie crumbs to the medium bowl, then add the brown sugar and butter and stir together. Press the crumbs evenly into the bottom of the pan and bake 10 minutes. Pull the baked crust out of the oven and reduce the heat to 325 degrees. Set the crust aside to cool while you make the filling.

To make the filling, beat the cream cheese in a large bowl until smooth. Add the sugar and vanilla and beat until smooth. Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each, until well combined.

Place the springform in a larger dish, such as a 9×13″ casserole. Carefully stand the remaining Milanos on their cut ends, lining the inside of the pan. Gently pour the cheesecake filling into the pan, avoiding jostling the Milanos. Add water to the outside pan, making sure to stay at least an inch below the top of the springform, or however much lower is necessarily to safely transfer the pans to the oven. Bake 1 hour, or until the edges seem somewhat firmer than the center when you jiggle the pan. Crack the oven door open, turn off the heat, and let cool 90 minutes, then remove from the water bath and refrigerate 6 hours, up to overnight.

Run a knife along the inside wall of the pan, remove the wall, slice between cookies, and enjoy!