Pastry School Diaries: Extreme Oreo Trifle

What is Extreme Oreo you ask?

Let's take this baby layer by layer...

First up a layer of Oreo Brownies, yes brownies baked with WHOLE Oreo's inside and don't forget the chunks of Cadbury chocolate as an add-in as well. Why? Because I can, that's why.

Next a layer of Oreo Pudding. Oooooh yeh.

Next, the trifle's crown jewel...a layer of cream cheese & mascarpone filling with melted white chocolate AND yep you guessed it, more Oreo's.

A healthy squirt of Chocolate syrup in between the layers and repeat. And by 'healthy' I don't mean low in calories, I mean healthy as in heavy.

What would entice me create this monster-of-fatty-fun? Friendship of course. If you can't be skinny, then your friends shouldn't be either. Tee-hee-hee. Kidding! Actually a very dear friend of mine had a birthday coming up. I asked her what she wanted me to bake since she is one of the few people I know who actually enjoy eating desserts without complaining about the calories. I love these kinds of people. I like to see friends licking bowls. That's a good sign you've done well.

She said 'something with Oreo.' Ok how about a 'whole-lota-Oreo' instead. Go big or go home.

Extreme Oreo Trifle
printable version

Ingredients:

For the Brownies
1 cup (8 ounces) butter, unsalted
2 1/4 cup sugar
1 1/4 cup Dutch process cocoa
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
4 large eggs
1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
2 cups chocolate chips (I used three 100g bars of Cadburry chocolate cut up into chunks)

For the Cheesecake mascarpone filling
400 grams white chocolate, coarsely chopped
250 grams cream cheese
250 grams mascarpone
25 Oreo's broken up into pieces, but not pulverized (I broke each Oreo into quarters)

One box (4.2 ounce) Jello Brand Oreo Instant Pudding, prepared as directed

Oreos for garnish

Directions:

To prepare the brownies, preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease a 9x13 pan (I used a glass pyrex dish). A tip to easily grease your dish: use a sandwich baggie as a glove and take about 1 tablespoon of butter or shortening. Grease the bottom, sides, and corners and then toss the bag away.

In a medium sized saucepan over low heat, melt the butter and remove from heat. Add the sugar and stir to combine. Return the pan to the stove and re-heat a second time until the mixture is very hot but not bubbling. This step help ensures the brownies will have a shiny crust.

Transfer the mixture to a mixing bowl. Sift in the cocoa. Always be sure to sift your cocoa. These are the lumps that would have been added to the mix if I hadn't sifted.

Add the salt, baking powder, and vanilla. Mix to combine. Add the eggs, beating with a whisk until smooth.

Add the flour, stir till just combined. Don't over-mix.

Stir in the chocolate chunks (or chips).

Transfer HALF of the batter into the prepared pan. Place a layer of Oreos on top of the batter (about 24 Oreo's).

Top with the remaining batter.

Bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of the pan comes out clean. Remove from the oven and let sit for 5 minutes. Take a knife and loosen the edges from the sides. This step will help them from sticking after they cool.

Let brownies come to room temperature before assembling the trifle.

To prepare the cream cheese & mascarpone filling first melt the white chocolate. I microwaved the chopped chocolate in a heat safe bowl for one minute. Give the chocolate a stir, then microwave again for 30 seconds. If you still have lumps of chocolate, continue to microwave for 10 second intervals, stirring after. Continue the 10 second intervals until your chocolate is smooth. You can see here I accidentally bought while chocolate with almonds. Whoops. It tasted amazing anyway and gave the filling a nice crunch. Actually I would recommend this chocolate if trying out the recipe!

Let the chocolate cool slightly before proceeding with the filling.

In the bowl of a stand-up mixer, combine the cream cheese and mascarpone. Beat until light and fluffy.

Add the cooled chocolate to the cheese mixture. Mix to combine.

Add the broken Oreo pieces and mix in by hand.

To prepare the trifle:

Make sure you have all your ingredients handy. Fix yourself an assembly line. First give your trifle dish a good squirt of chocolate syrup to coat the bottom.