Test Kitchen, you say? Clover and Thyme’s Test Kitchen is where I try a recipe provided on a product’s packaging that I have never tried before and give a report on how our family liked it!
Variations on this recipe are everywhere. Philly Cream Cheese sometimes uses it in their magazine ads, Fisher Nuts uses it on their packaging – I think I’ve even seen it on white chocolate chip bags. But I’ve never tried it.
This time I saw it on packaging for foil disposable pans. I didn’t need the pans, and I didn’t think it would be quite proper to peel the label off to get to the recipe, so I snapped a picture with my phone, knowing I would find it online in multiple places. I found this version on Kraft Foods website, which doesn’t use nuts, but I knew I could adapt it to my liking. I also decided to make it gluten free, since I would be serving this at Easter and my mom, who has Celiac Disease, was looking forward to trying them.
Instead of oreos, I used these chocolate chip cookies by Enjoy Life and they worked beautifully for the crust. It was a little dicey at first, as I was pressing it in the pan, I was sure it would be too crumbly. But once the crust baked, it made the perfect crust.
Also, I made a little error. the recipe calls for raspberry preserves. I bought seedless raspberry jam. I’m assuming the preserves are easier to spread on the top of the cheesecake mixture, because I could tell right away that the jam was going to be a bit of a train wreck. I managed to make it work by heating the jam slightly so it would be more liquid. once it was spread on the top, the chopped pecans helped hide any remaining lumpiness.
The verdict: Success! Everyone enjoyed these and they made a delicious gluten free dessert for our Easter table. Worth the extra bit of effort for sure.
Clover and Thyme 
Sounds yummy!
Hi Cynthia! Indeed they were!