Chocolate, Caramel, Toffee & Pecan Cheesecake Parfait (SRC)

For this month's Secret Recipe Club, I was assigned to the blog Cravings of a Lunatic.

Kim Bee, the author, is very genuine and frank in her writing style; her blog is great fun to read.  She also has so many delicious recipes posted that it's hard to believe she's only been blogging for a little over a year.  Her site has really taken off!

I loved reading her "About Me" section; it's full of entertaining snippets.  My favorite is, "I would like to eat all of Paula Deen's recipes but look like Giada."  You're in great company, Kim!

Having never been much of a cheesecake fan, I stopped in my tracks when I saw Kim's no-bake cheesecakes in a jar.  They spoke to me.

 

I had no choice but to make them right away!

I started by crushing 12-13 Oreo cookies in my food processor.  

(You could arrive at the same answer by putting the cookies in a large ZipLock bag and smashing out all your frustrations on them with a rolling pin.) 

Then I added melted chocolate to a hedonistic mixture of whipped cream, powdered sugar, and cream cheese.

 

I'm pretty sure this is an entree at the Love Shack.

Incredibly, vanilla improves the un-improvable.

The parfait fun begins with a layer of crushed Oreos,

followed by a dollop of creamy chocolate love,

followed by crunchy, buttery love,

and then by the nutty, earthy love.

Lovely.

More Oreos.

Are you taking notes here?  Yum + Yum + Yum + Yum = ...

And now for the caramel layer. 

(Kim has a great caramel sauce recipe.  I tried to make it twice, and both times I encountered a semi-emergency involving my boys where I had to step away from the stove. Both batches were ruined.)

So I turned to my buddy, Trader Joe.

This is so good, I bet it's known to cause something bad in the State of California.

Like jiggly upper arms.

But hang on, we're not done yet.

Put the remaining 2 ounces of melted dark chocolate in a ZipLock bag, snip a teensy corner off of the bag, and voila.  You have an easy, no-mess way to drizzle it over the tops of the parfaits.

Like this.

I hear angels singing.

Let's see that drizzle action again.

Wowza.  Thanks, Kim!

Here's the printable version of the recipe.

Chocolate, Caramel, Toffee & Pecan Cheesecake Parfait (No-Bake)
Makes 4 gigantic servings*

1 cup heavy whipping cream
1/2 cup powdered sugar
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
4 ounces dark chocolate, melted (divided)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup crushed Oreo cookies (12-13 cookies); substitute crushed graham crackers
1/4 cup Heath Bar Bits (substitute Skor Bar Bits)
1/4 cup chopped pecans
4 tablespoons caramel sauce

In the bowl of an electric mixer, use the whisk attachment to combine the whipping cream and powdered sugar until the mixture thickens and stiff peaks begin to form.

Switch to the paddle/beater attachment.  Add the cream cheese to the mixture and beat well until it's very smooth.  Add 2 ounces of the melted chocolate and the vanilla to the cream cheese mixture and mix well; scrape down the sides of the bowl once with a spatula to ensure everything has been incorporated.

Using 4 canning jars (one-cup/250 ml size) or glass mugs*, place a layer of Oreo crumbs (about 2 tablespoons per jar) in each jar.

Add about 2 tablespoons of the chocolate-cream cheese filling on top of the crusned Oreos.

Then add 2 teaspoons of the Heath Bits and 2 teaspoons of the chopped pecans.

And then another layer of Oreos (about 1-2 tablespoons).

And then 2-3 tablespoons of the chocolate-cream cheese mixture.

And then 2 teaspoons each of the Heath Bits and pecans.

Add 1 tablespoon of the caramel sauce to each parfait.

Add remaining Heath Bits and pecans on top of the caramel.

Use the remaining melted chocolate (you may have to heat it again to re-liquify it) to garnish the top of the parfaits.

Refrigerate for 1-2 hours and enjoy!

*You can also make this in a pie dish, a compote bowl, a trifle dish, etc.  You will have to tweak the amounts a bit.

Kim's original recipe can be found here.