#64: Try 30 New Recipes (7 of 30) - Hot Onion Dip & (8 of 30) - Chocolate Oreo Cheesecake

I decided to try TWO new recipes for the Girls' Night we had on Saturday night. I am always a little nervous to try a new recipe for other people, so I figured if I made two, one of them surely would turn out alright! Turns out, they were both great! Both keepers in my book.

A co-worker from when we lived in Little Rock gave me this recipe after she brought it to an event. I remember really liking it even though I'm not a huge fan of onions. She told me it was an easy recipe to memorize since the ingredients are "3, 2, 1, & 1/2". I only had written down the ingredients, so the actual baking wasn't an exact science, so you might want to do a little experimenting. I just kept checking on it until it looked done.

	___________________________________________ Hot Onion Dip
	Ingredients:
	-3 pkgs of Cream Cheese
	-2 cups of Grated Parmesan
	-1 bag (12 oz) of Frozen Onions (thawed)
	-1/2 cup Mayonnaise
1	Heat oven to 350°F.
2	Mix all ingredients together with an electric mixer. (I put the onions in a food processor first so there wouldn't be any chunks of onion.)
3	Spread mixture in a 9x13 pan.
4	Bake 30 to 45 minutes until the top is browned. Serve with potato chips, crackers, or bread. ___________________________________________

My sister-in-law Elaine gave me a subscription to Taste of Home magazine for Christmas. I saw this recipe and just had to try it. Chocolate & cheesecake....has to be good! It was.

	___________________________________________ Chocolate Oreo Cheesecake
	Ingredients:
	-1-1/2 cups Oreo Cookie Crumbs (about 16 cookies)
	-3 tablespoons butter, melted
	-4 (8 oz.) pkgs. Cream Cheese, softened
	-1 cup Sugar
	-1-1/2 cups Semisweet Chocolate Chips, melted and cooled
	-3 teaspoons Vanilla Extract
	-4 Eggs, lightly beaten
	-20 Oreo Cookies, coarsely chopped
1	In a small bowl, combine Oreo crumbs and butter. Press onto the bottom of greased 9-in. springform pan. Refrigerate while preparing filling.
2	In a large bowl, beat cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Beat in chocolate and vanilla. Add eggs; beat on low speed just until combined. Fold in half of chopped cookies. Pour over crust. Sprinkle with remaining cookies. Place pan on a baking sheet.
3	Bake at 325° for 50-60 minutes or until center is almost set. Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Carefully run a knife around edge of pan to loosen; cool 1 hour longer. Refrigerate overnight. ___________________________________________