Oreo Cookie Cake

Over Memorial Day weekend we had a BIG family get-together.  Twenty-six people came.  I brought this dessert that I found on my trusty All Recipes app and it was gone in a matter of minutes.  It's not really a cake though.  It's more of a torte/pie. 

Oreo Cookie Cake

Ingredients: 

1 20 oz. package Oreo cookies
1/2 c. butter, melted
1 16 oz. container frozen whipped topping, thawed
2 8 oz. packages cream cheese, softened

1 c. powdered sugar

2 c. milk

1 3.5 oz. package instant vanilla pudding mix

Directions:

Crush cookies into bite size pieces.  Reserve 1 c. for top.  Mix butter and cookie crumbs.  Press into 9x13 pan.  Put in freezer for 5 minutes.
Blend 1/2 of the whipped topping, all the cream cheese and powdered sugar until smooth.  Spread over cookie crust and return pan to freezer.

Prepare instant pudding with the milk according to package directions then spread over the top of the cake.  Spread remaining whipped topping on top of the pudding and sprinkle remaining cookie pieces over the top.  Keep cake refrigerated.

In my test kitchen:

I crushed the cookies right in the 9x13 pan.  After I pulled out the 1 c. of cookie pieces reserved for the top, I continue to crush the cookies a little finer for the crust. I used 2 sleeves of the 20 oz. package and I don't think I needed quite that many cookies.  I could easily use 1 1/2 sleeves next time.
I like cream cheese but I don't LOVE it.  So I took the advice that I read in a few reviews and lessened the amount of cream cheese from 16 oz. to 12 oz.  I also used a little bit more whipped topping in the cream cheese mixture...probably about 1/2 c. more than the recipe called for.  It made the mixture really light and airy and tasted more sweet than tangy.
I also took the advice of some readers and used chocolate instant pudding instead of vanilla so that the layering would be black - white - black - white. 
Finally, I'm not a fan of Cool Whip.  So I made my own whipped topping by doing 2 cups of whipping cream, 4 T. sugar, and 1 t. vanilla extract.

It was REALLY hard to scoop this dessert out.  It didn't really keep its shape very well.  So it doesn't look super appetizing when it is plated but it sure does taste good! 

~Happy Cooking!