Dulce De Leche Cheesecake

Dulce de Leche Cheesecake

If you've never made a cheesecake, or never boiled sugar to make candy before, this recipe might be overwhelming...but if you're up to the challenge, it makes a fantastic cheesecake.  It's got a sweet, rich caramel flavor, but it's not too sweet.   If you want to go the extra mile, I really recommend making the caramel sauce with a vanilla bean. It gives you the lovely little specks that make the cheesecake look so fancy.
The whipped cream and toffee bits are optional, but they make it look pretty and add another couple of dimensions to the texture and flavor of this cheesecake.


Dulce De Leche Cheesecake

Prepare one day in advance and refrigerate overnight for best results.

Ingredients:
Crust

• 1 1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup melted butter

Mix together and put in bottom of spring form pan.  Wrap bottom and up sides of the spring form pan with heavy duty aluminum foil. (This helps keep water out from the water bath--just in case the oven bag fails.)

Filling 

• 4 8oz. cream cheeses @ room temperature
• 4 eggs @ room temperature
• 1 cup caramel sauce (recipe below)
• 3/4 cup heavy cream

Topping

• 1 cup caramel sauce (the other half of the caramel sauce from the recipe below)
• stabilized whipped cream
• toffee bits for garnish (optional)

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350°.
Cream cream cheese until smooth. Add caramel & mix until smooth. Add eggs & mix until smooth. Add cream and mix until smooth. Pour over crust. 


Place pan in an open-topped oven bag (the ones you use to roast a turkey) and place that into a water bath that comes halfway up the sides of the pan. (This water bath isn’t absolutely necessary, but it does make for a creamier and therefore more delicious cheesecake.) Bake at 350° for 60-70 minutes or until center is set. 

As soon as you take it out of the oven, run a knife around the side of the pan to release the cheesecake from the sides. This helps prevent cracking and caving.  If you've used the water bath, though, these after effects will be minimal.
Let cool. Cover and refrigerate overnight.
Before serving, pour remaining caramel sauce over the top of the cheesecake and garnish with whipped cream and toffee bits.

Caramel Sauce


Ingredients:

• 2 cups sugar
• 1 cup water
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 4 T unsalted butter 
• pinch salt
• 2 T Karo Light Corn Syrup
• 1 T pure vanilla extract (or 1 whole vanilla bean, split and scraped)

Instructions:
Combine the sugar and water in a heavy-bottomed 2-quart saucepan, pouring the sugar into the center of the pan to prevent the sugar crystals from sticking to the sides of the pan. Cover and bring the mixture to a boil over high heat. Once boiling, uncover and continue to boil until the syrup is thick and straw-colored, about 7 minutes (it will register 300° on a candy thermometer). Reduce the heat to medium and continue to cook until the sugar syrup is golden and just begins to smoke, 1 to 2 minutes (it will be 350°).
Meanwhile, bring the cream, butter, vanilla, salt, and corn syrup to a simmer over medium high heat in a small saucepan. If you’re using a vanilla bean, now is the time to put the scraped “seeds” into the cream. (If the cream mixture reaches a simmer before the syrup reaches the proper stage, remove from the heat and set aside.)
As soon as the sugar syrup reaches 350°, remove it from the heat, pour about half of the cream mixture into it, and let the bubbling subside. Add the remaining cream mixture and whisk until the sauce is smooth.