DULCE DE LECHE CHEESECAKE

 

Dulce de Leche is a sweet, milky, caramel like paste made by slowly heating sweetened milk, popular in South America. You can make it at home by boiling an unopened can of condensed milk in a pot of water for a couple of hours but I would recommend picking up a jar instead of risking exploding cans. This is a recipe for a baked cheesecake and though it is more effort than the World's Easiest Cheesecake recipe I had posted before but when you taste it I think you'll find it was worth it. Make this when you have a little more time on your hands...

What you’ll need:

 

For the crust:

Digestive biscuits/ graham crackers (atleast 1 pack)

4 tablespoons melted butter

For the cheese cake filling:

1 teaspoon unflavoured gelatin powder

¼ cup milk

220 gms cream cheese

3 eggs

1 ½ cup dulce de leche 

How to: 

A. Make the crust –  

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C. Start to heat a large pan of water. 

2. For the crust. Bash the biscuits into crumbs and then mix in the butter till you have a crumbly slightly moist mixture. 

Note: I find the easiest way to crumble biscuits is to pop them in a plastic bag and then pummel them with a rolling pin.  

3. Line your baking tin with your crumb mixture and bake for ten minutes till golden. Take out the crust and let it cool.

 B. Make the filling –

 While the crust cools, put together the filling.

1. Sprinkle the gelatin over the small bowl  of milk and let it sit.

2. Blend the cream cheese till it’s softer. Add the eggs in one at a time and keep whisking. Add the milk mixture and the dulce de leche and whisk till smooth.

3. Pour the filling into the crust. Now place the dish with the cheesecake into a larger baking dish. Pour the boiling water into the larger dish making a water bath for the cheesecake.

4. Very very carefully (I got my brother to do this) place both dishes into the oven and bake for about 40 minutes or till the centre is firm. Remove and cool for at least a couple of hours.

Foodnotes:

If you’re not tired yet, you can put a glaze on top of this – blend a fruit jam with some (compatible tasting) fruit juice and heat OR melt some chocolate with milk and butter to make a quick ganache and pour over the cheesecake.