Salted Caramel and Pretzel Cheesecake

Are you a fan of cheesecake?  I find that people sit firmly in one of two camps - they either love cheesecake or they loathe it.  I sit in the former camp, and adore cheesecake in all of its forms, whether baked or unbaked.  The only thing that makes me sad is when someone has turned a cheesecake recipe into a cloggy dense mess, instead of a smooth and silky thing of wonder.  

Another one of my favourite things is caramel, so when I saw the photo of a salted caramel and pretzel cheesecake on the cover of the September issue of Delicious magazine, I was sold.  Is this not a thing of beauty:

Even better, I already had all of the ingredients needed to make it, accumulated from random purchases and leftovers from other recipes.

I am so glad that I ventured to make this indulgent cheesecake - it was everything I'd hoped for.  Sweet, salty, smooth, luscious and altogether a treat to be savoured.  The pretzels are incorporated into the crust, and the caramel flavoured cheesecake is topped with a layer of store bought dulce de leche to up the ante on the caramel flavour.

To make this cheesecake, you will need:

200g crushed salted pretzels
200g digestive biscuits
350g butter, melted and cooled
400g brown sugar
450ml thickened cream
3 titanium strength gelatine leaves
450g cream cheese, softened
250g store bought dulce de leche

Grease and line a 22cm wide, 5cm deep springform pan.

Put the pretzels in a food processor and finely chop.  Add the biscuits and process until fine crumbs form.  Add 250g of the melted butter and process to combine.  Press the mixture into the base and up the sides of the springform pan, and chill until needed.

Put the remaining melted butter into a saucepan with the brown sugar over medium heat, and stir until the sugar has dissolved.  Add the cream and simmer for 10 minutes or until the mixture thickens.  

In the meantime, soak the gelatine leaves in a bowl of cold water for 5 minutes.  Squeeze out the excess water from the gelatine and stir the gelatine into the hot cream until dissolved.  Remove from the heat and cool to room temperature.

Put the cream cheese into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and whisk until smooth.  Gradually whisk in the cooled cream mixture until smooth, then pour into the chilled biscuit base.  Refrigerate the cheesecake for 6 hours or until set.

To serve the cheesecake, spread the dulce de leche evenly over the top of the set cheesecake.  Slice and serve.  Devine!