In honor of Mother’s Day I’m sharing a decadent dessert with you that whole-heartedly reminds me of my own sweet mom: Salted Caramel Chocolate Chip Cheesecake. Anything and everything salted caramel brings her to mind, and since I can’t be home for this Mother’s Day I thought I would share a recipe in honor of her.
I decided to go with a melted caramel candy sauce instead of doing a completely home made caramel sauce because it’s much friendlier to the casual home baker. Also I didn’t feel like pulling my hair out after three unsuccessful batches of burnt caramel that I seem to need to go through before I make a successful batch. Sue me.
I used an 11 oz bag of Kraft soft caramels and used about 9 oz out of the 11 to make the sauce to cover the top, the other two I microwaved with some heavy cream to put directly into the cheesecake. You don’t have to buy such a large bag, an 8 or 9 oz bag would work as well if you’d rather go for a brand like Werther’s that come in smaller packages.
All in all, cheesecakes can be kind of finicky so make sure you read through my tips and notes to avoid under-baking, cracking, and serving the cheesecake too soon.
A FEW NOTES ON WATER BATHS AND SPRING FORMS:
If you don’t have a big enough pan to make a water bath:
• The purpose of a water bath is to help the center and the sides of the cake bake at a more even rate to prevent cracking. I’ve never made a cheesecake without a water bath, so you may run into a few problems such as the center being under-baked and the top cracking. I would advise you just bake the cake until it passes the “jiggle test” (described in the directions). Don’t worry about the sides being “over-baked”. I thought I “over-baked” a cheesecake once because the top was WAY too brown, it was cracked, and there was no jiggle, and guess what? It turned out pretty much the same as the other ones I’ve made. I’d have to have a perfectly cooked one and an overcooked one side by side to be able to tell them apart.
If your cheesecake does crack, you can always cover the top of the cake with a layer of caramel or ganache, and nobody will ever notice.
If you don’t have a springform pan:
Totally fine. A spring form isn’t necessary, a deep dish pie pan, or round cake pan (maybe even a casserole dish) will work just fine. It’ll be a tight fit, but I did this before I bought a spring form. In fact your cheesecake may even turn out better because there’s no risk of water leaking into the crust from the water bath. You just won’t be able to remove your cake from the pan and have a pretty free standing cheesecake; which honestly doesn’t matter unless you’re really THAT into presentation.
TAKE HOME MESSAGE: You don’t need a water bath or spring form pan to make a cheesecake, they really are only important for presentation. So if you don’t have either but still want to give cheesecake a shot, I’d say go for it! And let me know how your experience goes, I’d love to hear and learn!
If you’re using a water bath:
• I tripple wrap my foil around my pan to make sure water doesn’t get in. Cheesecakes are one of the more expensive desserts to make, in both time and money, so don’t take any chances of letting water seep into the crust. Swaddle that cake baby TIGHT.
• I usually set the spring form in the larger pan and put it in the oven without water, then fill the outer pan with water using a measuring cup once it’s already in the oven. It makes the transfer from counter to oven less stressful.
Appropriate chilling times:
• Always chill your cheesecake for at least 8 hours before serving, otherwise it will have an unappealing custardy texture, vs the firm smooth texture a cheesecake should have.
• You can store this cheesecake for about a week in the fridge as long as it is covered; any longer it’ll start to dry out.
• You can individually wrap pieces of cheesecake in plastic wrap and foil and freeze them for up to 6-8 months.
| Prep Time | 40 minutes |
| Cook Time | 90 minutes |
| Passive Time | 9 hours |
| Servings |
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- 1 package original oreos (not family sized, not double stuffed) $2.28
- 1 stick butter, salted $0.75
- 1/4 tsp salt $0.01
- 3 8 oz cream cheese blocks at room temperature $3.66 (total of 24 oz)
- 1 cup light brown sugar $0.41
- 3 eggs $0.21
- 1 egg yolk $0.07
- 3 tbsp all purpose flour $0.02
- 3/4 cup heavy cream $0.54
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract $0.09
- 1 cup mini chocolate chips, semisweet $2.33
- 10-12 caramel candy pieces $-.-- (I took these from my 11 oz bag of candies)
- 9-10 oz soft caramel candies $2.65 (You don't need all 9 oz of caramel, 8-6 oz would probably give thinner, but sufficient coverage)
- 1/4 cup heavy cream $0.18
- 1/4 tsp salt $0.01
- 2 tbsp mini chocolate chips for sprinkling
- 1/2 tsp sea salt flakes, or coarsely ground table salt for sprinkling
Ingredients
Crust
Filling
caramel sauce
Toppings:
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- Preheat oven to 325 degrees and line the bottom of your springform with a cut out circle of parchment paper. This helps you cleanly remove your cheesecake from the springform pan, including the bottom plate. (If you're not using a springform pan, I wouldn't worry about lining the bottom. There is enough butter to keep it from sticking when you're cutting pieces out to serve.)
- Combine the Oreos, melted butter, and salt into a food processor and blend until the Oreos are pulverized. If you don't have a food processor, or just don't want to dirty one up, you can get a similar effect with combining all the ingredients into a gallon bag and smashing it with a rolling pin. You just won't get as small of pieces, and you'll want to make sure the shards of Oreo aren't making holes in your bag. (Tip: Just dirty the food processor.)
- Dump the pulverized Oreo mixture into a 9-inch springform pan and pack them down using the bottom of a glass cup. I like a thick crust on the bottom, so I don't hedge up the sides of my crust too much, but you can pack the crust up the sides of the spring form if you'd like. Just be careful transferring it to the oven because the edges will be fragile.
- Bake for 12 minutes and set the crust aside to cool. (In the refrigerator is preferred if you have room.)
- In a medium-large bowl, beat the room temperature cream cheese on medium-low until it's smooth. We don’t want to incorporate too much air. Then add the eggs and egg yolk one at a time, making sure they're well incorporated. After the eggs you can add the brown sugar, cream, and vanilla, beating the mixture on medium-low until it's silky smooth.
- Now take 10-12 of your caramel candies and put them in a microwave safe bowl with 2 tsp of heavy cream and 1/4 tsp salt and microwave for 30 seconds, stir with a rubber or silicon spatula, microwave again for 15 more seconds, and stir until smooth.
- Drizzle the microwaved caramel sauce over your cheesecake mixture, dump in your mini chocolate chips, and fold both additions in until the chocolate chips are evenly spread throughout the batter. You'll probably have caramel swirl chunks because of the caramel semi-solidifying upon contact with the cooler cheesecake batter, but that's a good thing, don't try to smooth them out.
- Pour your batter into your spring form pan on top of your cooled oreo crust and smooth the top over.
- Wrap the springform pan tightly with foil. It's best to use three layers to make sure it's sealed. Place the spring form in a larger pan (I use my 11 inch cast iron skillet but you could also use a large shallow roasting pan) and fill the bottom with about an inch or two of water to form water-bath. (If you don't have a larger pan for a water bath, read my notes in my post above.)
- Put your cake that's in the water bath in the oven (still at 325 degrees) and bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes.
- Perform the "jiggle test". When you shake the springform there should be a slight jiggle to the center but not the edges! (The jiggle should only span about 3 inches). When you've reached the right amount of jiggle, turn off the oven, but don't remove the cake. I let it sit in the cooling oven for about an hour before I remove it from the water bath and foil. This allows the middle to finish baking and reduces the risk of cracking.
- Once the cake has cooled down in the oven for about and hour, you can remove it from the water bath and tin foil and put it on a hot pad in the fridge. I recommend chilling the cheesecake for at least 8 hours so the center has time to really set up, otherwise you'll be left with an undesirable custardy texture.
- Once the cake is cooled, you can take the cake out of the spring form. (It helps to run a knife around the edges to loosen the cake for a clean separation.) If you're also removing the bottom sheet to put the cheesecake on a stand or platter, slide a spatula under the parchment paper that's below the crust. You should be able to use the spatula to slide and maneuver the cake into place.
- After the cake has chilled and you're ready to top and serve it you can make the caramel sauce. Take the remainder of your caramel candies, unwrap them, and put them in a small saucepan with 1/4 cup of cream. Warm them on medium low heat.
- Constantly scrape the bottom of the pan and turn the caramels over on top of each other to make sure you don't burn any of them. It should take about 10-12 minutes for the caramels to melt completely on this heat without burning, so be patient and attentive!
- Remove the caramel sauce from the heat and smoosh any remaining chunks around until the sauce is smooth.
- Immediately pour the caramel sauce over the cheesecake, smoothing the top over with a silicon spatula if needed. Then sprinkle with chocolate chips and sea salt and serve!
- (For my salt "flakes" I just turned my salt grinder to it's most course setting and sprinkled the granules on top and it worked out great!)
Serving size: 1/16 of the cheesecake
Servings: 16
Price for dish: $13.21
Price per serving: $0.82
Nutrition per serving:
Calories: 563
Carbs: 56.2 g
Protein: 5.5 g
Fats: 36.2 g
Sodium: 477.9 mg
Fiber: 0.7 g
Sugar: 43.2 g
