Creamy Caramel Cheesecake

I love this cheesecake. I don't post many desserts since I don't have much of a sweet tooth. So it came as a surprise to me how much I enjoyed this recipe and wanted to share it with you. It's made with toffee bits which are melted in the cheese batter as it bakes. I also love the unexpected and pleasant surprise of a thin layer of chocolate between the crust and the cheesecake filling.

This recipe is adapted from the Bite Me recipe book by Julie Albert and Lisa Gnat.

Feeds 12 people
Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups of Graham baking crumbs (original recipe calls for Oreo crumbs, so pick whatever you prefer)
• 1/2 cup of melted butter
• 1/4 cup whipping cream
• 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate
• 4 x 250g packages of cream cheese, room temperature
• 1 cup of sugar
• 4 large eggs
• 1 1/2 tsp of vanilla extract
• 2 cups chopped toffee bits (see picture below for reference)
• 1/4 cup caramel sauce (store bought or you can make your own)

Found in most grocery stores

Step 1: The crust

Preheat your oven to 350°F. Take a 9 inch loose bottom pan and wrap the outside with aluminum foil. This helps prevent any messes caused by potential leaking from the cake. Mix the baking crumbs with the melted butter and press this mixture over the bottom and halfway up the sides of the pan.

Melt the chocolate with the whipping cream in a saucepan and pour evenly over the crust. Chill the crust in the fridge while you prepare the filling.

Step 2: The filling

With an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese together until smooth.

Before

After!

Gradually add the sugar to the cheese and mix together. Add the eggs one at time until well blended in.

Your filling should have more of a liquid consistency now. Don't forget to scrape the bottom of your mixing bowl once in a while to make sure there isn't any unmixed clumps of cream cheese stuck there. Add the vanilla extract and mix in the toffee bits.

Step 3: Baking the cake

Your filling is now complete. Pour it into your pan on top of the prepared crust. Spoon the caramel sauce over the top of the filling. Don't worry if some of it sinks in, it will still taste good!

Place your pan on a baking sheet on the medium rack of your over. Bake for 1h15 minutes. Depending if you have a convection oven or not, you may require more time. Mine needed maybe another 10 minutes more than this time to be completely set in the middle.

Remove from the oven and let the cheesecake cool to room temperature. Cover with a plastic wrap and chill for several hours before serving. The longer the better. Enjoy!

Jamie Oliver's Salmon en Croûte

I recently made this recipe for a group of friends and the feedback was positive enough for it to warrant some writing space on my blog. It is adapted from Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution cookbook (which has great, unpretentious and no-nonsense recipes). It's basically salmon with various toppings including cheese cooked in puff pastry. Salmon has a robust enough flavour to not be overpowered by the savory ingredients of this recipe.

Feeds 6 people
Ingredients

• 800g salmon fillet (I remove the skin but you can leave it on if you prefer)
• 1 package of puff pastry (I use Tenderflake, thawed)
• some flour for dusting
• olive oil
• salt and pepper
• 1/4 cup of tapenade (black olive paste)
• fresh basil leaves
• 2 ripe tomatoes, sliced
• 4 regular size bocconcini (fresh mozzarella), sliced
• 1 egg

Step 1: Preparing the puff pastry

Preheat your oven to 400°F. It's good to work quickly with puff pastry because keeping the dough cold will yield better results. Roll it out using a rolling pin and some flour to prevent it from sticking. Roll it out to the same size as the pan you will be using, roughly 6" by 12".  

Step 2: Preparing the filet and the toppings

Season your fillet with salt and pepper and a little drizzle of oil.

Place the fillet seasoned side down in the middle of the puff pastry. My fillet is extra big because I was feeding many people. 

Spread on the tapenade.

Then place your basil leaves on the fish, along with the sliced tomatoes and bocconcini pieces. Sprinkle with more salt and pepper and drizzle again with olive oil.

Step 3: Baking your salmon

Gather up the edges of the puff pastry around the salmon fillet and brush the pastry with some egg wash.

Place in the over (middle rack worked fine for me, but Jamie Oliver recommends to put it at the very bottom of the oven). Place an empty pan on the rack above your salmon to protect the top from over browning. Bake for roughly 35 minutes and there you have it!