RECIPE CARD: DULCE DE LECHE CHEESECAKE

Directions

• Step 1 CRUST PREP
• Step 2 Oven at 350
• Step 3 Prep 9″ Fat Daddio’s 2-piece cheesecake pan with Bakers Joy and 9″ parchment paper circle
• Step 4 Toast walnuts 5-7 minutes
• Step 5 Hand grate the cinnamon
• Step 6 Gently melt butter
• Step 7 Food process the ginger snaps and toasted walnuts together, medium/coarse crumb
• Step 8 MIX THE CRUST
• Step 9 Combine the ginger snaps, walnuts, salt, cinnamon, and sugar in a large mixing bowl
• Step 10 Add butter slowly while tossing crumbs by hand
• Step 11 Use only enough butter to make the mixture moist, not soggy
• Step 12 FORM THE CRUST
• Step 13 Dump the mixture into the center of the Fat Daddio
• Step 14 Spread it evenly around the bottom of the pan
• Step 15 Press down evenly with bottom of a water glass
• Step 16 PREP THE DULCE DE LECHE
• Step 17 Heat gently in the top of a double boiler to soften, nice and loose, not too hot
• Step 18 MAKE THE BATTER
• Step 19 Beat Philly and sugar together at slow speed
• Step 20 As necessary, stop the mixer and spatula the mixture from the walls and the paddle. Do this throughout the mixing.
• Step 21 Beat in milk, flour, pinch of salt and vanilla, just combining each.
• Step 22 Don’t overbeat!
• Step 23 Add the lightly beaten eggs, and mix only until the yellow streaks disappear.
• Step 24 Strain the batter if you’ve got lumps in it
• Step 25 Pour the batter over the crust
• Step 26 SWIRL THE DULCE DE LECHE
• Step 27 Distribute blobs of the heated dulce de leche around the batter
• Step 28 Draw the tip of a chopstick through the lumps, swirling them in strings through the batter.
• Step 29 Make sure the dulce de leche is below the surface of the batter
• Step 30 HEAT WATER FOR THE CHEESECAKE MOAT/WATERBATH
• Step 31 BAKE THE CHEESECAKE
• Step 32 If using a cheesecake moat for the waterbath, bake 55-60 minutes…for a standard waterbath setup, bake 60-70 minutes
• Step 33 Until edges are set and the center wobbles slightly
• Step 34 Set the cheesecake on a cooling rack
• Step 35 Immediately run a thin, sharp-bladed knife around the inside edge of the pan to loosen the cheesecake from the walls of the pan.
• Step 36 COOL THE CHEESECAKE
• Step 37 Cool uncovered, and out of any drafts, to room temperature
• Step 38 Cover loosely with aluminum foil, and chill in the refrigerator overnight
• Step 39 RELEASE THE CHEESECAKE
• Step 40 Remove the foil
• Step 41 Invert a small mixing bowl
• Step 42 Set the cheesecake on top
• Step 43 Working carefully around the edges, gently press down until the cheesecake pan is released from the cheesecake. The pan will drop to the tabletop.
• Step 44 Using a large metal offset spatula, transfer the cheesecake to a 10″ cardboard round
• Step 45 DULCE DE LECHE TOP LAYER
• Step 46 In a double boiler, heat the half cup of dulce de leche with a tablespoon of water. Sparingly use more water if needed. We want it to be warm and malleable, but not runny
• Step 47 Spread the dulce de leche around the top of the cheesecake, using a small offset metal spatula
• Step 48 CHOCOLATE GANACHE
• Step 49 Combine the chocolate chips, heavy cream and espresso powder in the top of a double boiler
• Step 50 Heat, stirring occasionally, until all the streaks are gone
• Step 51 Decorate the top of the cheesecake with the ganache, using a plastic squeeze bottle
• Step 52 Back in the refrigerator to firm everything up
• Step 53 Cut slices with a big sharp knife, wiping the blade after each cut
• Step 54 Slices should be at room temperature for best flavor
• Step 55 If you like, confectioners sugar the individual slices
• Step 56 ENJOY
• Step 57 with strong coffee, espresso, ice cold water, hot ginger tea, cold Fever Tree ginger beer, tawny port, Alsatian gewürztraminer, sweet riesling, late harvest riesling, gently warmed Tia Maria, or an azucar.
• Step 58 Relax with a paragraph or two from Cormac McCarthy’s book All the Pretty Horses…maybe the passage where a thunderstruck young man sees, for the first time, his one true love.