Caramel Cheesecake With a Pretzel Crust
cheesecakes, pretzel, caramel
This cheesecake has a smooth, creamy and rich filling over a pretzel crust (salted or unsalted - you choose). It’s also doused with a caramel topping which gets a nice sprinkling of flaky sea salt to boost that caramel sweetness.
My hubby is a cheesecake lover. Everytime we are invited somewhere and I’m asked to make a dessert he always requests cheesecake. He loves my classic cheesecake which I have actually never posted on here I just realized. My cranberry orange one is the closest recipe to my classic one - except instead of ginger snap cookies for the crust I use graham crackers and I leave out the orange zest for the filling - and I vary the topping accordingly. Anyways I love variety so I view each of those requests as an opportunity to make a new cheesecake (stay tuned for a decadent chocolate stout cheesecake coming next month)
This one comes inspired via Epicurious.com. Their filling is delicious and I love that it includes brown sugar in it to give it that caramelized flavour. Their recipe for the caramel topping is perfect too - but a great hack for the topping is just using storebought caramel sauce or dulce de leche sauce. It works perfectly and it makes this cheesecake even easier to whip up. I decided it would be fun to use pretzels as the base and I think you guys thought so too. When I previewed this recipe you guys all loved it and I’m super excited to share it with you. It’s a straightforward recipe that tastes delicious as all components come together.
Each bite has creamy, crumbly and some sticky sweet in there from the caramel sauce. It was a hit with friends. I love testing recipes out on friends - they are usually pretty honest about each recipe. They enjoyed this one and packed it all up before anyone else could take some home. It’s worth a try if you enjoy a salted caramel and pretzel treat with some creamy goodness added to it.
No fail cheesecake making tips
A water bath is tedious but always works in my opinion - The steam from the hot water will lift the cheesecake up slowly and evenly, reducing the risk of cracks on the surface. Just make sure to wrap your pan tightly with a few pieces of foil to prevent any moisture from getting into the crust and cake. Do allow the cheesecake to cool to room temperature before wrapping tightly and refrigerating. Do give your cheesecake enough time to set in the fridge. I usually plan ahead and make it the night before I am sharing it with friends and family.
Recipe
Ingredients
The Pretzel Graham Crust
- 1¼ Cups crushed pretzel crumbs (approx 30-40 grams of pretzels)
- ¾ Cup graham cracker crumbs
- ¼ Cup brown sugar
- ¼ Teaspoon salt
- ½ Cup unsalted butter (1 stick), melted
Caramel Cheesecake
- 4 Packages of 8 oz cream cheese, softened and room temperature
- 1 Cup granulated sugar
- 2 Tablespoons all purpose flour
- 4 Large eggs, room temperature
- 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 Teaspoon caramel extract (optional)
- ½ cup full fat sour cream, room temperature
- ½ cup caramel sauce, homemade or store-bought
For Topping
- ½-¾ cup of caramel sauce, homemade or store-bought
- Pretzels
- Flaky sea salt
- Toffee bits
Directions
For the Crust
- Pre-heat the oven to 350ºF.
- Place the pretzels in a food processor and process to obtain fine crumbs.
- Add the graham cracker crumbs, brown sugar, salt and melted butter and mix to combine.
- Press the mixture on the bottom of an 9” cheesecake pan.
- Bake the crust in the oven for 10 minutes.
- Remove it from the oven and let it cool while making the filling
For the Cheesecake Batter
- REDUCE OVEN TEMP to 325°F
- In a large bowl using a mixer (hand or stand mixer) mix together cream cheese, sugar, and flour on low speed until smooth and combined.
- Mix in the eggs one at a time, scraping down the bowl as needed.
- Then mix in the vanilla, sour cream, and caramel.I like to use a spatula to scrape the sides and bottom to make sure everything is well blended.
- Gently spoon the batter over the crust and smooth out the top and feel free to tap the pan agains the counter top a couple of times to release any air bubbles B1. ake
- Place a shallow baking dish on the rack below the middle rack and fill it 1-2 inches up with boiling hot water. This will create steam for the cheesecake so it cooks evenly without cracking. (for traditional water bath method see recipe notes below)
- Transfer cheesecake to middle rack or rack above pan with boiling water. Bake until the edges are light golden brown, the top is light gold, and the center barely jiggles, approx 60-80 mins. I usually start checking at the 50 minute mark as ovens and pans vary quite a bit.
- Turn oven off, and open oven door slightly holding it open with a wooden spoon in place. Let cheesecake set in oven 1 hour.
- Then remove cheesecake from oven, transfer to a wire rack, and let cool for 2 hours.
- Pour ½-¾ cup of caramel sauce and smooth over the cheesecake before refrigerating.
- Leave the cake in the pan, cover with plastic wrap or foil, and refrigerate until completely cold before serving, preferably overnight or for at least 6 hours.
- Garnish with pretzels if desired and a sprinkle of flaky sea salt and toffee bits before serving.
- Remove outer ring of spring form pan (use a flexible knife or thin spatula to run around pan to release it if needed) then slice cheesecake and enjoy cheesecake chilled.
- Refrigerate any leftovers, tightly covered, and enjoy within 4 days.
Recipe Notes
- The Caramel Sauce: Homemade is always great but absolutely not necessary especially if you want to keep things simple and quick. Use a good store bought version that you love the taste of. My go to is Bonne Maman Caramel Spread 380 g jar. I use the whole jar for this recipe which translates to approx 300 ml or approx 1 ¼ cup. I use a ½ cup for the batter and the rest for the topping. I like a thicker spread for the topping but you can adjust the amount to taste.
- For traditional water bath instead of steam bath, carefully wrap the outside of the pan in 2-3 layers of heavy-duty aluminum foil, being sure that there are NO gaps where water could seep through. Place the pan in a large roasting dish (or any pan larger than the spring form), and bring a tea kettle or pot of water to boil in preparation for the water bath. Place the foil-wrapped pan containing the cheesecake batter into a larger roasting pan. Once in the oven, carefully pour boiling water into the larger pan until it comes about halfway up the sides of the cheesecake pan.
- I changed the recipe for the base or the crust. The original recipe called for 2 cups of pretzels but I found that they didn’t hold up as well as a base. The original recipe was 2 cups crushed pretzels (using a food processor or rolling pin), ¾ cup unsalted butter, melted, and ¼ cup packed light brown sugar. I tested the consistency with a portion of it with graham cracker crumbs and I like it better. Both work you just need extra butter if you are going to use an all pretzel crust.
- Speaking of crust…. If you want more flavor in the crust you can use biscoff cookies for the base or even ginger snap cookies too. Just swap out the pretzel crumbs and graham crumbs with the cookie crumbs you want to use. The total will be 2 cups of cookie crumbs whether it’s all graham cracker crumbs, biscoff cookie crumbs, chocolate wafer cookie crumbs or gingersnap cookie crumbs - the rest of the ingredients stay the same in the crust: ¼ Cup brown sugar, ¼ Teaspoon salt, ½ Cup unsalted butter (1 stick), melted.
