Thursday 19 September 2013

End of Term Salted Caramel Mini-Cheesecakes

Term 3 has come to an end.  It's almost school holidays.  Term 3 in Australia can be a hard slog.  The flu season is still here and the kids come home from school with all sorts of wonderous illnesses at the end of a cold and wet Winter.  The holiday break can't come soon enough, I say.

It's my Sister-in-law's birthday and there's a family party so I'm making something sweet.


This Week's Pin:  Salted Caramel Mini-Cheesecakes
Who's This For:  My Sister-in-law's Party
Price:  around $23 (makes 24 small and 2 medium cheesecakes)


I've converted some of the recipe and here's the modified version:

Ingredients:
- 2 1/4 cups of Granita biscuits
- 3 tablespoons caster sugar
- 7 tablespoons salted butter, melted
- 910 gm cream cheese, softened
- 1 1/2 cups of caster sugar
- 3 tablespoons gluten free plain flour
- 4 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 1/2 cup whipping cream
- salted caramel sauce

As this is an American recipe, the ingredients ask for Graham Crackers.  I needed to do a little research about what exactly is a Graham Cracker and what is suitable as an alternative.  The general opinion is that the Granita biscuit is the closest biscuit.

The process is simple and the website is really easy to follow.  I baked the biscuit crumb mixture in the oven for 5 mins.

I whipped all the creams and cheeses with the sugar and eggs.


I topped up with the filling and baked for 20 minutes.  It's important not to overcook as they crack on the surface when they are overbaked.  No drama really, but they're supposed to be soft and mushy still in the middle.  I placed mine in the oven and kept an eye on the clock.  

I was then distracted by the telephone ringing twice and the doorbell had to be answered and when I ran back to the oven - oh no, I see cracks!

As I said earlier, no drama.  They'll still taste great.  The mixture was plentiful and I also filled 2 medium sized pans to keep for myself.  The original recipe asks to let the cheesecakes cool for an hour and serve with a spoonful of caramel sauce.  The cheesecakes sag a little in the middle as they cool and gives you a good place to fill with caramel.

I wanted to do them my way, so I used a tinned caramel sauce, the Nestle top-n-fill Caramel Sauce, as the last step and while the cheesecakes were still warm, I placed a dollop on to each and popped the trays under the grill for a couple of minutes.  When it began to bubble, I removed them and ta-dah!

They are not the prettiest - see original Pin image above, however I was looking for a slightly burnt, creme brulee looking top and I think that's what I got.  They were still soft and gooey in the centre and the Granita biscuits in the base were very wheat-y and moist.

Thank you for the kind words and feedback this Term.  See you in Term 4 for the downhill run to Christmas.

Soops

“Well, art is art, isn't it? Still, on the other hand, water is water! And east is east and west is west and if you take cranberries and stew them like applesauce they taste much more like prunes than rhubarb does. Now, uh... now you tell me what you know.”
Groucho Marx

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