Salted Caramel Cheesecake Bars

March 4th, 2013

Salted Caramel Cheesecake Bars

Caramel and Cheesecake – if you are looking for an amazing dessert combination stop right here! I’ve seen a few versions of this Salted Caramel Cheesecake Bars Recipe floating around on Pinterest. Each time I just knew they would be so incredible good. My hunch was right – they are fabulous and better yet they are easy to make and you can make them up ahead of time for entertaining! {win-win}

The recipe is a basic simple cheesecake with the addition of a ready-made Dulce de Leche. Dulce de leche is a thick, sweet sauce made from caramelized sugar in milk or from sweetened condensed milk; you can find it in most grocery stores in the Latin section.

The finishing touch or creme de la creme is the addition of a little Fleur de sel which gives these cheesecake bars an irresistible salty-sweet flavor! Fleur de sel is a hand-harvested sea salt collected by workers who scrape only the top layer of salt before it sinks to the bottom of large salt pans. So yes, that means it’s expensive, but worth the splurge {you can also use for this Salted Caramel Pie which makes a homemade dulce de leche} If you have a grocer that sells in bulk, you can buy just a little – it goes a long way since you use just a little. {Central Market for those of you in the Dallas area}

Salted Caramel Cheesecake Bar Recipe

Ingredients

Crust

Nonstick vegetable oil spray
2 1/4 cups finely ground graham crackers (about 17 whole graham crackers)
2 tablespoons sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
10 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) butter, melted

Filling

3 8-ounce packages cream cheese, room temperature
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1/2 cup purchased dulce de leche*
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Glaze

2/3 cup purchased dulce de leche
3 tablespoons (or more) heavy whipping cream
Fleur de sel

Note: one 13.4 oz can of dulce de leche will make both the filling and glaze

Directions

Crust

Preheat oven to 350°F. Coat 13x9x2-inch baking pan with nonstick spray. Mix graham cracker crumbs, sugar, and cinnamon in medium bowl. Add melted butter; stir until coated. Transfer crumb mixture to pan. Press evenly onto bottom of pan. Bake until crust is light golden, about 10 minutes. Cool completely on rack.

Filling

Blend cream cheese and sugar until smooth and creamy, about 1 minute, stopping occasionally to scrape down sides of bowl. Add eggs 1 at a time, processing 3 to 5 seconds to blend between additions. Add dulce de leche and vanilla; process until blended, about 10 seconds. Spread batter evenly over cooled crust. Bake until just set in center and edges are puffed and slightly cracked, about 38 minutes. Transfer to rack; cool completely.

Glaze

Heat dulce de leche (just use whatever is left in the can) and 3 tablespoons cream in microwave-safe bowl in 10-second intervals until melted. Stir to blend, adding more cream by teaspoonfuls if too thick to pour (amount of cream needed will depend on brand of dulce de leche). Pour glaze over cooled cheesecake; spread evenly. Refrigerate until chilled, about 1 hour (glaze will not be firm). DO AHEAD Can be made 2 days ahead. Cover; chill.

Posted under Desserts

2 Responses to “Salted Caramel Cheesecake Bars”

1) Vivian said on March 4th, 2013

Wow these look soo good. Making these for sure~!
2) Jen said on March 4th, 2013

Yum is all I can say!