There isn’t much I love better than caramel. It’s good in pretty much every dessert, cakes, ice creams, marshmallows, brownies, cookies, etc…. So when National Caramel day came up for our “Celebrating Food” this month I had a hard time narrowing it down! There are SO many caramel recipes I haven’t shared yet. I settled on Salted Caramel Cheesecake, and I’m SO glad I did.
Deciding on the caramel cheesecake turned out to be the easy part… did I want to add pecans, toffee, chocolate or salt? You can go in SO many directions with this. I decided to stick with the salty side. THEN the crust??? Rather than a traditional cookie crust I made a shortbread that I added chopped macadamia nuts to, but you can go in any direction with this. You could always use crushed shortbread cookies in a traditional crust for a similar flavor.
The great thing is you can control the amt of salt you add to your cheesecake. Personally I added even more to my slice after taking these pictures, but I LOVE salt, so I tend to add more to my own servings than I do to what I’m serving others. Are you a salt fan? Mmmm I’m having another slice as I write this post… Bring on the salt.
Don’t forget I have a ton of cheesecake tips and tricks (that work with all cheesecakes) on this dense and creamy cheesecake recipe, along with this cheesecake video sharing those tips and tricks while making a cheesecake.
- 1/2 C butter
- 1/3 C packed light brown sugar
- 1 1/4 C all-purpose flour
- 3/4 C finely chopped macadamia nuts
- 2 lbs full fat cream cheese softened
- 1/2 C granulated sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 C caramel sauce
- 2 lrg eggs room temp
- 1 lrg egg yolk room temp
- 1 1/4 C caramel sauce
- sprinkle fleur de sel
- preheat the oven to 350F,
- In your mixer beat the butter until fluffy
- Add brown sugar and mix well,
- Add flour and mix until a dough forms
- Mix in the nuts
- Spread into 10 inch cheesecake pan, poke holes
- Bake 18 mins
- Let cool.
- Reduce oven to 300 and place baking dish full of hot water on the bottom rack to create moisture (leave this in while baking).
- Beat cream cheese, sugar and vanilla with electric mixer on med until light and fluffy, about 30-60 sec.
- While beating on low add the caramel sauce
- Scrape the bowl, beat 45 sec more - make sure it's smooth with no chunks.
- Lightly whisk the eggs and yolks together and add to cream cheese mixture
- Mix on low speed until they are incorporated and the batter is velvety, about 30 sec, scrape the bowl and mix 10 sec more - do NOT overbeat.
- Pour the filling over crust, bake on the center rack about 1 hour +.
- how to tell cheesecake is done - When you open the rack and shift the pan the center 3-4 inches will jiggle - not like soup, like a loose jello jigglers.
- Turn the oven off and crack open the door and let the cake cool then refrigerate overnight.
- The next day pour the rest of the caramel over the top of the cake
- Sprinkle the fleur de sel over the top of the cheesecake, as much or as little (I'm all for MORE is better)
Recipe Video
Cook the sauce while the crust is baking, then let it cool.
When it's slightly cool press some plastic wrap down across the top so the sauce doesn't get a "skin". It will be slightly warm when you add it to the filling.
You'll probably need to warm it up just a bit before adding it the top of the cheesecake so keep it in a microwave safe container.
More Cheesecake Recipes
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Caramel in the cheesecake and on top? Oh gosh, this sounds amazing! Once cannot have too much caramel in my opinion.
oh I agree…. never ENOUGH caramel 😉
For the crust, is it 3/4 cup macadamia nuts before you chop them or is it 3/4 cup of the nuts after they’re chopped up? Thank you! It looks amazing!
after they are chopped – otherwise it would say 3/4 c macadamia nuts – chopped (chopped after measuring), vs 3/4 C chopped macadamia nuts (chopped before measuring)-
Well, I am making Salted Caramel Cheesecake today for our family reunion tomorrow. I am soooo excited. I’ve come back to check about the macadamia nuts. I remember reading it the other day.
Wish we luck.
good luck!
Can I use kosher salt
of course!
Oh wow, this looks incredible! I LOVE cheesecake! Add a little salted caramel? I’m in heaven!
or a lot… I added quite a bit of salt after the pictures onto my slice 😉
Oh my gosh! There was a National Caramel Day and I missed it? :’-(
Oh well, every day is caramel day to me! I have a friend who is a cheesecake queen. Her’s are awesome so I don’t even try to make my own. She uses the Mexican caramel instead of the thin caramel sauce and it is soooo good! I will send her a link to this recipe. The crust sounds awesome. Maybe she can make me one for my next cheesecake. 🙂
there is a food holiday (at LEAST one) every day… It was fun picking the ones we wanted to highlight each month! let me know what you think when you try it!
I love cheesecake but it sounds even better with caramel in it and on it!
i’m a classic cheesecake fan, but this turned out WAY better than I even hoped!
WOW I’m licking my lips just looking at this!!
Mmmmm caramel is a weakness for me every time
Will be making this week. Keep your fingers crossed!
Can you be more specific on “poke holes in crust”? Do you just use a fork randomly?
yup, random fork marks
Hi…….. Just discovered your page & love the videos . Learned some unique tricks. Oddly enough what I was transfixed on was your ” mixer” in the cheesecake video. Where does one fine such a mixer. That is so cool…… Laura
it’s a bosch universal mixer – I’ve had one my whole life – it’s what my mom always used – I have a full review here – bosch universal mixer
What is fleur de sel
it’s a finishing salt, not one you’d use IN the recipe (not as strong), but as an addition at the end – it’s a french name, obviously, but I’ve always been able to find it in the states easily.
It says “cook” sauce. Do you mean to warm it ? Could I use ice cream topping ? Can’t wait to make it !!
I mean cook the sauce, unless you made the batch earlier, making it when the crust is cooking so it has a little time to cool down before you add it to the filling. but obviously if you premade it then yes, just reheat it a bit, so it’s loose but not hot – the recipe is here – caramel sauce – and yes I use it mainly as an ice cream topping.
Love all ur cheese cake recipes????
thank you so very much!!!! let me know if you have a request!
Is this step for cooking the actual filling ? Plan to make this today.
Reduce oven to 300 and place baking dish full of hot water on the bottom rack to create moisture (leave this in while baking).
yes – you put the water in when you take out the crust – and leave it in for baking the actual cheesecake
This recipe is divine! I am a bit confused at the beginning. On my view of the recipe, it states “crust” then “crust filling” (exact ingredients and measurements as crust), then “filling.” Is this a typo?
I think my recipe plugin is having issues – on the back end it’ just reads crust and filling once – time to find a new service I guess! I’m so sorry about that
Hi I wanted to ask you about the butter for the crust. Does it have to be room temp cold or melted? Thanks, btw, I can’t wait to make it!
it’s softened – that way you can beat it up – cold and melted wouldn’t whip up
Hello,
Made this recipe for Christmas Eve and it was a huge hit!! Even the non-dessert fans in my family raved about it – make it!
YAY! Im so glad to hear it!
I cannot see where you said how much caramel sauce to add to cheesecake and how much to top it with
in the ingredient list – 1 C in the batter, 1 1/2 C’s on top
That looks sooooo yum Ashley! I’m a big fan of your recipes. I just started blogging in English a few months ago too, would be grateful if you had a look 🙂 bakedlouies.com
you have a lot of recipes already up and your photography is AMAZING! so good for you!!! good luck!
I’m going to be making this recipe soon (as requested by my mother in law) but she doesn’t eat macadamia, can I just take them out, or do I need to adjust the recipe in some way?
you can totally make any crust – a classic graham cracker crust would totally work just find then you don’t have to worry about other adjustments (like the one I use here – dense and creamy cheesecake
Help! The first time I made this cheesecake it came out just perfect, for the first time ever I got no cracks and it was absolutely delicious!! I made it again today for a friend but made a mistake with the temparature…. I forgot to reduce it to 300 and baked it for 1 hour at 350. I got no cracks but it did brown quite a bit. I´m not too concerned about the over browning as the caramel will cover it but I´m afraid this could affect the taste. Will it or does it still have a chance? Thanks!
it will effect the texture more than the taste – sorry –
How do you make the caramel sauce
I link to the sauce a few times in the post and recipe http://ashleemarie.com/buttery-caramel-sauce-recipe/
I found this recipe today and I love caramel and salt together. If I want to make it like RIGHT NOW!!! Can I eat it later? Or do I HAVE TO refrigerate? 🙁 say yesss! Haha!
What does the effect of the refrigeration do on the cheesecake? Is it just to settle it? Thanks!!
you DEF want to give it the refrigeration time, it’s not just settling but the cooling and refrigeration is an important part of cheesecake to get the texture just right. It’s worth waiting for I promise!
Hi Ashlee
Your recipe for the caramel cheesecake looks fabulous!!!
However I am not able to find the recipe for the caramel sauce.
Would you please be able to send it to me??? I would be so grateful.
Thank you for your consideration.
Best regards
Janet Courcelles
every time it says “caramel sauce” it links to the recipe here http://ashleemarie.com/buttery-caramel-sauce-recipe/
Your caramel cheesecake looks so dangerous because I’d be eating it all the time, I love cheesecake and caramel so I would have a hard time with this one, but probably all of them!!! It’s so amazing how you ladies can cook and bake at such a young age and you’re always posting new ones!!! Kudos to all of you, I wish I had your ambition cause I love cooking but it’s the same ole thing all the time But not Now!!! So Thank You Very Kindly for posting these recipes for someone that’s so boring at cooking and baking, keep up the great work for all of us!!! 👍👍👍👍👍👍🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹
well I don’t post new ones as often as I used to – and I’m not THAT young (40) but when it’s something you love you make time for it, I love to bake and cook, cleaning… that’s another story 😉
Just made it looks awesome but takes longer then an hr on 300 degree oven more like 2 hrs
it shouldn’t, maybe like 15/20 mins over but not a full hour!!! do you have an oven thermometer, are you sure your oven is 300? my oven is off by 25 degrees so I have to adjust it for every recipe. Also you DEF want there to still be a really good jiggle when you pull it out, otherwise your cheesecake will be overcooked.
I found this recipe when I was searching for something wonderful to make for a fundraiser. It turned out looking so beautiful! I am just sad that I don’t get to have a piece!
so glad you enjoyed it! you’ll have to make it again so you can enjoy it!