My friend Leonie gave me a jar of organic goat’s milk dulce de leche from Sde Bar. It so happened that I had another identical jar that had been sitting in my fridge for the past year, so I knew I had to use it quickly — I like dulce de leche, but we don’t eat it on its own. So, I decided to turn it into a cheesecake.
On another unrelated note, this is my 100th post … how exciting.
This dulce de leche has quite a strong flavor of goat’s cheese, so I mixed it with regular, cow’s milk cream cheese (3% fat) in order to dilute it a bit. The end result still has a hint of that goat’s milk flavor, but is not overpowering.
The omission of sugar is not an oversight. Dulce de leche is quite sweet, and I think it made the cake sweet enough by itself. However, as in everything, taste as you go — if your dulce de leche isn’t as sweet as mine, you might decide to add some sugar.
To make two 10-centimeter diameter cakes, or one 16-centimeter cake:
For the cheesecake filling:
350 grams cream cheese (I used 3% fat)
250 grams goat’s milk dulce de leche (or regular dulce de leche)
2 eggs
For the crumb crust:
75 grams plain cookies
25 grams butter
(These crust quantities make 10-centimeter cakes. For one large cake, you might want to increase the quantities to 120 grams cookies and 40 grams butter, for a thicker crust)
Preheat your oven to 160 degrees Celsius.
Prepare your baking rings or spring-form pans: Cover the base of the spring-form pan with a sheet of baking paper, and close the pan around the paper and the base. For baking rings, place each ring on a square of baking paper slightly larger than the base, and wrap the baking paper and ring in a sheet of tinfoil, enough so that the tinfoil slightly folds over the upper edges of the ring. Place the baking ring on a hard surface that can be used in the oven, such as a cookie tray, to support the bottom of the cake.
Prepare the crust: Blend the cookies and butter in a food processor. Dump into the pan(s), and pack into an even layer with a spoon.
Prepare the filling: Beat together the dulce de leche, cream cheese and eggs. Pour into the pan(s).
Bake the cakes: Bake 10-inch cakes for 40 minutes, 16-inch cake for 50 minutes. Cover with tinfoil after the first 10 minutes to keep the top from browning.
After baking time is done, let cool for 30 minutes to an hour in the oven, with the door cracked open. Once cakes are cool enough to handle, remove from the oven and let cool completely to room temperature. (The slow cooling process keeps the cheesecakes from cracking on top.)
Once the cakes are cool, remove the rings or the sides of the spring-form pan. Remove the baking rings: First unstick the base of the cake from the bottom of the ring — put your fingers under the base of the cake, and moving around the very edge of the ring, gently press the crust upwards, just enough to free it. Then, place the cake on a flat surface and carefully lift the ring.
NOTE: Double the quantities to make a 24-centimeter cake.
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