Salted Caramel Glazed Vanilla Cheesecake With Oreo Crust

makes (1) 9 inch cake


Ingredients

Cookie Base:
2/3 cup cookie crumbs froms about 20 creme sandwich cookies
1 cup Digestive Biscuit crumbs, from about 12 biscuits
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
2/3 cup butter, melted

Cheesecake Layer
2/3 cups milk
1 Bourbon vanilla pod or two ordinary vanilla pods
2 lbs. cream cheese, softened
1 cup sugar
4 eggs

Sour cream topping
1 cup sour cream
1 tablespoon sugar
Vanilla bean from ½ Bourbon vanilla pod or 1 ordinary vanilla pod

Salted Caramel Layer
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons water
1 cup cream
1/2 stick butter
1 teaspoon sea salt - and possibly extra sea salt for garnish

Directions

Cookie Base
Crush Oreos and Digestive biscuits to fine crumbs with a food processor or by placing the whole cookies in a plastic bag and crushing them with a rolling pin. Pour the crumbs into a bowl and mix with cocoa powder, then stir in the melted butter. 

Press the mixture into a spring-form pan making an even layer. Set aside while you make the cheesecake.

Cheesecake
Preheat oven to 350 ° F. Pour the milk in a small saucepan and add the scraped vanilla bean pod and seeds. Heat to just a simmer. Do not boil. 

Remove from the heat and set it aside. Place the  cream cheese in a bowl with the sugar and whisk until well blended and mixture is smooth. Add the eggs one at a time while stirring - there must be no lumps in the mixture (make sure to scrape the sides of the bowl down with a spatula occasionally, so everything gets whipped through).

Remove the vanilla bean pod from the milk and slowly mix it into the cream cheese mixture.  Continue whipping until the mixture is uniform and smooth.

Pour cream cheese mixture over the cookie crust and set on a baking sheet (to catch any run off). Bake for about 55-60 minutes, or until set. 

Sour cream topping
 While the cake bakes prepared sour cream topping.  In a bowl, beat sour cream with sugar and vanilla bean.
When cheesecake is finished, take it out (leaving the oven on) and let it rest for 10 minutes. Then pour the sour cream topping on the cake, and bake for about 10 more minutes. 

Remove cake from oven and allow to cool for 1 hour. Then put it in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours.

Salted Caramel

In a small saucepan melt the sugar with water until the color is beautiful caramel brown (do not be surprised - if it becomes liquid, then dry and gritty, and then melts again again before it takes color).

Remove from the heat, and carefully add the cream (it will bubble so use caution). Add the butter and whisk it together with the caramel. Finally, stir in the salt.

Let the caramel cool and then pour it on the cooled cake.

Finally, decorate with sea salt (I recommend the sea salt sprinkled over just before serving - the salt will melt if added to the cake too early).