Caramel Cheesecake

5 from 8 votes

This caramel cheesecake has a peanut butter chocolate chip cookie crust. It is filled with a creamy salted caramel cheesecake. On top are salted caramel and pretzels.

Prep Time1

Cook Time1 20

Chilling Time6

Total Time8 20

Servings: servings

Calories: 489kcal

Author: Stephanie Rutherford

Ingredients

Peanut Butter Cookie Crust

1 ¼ cup All-purpose flour
½ teaspoon Baking soda
½ teaspoon Salt
½ cup Unsalted butter room temperature
⅔ cup Brown sugar packed light or dark
⅓ cup White granulated sugar
½ cup Peanut butter creamy
1 Large egg room temperature
1 teaspoon Pure vanilla extract

Salted Caramel

1 cup White granulated sugar
2 tablespoon Unsalted butter room temperature
½ cup Heavy cream room temperature
¼ teaspoon Salt
½ teaspoon Pure vanilla extract

Caramel Cheesecake

24 oz Cream cheese room temperature
¾ cup White granulated sugar
⅛ cup Sour cream room temperature
⅓ cup Salted caramel
1 teaspoon Pure vanilla extract
3 Large eggs room temperature
Pretzels for decoration

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Salted Caramel

Place sugar in a medium saucepan. Heat the sugar over medium heat. Let it sit until the sugar starts to melt, then mix with a wire whisk. Mix until every sugar crystal is melted. Let it sit until it turns amber in color. This takes less than 15 seconds. Remove immediately from the heat.
1 cup White granulated sugar
Add in half of the butter. Mix until combined. It will bubble a lot. Add the rest of the butter and mix. Add in half of the heavy cream and mix. Then, add in the rest of heavy cream. Mix in the salt and vanilla.
1 teaspoon Pure vanilla extract, 2 tablespoon Unsalted butter, ½ cup Heavy cream, ¼ teaspoon Salt, ½ teaspoon Pure vanilla extract
Pour caramel in a glass container and let it cool completely. This can be made ahead of time. After it cools, cover with cling wrap.

Peanut Butter Cookie Crust

Preheat oven to 325°F. Spray a 9 inch spring form pan with baking non-stick spray. Line with a 9 inch parchment circle on the bottom. Spray again.
In a mixing bowl, sift the flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside. Using a mixer, beat the butter, brown sugar, and sugar on high. Beat until light and fluffy. Add in the peanut butter and mix until combined. Add in the vanilla and egg. Mix until combined. Scrape the bowl and mix for 10 seconds.
1 ¼ cup All-purpose flour, ½ teaspoon Baking soda, ½ teaspoon Salt, ½ cup Unsalted butter, ⅔ cup Brown sugar, ⅓ cup White granulated sugar, ½ cup Peanut butter, 1 Large egg, 1 teaspoon Pure vanilla extract
Slowly add in the dry ingredients. Freeze bowl for 40 minutes.
Place ¾ of the dough in the pan. The rest of the dough is not needed for this recipe. See notes for baking it into cookies later. Press the dough up ½ the sides of the pan. Compact the crust.
Bake for 25 minutes. Let it cool while you make the cheesecake batter.

Caramel Cheesecake

Using a mixer, beat the cream cheese on high for 1 minute. Scrape the bowl. Add in the sugar, and beat on high for 1 minute. Scrape the bowl and beat for 15 more seconds.
24 oz Cream cheese, ¾ cup White granulated sugar
Add in the sour cream, caramel, and vanilla. If the caramel is too thick, heat in the microwave for 10 seconds until it is a pourable consistency. Mix until all is combined. You will have to scrape the bowl to make sure it is all mixed in.
⅛ cup Sour cream, ⅓ cup Salted caramel, 1 teaspoon Pure vanilla extract
Slowly add in the eggs one at time. Mix on low until just combined. Pour batter into the spring form pan.
3 Large eggs
Prepare a water bath. You will need boiling water and a large roasting pan. There are two options.
1. Place spring form pan in a 10 inch cake pan. Place both in the roasting pan and fill with hot water until it reaches halfway on the cake pan. This is my favorite and guarantees no water gets to the crust.
2. Wrap spring form pan with foil. Wrap twice very tightly. Place in the roasting pan and fill halfway up the spring form pan with hot water.
Bake for 70-85 minutes. The cheesecake is done baking with the edges are set and the middle has a slight jiggle. If the middle has a bigger jiggle, bake for 10 minutes and check again.
Turn off the oven, crack open the door, and let the cheesecake sit for 30 minutes. Then, transfer to a cooling rack. Let the cheesecake cool completely. Wrap in foil and chill for at least 6 hours or overnight.
Take the springform pan off the cheesecake and remove the parchment circle. Top with the remaining caramel. ( If it is too thick, microwave for 10 seconds). Top with pretzels.
Pretzels

Notes

Extra Cookies:

Scoop the cookies using a cookie scoop. I like a large 3oz cookie scoop, but a regular size works as well. Chill the cookie dough balls until after the cheesecake is done baking.

Preheat oven to 350F. Line cookie sheet with parchment paper. Place cookie dough balls on cookie sheet spread apart. For the larger cookies bake for 13-14 minutes. For smaller cookies bake for 9-11 minutes.

Flour: Make sure flour is spooned and leveled or use a kitchen scale. Compacted flour can dry out the cookie dough.

High altitude baking- Add an extra tablespoon to the cookie dough.

Pull out all "room temperature" ingredients 2 hours before baking.

Nutrition