Cheesecake. How I wish I could have some. But alas, I am back on the low carb lifestyle for the time being. I ate too much cheesecake (amongst other things) over the holidays. Sure, a little extra insulation is helpful for the bitter cold winter days, but it’s not so good when my actual winter clothing can’t fit comfortably over my natural insulation.
But, that doesn’t mean YOU can’t make and enjoy this delicious cheesecake. For my family’s Christmas lunch, I made a gingersnap caramel cheesecake. It had a spiced gingersnap crust, creamy New York style cheesecake, and topped with a layer of sweet and buttery caramel sauce. It was very good. I miss it.
For this cheesecake, I used a water bath. I’ve mentioned that I prefer crispier crusts, and every time I’ve used a water bath, I found that it made the crust softer. But, they still tasted fantastic, and I wanted to show you all how to use a water bath.
In my Peppermint Bark Cheesecake post, I listed some of these cheesecake making tips. Since they are pretty helpful, I will write them again. Or in this case, copy and paste them.
-Let all the ingredients sit to room temperature first.
-Don’t over mix. Too much air in the batter can cause cracking.
-Don’t over bake, the middle of the cheesecake is supposed to be a little jiggly. It will set as it cools down.
-Let the cheesecake cool gradually. Once the oven is turned off, just leave the cheesecake in the oven with the door ajar for at least an hour. Sudden temperature changes can cause cracks.
-Chill the cheesecake before serving.
-Even if the cheesecake cracks, no worries. Get creative and delicious with sauces and toppings.
Here are about 6 oz of gingersnaps. I’m no expert on commercial gingersnap cookies. I just grabbed whatever box I saw at the grocery store. They tasted ok, but nothing special. So I added some turbinado sugar, ground ginger, and cinnamon to the food processor.
After pulsing, I ended up with about 2 cups of cookie crumbs. If you don’t have a food processor, you can always pound the cookies with a rolling pin or hammer. Just, don’t crack your counter.
I mixed the cookie crumbs with melted butter, and pressed them into a greased springform pan. I did pre-bake this crust, but it’s not necessary. You can see I wrapped the bottom and sides of the springform pan with foil. In fact, I used 3 layers of foil as a precaution. Later, when I bake the cheesecake, I’ll be placing the cheesecake in another pan of hot water. The springform pan does not have a watertight seal, so the foil will keep the water from soaking into the cheesecake.
Like I mentioned in my Peppermint Bark Cheesecake post, I found a great cheesecake recipe a few years back. Sometimes, I’ll switch up the ingredients depending on what I’m making, but this time, I followed the original recipe pretty closely. So here is my cream cheese and sugar in the mixer.
The milk joins the party. Mix gently, you don’t want to beat too much air into the batter.
The eggs go in.
Last up is the vanilla extract, flour, and sour cream.
Here is the cooled gingersnap crust already covered with foil and on top of a pizza pan. You can use a different pan, just make sure the cheesecake sits flat on it, and it’s high enough for a layer of water.
Pour the cheesecake batter in.
Put the pans into a preheated oven at 325°F. THEN pour hot water into the pizza pan, or whatever pan you use. This is much safer and cleaner than trying to balance and shuffle a pan full of hot water and cheesecake all the way to the hot oven.
After an hour, turn the oven off. Don’t take the cheesecake out yet. Instead, let it gradually cool in the oven, with the door cracked open. So, this time, I did not end up with any cracks in the cheesecake. However, there were a lot of ugly air bubbles that popped on the surface, and I was a dumbass and accidentally gouged out a hole.
Good thing I had a jar of caramel sauce ready to go. Remember when I made truffles and caramels to give away over the holidays? I made several batches of caramels that I screwed up, and as a result, I have a lot of caramel sauce in the fridge. You can use your choice of caramel sauce for this cheesecake. But don’t be intimidated in making the sauce yourself. Actual caramel candies piss me off, but caramel sauce is quite simple to make. Try Ree Drummond’s recipe, it’s yummy and easy.
Gingersnap Caramel Cheesecake
Gingersnap Crust
Ingredients
– Approximately 6 oz gingersnap cookies
– 1/4 c turbinado sugar
– 1 tbs ground ginger
– 1 tsp cinnamon
– 6 tbs melted butter
Directions
– If using a water bath, first wrap the sides and bottoms of the springform pan with a few layers of foil.
– Pulse the cookies, along with the sugar, ginger, and cinnamon until they become crumbs. They will make approximately 2 cups of crumbs.
– Mix the crumbs with the melted butter. Press the mixture into a greased springform pan.
– Bake at 375°F for about 10-11 minutes. Let the crust cool.
Cheesecake (Original recipe here)
Ingredients
– 32 oz of regular fat cream cheese (4 blocks)
– 1.5 c white sugar
– 3/4 c milk
– 4 eggs
– 1 c regular sour cream
– 1 tbs vanilla extract
– 1/4 c flour
– caramel sauce
Directions
– Let the ingredients sit out to room temperature.
– Mix the cream cheese and sugar until smooth.
– Gently mix in milk. Then mix in the eggs. Then mix in the sour cream, vanilla extract, and flour. Careful not to over-beat the batter.
– Place the springform pan onto a pizza pan or other pan. Pour the batter onto the cooled crust. Gently knock out air bubbles.
– Put the pans into a preheated oven at 325ºF. Pour hot water into the pizza pan. Bake for one hour. After an hour, turn the oven off, and leave the oven door cracked open. Let the cheesecake sit in the oven for at least an hour.
– Run a knife around the pan to loosen the cheesecake before opening the pan latch.
– Put the cheesecake in the fridge to chill until ready to serve. Pour the caramel sauce over the cheesecake prior to serving.
