Baked Caramel Cheesecake with a Ginger-Pecan Crust

This was the other treat that I made for Christmas Day. It's a well loved recipe in my family and my Mum gets asked to make it all the time! I've never made it before, but when we were deciding who would make what for Christmas my sisters (practically begged) asked me to make it. I decided to mix things up a little by swapping the simple chocolate biscuit and butter crust for the lovely ginger pecan crust from this Pumpkin Cheesecake. And it really did work!

Ingredients:

Crust Ingredients:

1 cup plain flour
1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/8 cup pecans
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/2 cup cold butter
1 tbsp cold water

Filling Ingredients:
500g cream cheese
2 eggs
200g caramel jerseys
1 tbsp water
2/3 cup cream

125g dark chocolate

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Add the flour, brown sugar, salt, pecans and ginger to a food processor and blend until fine crumbs form.

Cut your cold butter into cubes and add to the food processor. Blend until crumbs form. Add the water and blend until the mixture comes together in clumps as a dough. Press the dough evenly into the bottom of a prepared spring form pan.

Bake for 25-30 minutes. Cool completely. Reduce your oven to 160 degrees Celsius.
To prepare the filling - mix the cream cheese in a mixer with a paddle beater until creamy. Add eggs and mix until combined.

Using a double saucepan melt the jersey caramels with 1 tbsp water.

Let the caramel cool a little before adding the cream and stirring. Add the caramel to the cream cheese and mix until combined. Pour the mixture over the base and cook for 50 minutes or until the middle of the cheesecake is set.

Remove cheesecake from the oven and allow to cool completely. Then over a double saucepan melt your dark chocolate. Once melted pour and spread the chocolate over the top of the cheesecake. Refrigerate until the chocolate is set.

Baked Caramel Cheesecake with Ginger Pecan Crust Crust Ingredients: 1 cup plain flour 1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar 1/8 cup pecans 1/4 tsp ground ginger 1/2 cup cold butter 1 tbsp cold water Filling Ingredients: 500g cream cheese 2 eggs 200g caramel jerseys 1 tbsp water 2/3 cup cream 125g dark chocolate Method: 1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Add flour, brown sugar, salt, pecans and ginger to a food processor and blend until the pecans are finely ground. Add cold butter and process until crumbs form. Add 1tbsp water and process in bursts until the dough starts to come together to form clumps. Press the dough evenly into the bottom of your prepared pan. 2. Bake for 25-30 minutes. Cool completely and reduce oven temperature to 160 degrees. 3. To prepare the filling, first add the cream cheese to the bowl of your mixer with a paddle beater, and mix until creamy. Add the eggs and mix further until combined. 4. Over a double saucepan melt the caramel jerseys with 1tbsp of water. Let the caramel cool a little before stirring in the cream. Add the caramel to the cream cheese and mix until combined. Pour the mixture over the crust and cook for 50 minutes, or until the middle of the cheesecake is set. 5. Once cooked, remove from the oven and allow to cool completely. 6. In a double saucepan, melt the dark chocolate and pour over the top of the cooled cheesecake. Refrigerate until the chocolate is set.