Salted Caramel & Pretzel Cheesecake

It’s funny how this social isolation business can mess with your brain. I almost went mad last weekend. I just could not stand another minute with my beloved family! The only solution was to lose myself in a new recipe. Salted Caramel & Pretzel Cheesecake, no less. Somehow the focus was like meditation, and within a couple of hours, my mind was less frayed and ready to re-engage.

Salted Caramel & Pretzel CheesecakeSalted Caramel & Pretzel CheesecakeSalted Caramel & Pretzel Cheesecake

I hope it helps you somehow, too.

Salted Caramel & Pretzel CheesecakeSalted Caramel & Pretzel Cheesecake

Salted Caramel & Pretzel Cheesecake
A dairy-free cheesecake, with all the trimmings!

Serves 8

Ingredients
Base
200 g salted pretzels, roughly crushed
200 g plain sweet biscuits
150 g dairy-free margarine, melted, cooled

Cheesecake filling
1 cup raw cashews, softened by soaking overnight or by boiling for 10 min
400 ml soy milk
1 tsp agar agar
2/3 cup brown sugar
¼ tsp apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla paste
Juice of one lemon
255 g (9 oz) pkt vegan Cream Sheese

Vegan caramel sauce
320 g coconut condensed milk
5 tbsp golden syrup
2 tbsp coconut oil
Pinch of salt

Crumble
90 g dairy-free margarine
70 g caster sugar
125 g plain flour
1 tsp van extract
50 g chopped pecans

Method
Whiz pretzels and biscuits in a food processer, then add melted margarine. Press into a 20 cm diameter, 5 cm deep spring form pan. Press it so it comes up the sides about an inch. Chill until needed.

THEN – the guts:
Soften a cup of cashews, either by soaking overnight or by boiling for ten minutes, set aside.
In a medium saucepan, add 400 ml of Bonsoy, a teaspoon of agar agar and 2/3 cup of brown sugar. Whisk and bring to boil. Then turn heat right down.

Blitz the cashews until smooth. If they are too dry to blitz add some of the saucepan liquid. Add cream cheese, and whiz until very smooth. Once saucepan liquid has stopped bubbling and carrying on, add the cashew mix to the saucepan mix, then:

Add 1/4 teaspoon apple cider vinegar, a big teaspoon of real vanilla paste, and the juice of one lemon. Whisk all that until smooth, pour on top of crust and refrigerate until set.

To make caramel sauce, place the condensed coconut milk, syrup, coconut oil and salt into a small pan and bring to the boil, stirring continuously. Lower the heat and simmer for ten minutes, stirring all the time. The caramel will change to a rich golden colour. Remove from heat and allow to cool. (But not for too long, or it will set quite hard, and you won’t be able to pour it).

For the crumble, preheat oven to 180C (350F). line a baking tray with baking paper. Place butter, sugar, flour and vanilla in the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment. Beat gently for 1-2 minutes or until a smooth dough. Add pecans and ½ tsp salt flakes and beat to combine. Break into 5 cm pieces, place on lined tray and bake for 20 min or until golden. Remove from oven and cool completely. Crumble into smaller pieces.

Spread caramel over cheesecake and scatter with crumble, to serve.

Notes
Based on recipe by Delicious magazine, September 2019

With grateful thanks to Kylie Freeman and Tracey Sharman

Did you make this recipe?
Please let me know how it turned out for you! Leave a comment below and share a picture on Instagram with the hashtag #sweet_tucker

3 thoughts on “Salted Caramel & Pretzel Cheesecake {vegan, GF}”

    1. Hi Elizabeth, it’s a brand of vegan cream cheese. If you don’t have issues with dairy, you could replace with regular cream cheese.

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