Dulce De Leche Cheesecake

I made this cheesecake specially for Carlos as he is crazy over this sinful sweet. Dulce de leche is very sweet caramel flavored, thick gooey custard that is very popular among people from Latin America. It is made by blending milk, sugar, and vanilla and cook for hours until it becomes thick, smooth and brown in color. Another way of cooking dulce de leche is to boil the whole can of sweet condense milk for at least 6 hours. It can be eaten alone or as a topping for waffles, flan, bread or ice cream. It is also used a lot in cakes and other pastries. You can get it from any Latin American groceries store or some supermarket. I bought mine from Amazon online but recently I found it at Wegman’s supermarket at the international section.

Carlos told me a funny story about his love of Dulce De Leche. When he first moved here from Argentina he and his housemate just crave of this sweet and they decided to make some. They bought 4 cans of sweet condense milk and a big huge pot. Start boiling it and after an hour they completely forgotten about it and went out for a movie. When they came home the downstairs neighbor told them that he heard some loud bang like something exploded coming from their unit. They still have no clue what was happening. When the open the door it was like a scene coming out of a horror movie. The 4 cans of dulce de leche exploded and the gooey brown stuff was all over the apartment from the ceiling to the wall and furniture. They only realized that they had forgotten about the boiling cans and with the intense heat from the dry up pot it creates gas inside the cans and it exploded. It took them 1 whole week to clean up and give a new coat of paint to the apartment. After that they stay away from Dulce De Leche for a long time. I laugh so hard when he told me the story.

So if you want to cook your own dulce de leche do be careful. Keep adding water to the boiling pot and do no open the can right after you take it out from the pot. Let it cool down for a few hours before opening the can or else it will explode on you and you might need to go to emergency room because of that.

Ingredients :

Base :
12 pcs of graham crackers
5 tbsp of melted butter

Filling :
250 grm of low fat cream cheese
4 tbsp of sour cream
4 tbsp of sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp of vanilla
4 tbsp of light cream

some dulce de leche

1) Prepare a spring form pan and greased it with some butter. Pre-heat oven to 325 degree F.
2) Blend the graham crackers finely in a food processor and add in melted butter. Press firmly to the baking pan and set aside.
3) Put all the filling ingredients in a food processor and blend until smooth. Pour the filling on top of the crust.
4) Drizzle some dulce de leche over the cheesecake filling then use a skewer to swirl the leceh around.
5) Bake in the oven for 50-60 minutes or until the center of the filling set.
6) Cool complete and drizzle more dulce de leche on the top before serving.

Note : If dulce de leche is too thick warm it up in the microwave oven until it soft enough to drizzle.

Wishing all mother's A Happy Mother's Day!!