Pistachio Cheesecake with Caramel

I always wanted to taste a cheesecake with unusual ingredients. I wanted to taste a cheesecake with special flavor, different texture and unique in shape. I wanted to make something new but still called cheesecake. When you eat it you will know that you  are eating a cheesecake!

There are million and million of cheesecake recipes here and there with different flavors but I was so afraid to try  the baked type of cheesecakes, which are the most common and well known.  The reason is that,  each time I bake one the result will end with miserable failure. In fact, I’m not professional baker at all. The Saj bread and breakfast cake were exceptional success for me. Although I’m trying my best to master baking and I really love it, but that needs time to happen.

My sister Salwa is a professional dessert maker, when I saw her doing this recipe I told myself this is the time to learn something new! I perfer to see the recipe done in front of me before I decide to do it by myself. Becasue if it works for her then, it should work for me as well. Sometimes how ever you get a very detailed writing description on how to do the recipe and cook the dish it just doesn’t work! The only solution is to see it step by step, and that what I’m trying to do in this blog. I want to show you each step as I can and maintain the quality of the pictures in the same time.

I watched every single step starting from the crust to the end of pouring the caramel on top. I really wanted to make a successful baked cheesecake. And I did! I was so happy when I finished. At least I succeeded at the end, after all these failiers .. Now I can say that I can do baked cheesecake with courage and confidence.

The special thing about this recipe is that, it can be good idea as a gift. Easy to make even for who are not good in baking just like me!

I used very thin dish to make the cheesecake thin so I can make small square pieces from it. If you want, you can use high side dish’s to get the normal round shaped cheesecake.

recipe adapted from Arabic cooking book called Sahal w latheeth “easy and delicious”

Crust Ingredients

400g digestive biscuit the original, crumbs

100g butter

Cheesecake Ingredients

1 nestle cream 170g

1 whipping cream 250ml

100g cream cheese

1 nestle sweetened condensed milk

1 tablespoon flour

1 cup crushed pistachio

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Caramel Ingredients

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 tablespoon butter

1  nestle cream 170g

I doubled the caramel ingredients to cover the whole dish and get thicker layer. Which is enough for 11 inch (width) × 15 inch (hight) × 1 inch (thickness) cheesecake

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Mix the digestive biscuits with melted butter and start to press onto bottom making 1/3 inch layer. Chill till you finish the cheesecake. Using a food processor mix all the cheesecake ingredients until you get smooth well mixed mixture. Pour the mixture on top of the crust. Place the cheesecake into the oven  for 45 minutes. Take it out and keep it to cool down for 10 minutes.

Cook sugar in a sauce pan over low heat with butter. Stir slowly with a wooden spoon until melted with a golden color. Add the remaining nestle cream while stirring. When the whole mixture gains one color and all the cream melts. Take it off and pour the caramel on top of the cheesecake. Using a spoon try to make the surface flat as possible. Place in the refrigerator for 1 to 2 hours. Take it out, using a knife start to cut it into small equal squares. Place it into the serving dish with some decoration.

enjoy with love,

Maryam