My recent obsession infatuation admiration for Chef Yotam Ottolenghi of London is no secret.
After buying his cookbook “Plenty” and rec-creating some of his incredibly layered dishes, who wouldn’t fall hard and fast for the Chef that prepares food exactly how you want to eat it??
Since this week is #HGEATS Going Nuts and since we needed a good Chef Stalking post and since Ottolenghi is so stalkable …
here you have it my darlings …
the recipe for Caramel Macadamia Cheesecake by Chef Yotam Ottolenghi.
GO NUTS. I’m going to.
Caramel Macadamia Cheesecake by Yotam Ottolenghi
Author: Ottolenghi via The Hungry Goddess
Recipe type: Dessert
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 4-6
Simply DECADENT!
Ingredients
- cheesecake:
- 1lb 5oz/600g cream cheese, at room temperature
- ½ cup + 2 teaspoons/120g caster or superfine sugar (or vanilla sugar and leave out the vanilla pod)
- ⅔ vanilla pod
- 4 organic or free range eggs
- ¼ cup/60ml sour cream
- confectioners’ sugar, for dusting
- crust:
- 6oz/160g dry biscuits (half gingersnaps and half honey grahams work)
- 3 tablespoons/40g unsalted butter, melted
- nut brittle:
- 1 cup/150g salted macadamia nuts
- ⅓ cup + 1 tablespoon/90g caster or superfine sugar
- caramel sauce:
- 5 tablespoons/65g unsalted butter
- ⅔ cup + 1 tablespoon/160g caster or superfine sugar
- ½ cup/100ml whipping or heavy cream
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 285 degrees F/140 degrees C. (325 degrees F). Grease an 8-inch springform pan and line the sides and bottom with parchment paper. Toast the nuts on a baking sheet for about 15 minutes until they are golden. Remove and set aside.
- Crust:
- In the bowl of a food processor, add the cookies/graham crackers and pulse until you have fine, even crumbs. Add the melted butter and mix well. Pat into bottom of the prepared cake tin and slightly up the sides.
- Cake:
- To a large mixing bowl add the softened cream cheese and sugar, beat with a mixer until creamy. Split the vanilla pod in half length-ways and scrape out the seeds into the bowl. Add the eggs and sour cream gradually and beat until smooth and creamy. Alternatively, you can use a hand whisk and beat everything by hand. Pour mixture into the crust. Place on a baking sheet and bake about 60 minutes or until set in middle, a skewer in center should come out with some wet crumbs attached. Cool to room temperature. Remove the sides and transfer the cake onto a plate, you can leave the bottom on if you like. Chill the cake for at least two hours.
- Nut Brittle:
- Line a baking tray with parchment. Place the sugar in a large saucepan with a very thick bottom. Make sure the sugar is in a very thin layer not more than 0.1?/3mm, use a large pan. Heat the sugar over medium-low heat until it turns a golden brown color. Do not stir at any time. If you see little bits of undissolved sugar that’s O.K. Working quickly but carefully, add the nuts and stir with a wooden spoon until they are evenly coated. Pour the coated nuts onto the lined baking tray and allow to cool. When cooled, break or cut the brittle into small bits, leaving it chunky.
- Caramel Sauce:
- Stir the butter and sugar in a large, heavy bottomed saucepan, constantly over medium heat. Keep stirring until it becomes a dark and smooth caramel. Once the desired color is reached, carefully add the cream, (it will bubble up and steam) stirring vigorously all the time. Remove from heat and set aside to cool.
- Once the cake has chilled and before serving, dust the sides of the cake with the icing sugar. Top cake with caramel sauce letting it drizzle down the sides. Scatter the macadamia nut brittle all over the top of the cake.
