Cheesecakes are baked custards -— a relatively simple balance of soft cheese, eggs, sugar, and a few flavorings –- typically atop a cookie or pastry base.
There are four basic types of cheesecake, the variety and even brand of cheese affecting the texture and taste: Curd, such as farmer, pot, or cottage cheese; ricotta (Italian cheesecake); quark (German cheesecake); and cream cheese (New York cheesecake). In addition, there is an unbaked chiffon-like version (French cheesecake).
The ancient Greeks, by the fifth century BC, made the earliest known rudimentary cheesecakes (plakous meaning “flat mass”), consisting of patties of fresh cheese pounded smooth with flour and honey and cooked on an earthenware griddle. In late medieval Europe, cheesecake remerged in tart form with a pastry base. The first English cookbook, The Forme of Cury (c. 1390), consisting of a collection of medieval English recipes compiled by the cooks of King Richard II, included two cheese tarts: “Sambocade,” containing curd cheese, egg whites, rosewater, and elder flowers, and “Tart de Bry” (the word bry was derived from Old Norman for “pounded,” referring to the method of preparing the cheese) made with ruayn (a semi-soft autumn cows’ cheese), egg yolks, and ground ginger. For the ensuing five centuries, almost every subsequent English cookbook contained at least one cheesecake recipe.
Here is a recipe for salted caramel cheesecake.
Ingredients：
Base:
2 cups Walkers Shortbread crumbs (about 1 ½ packs Pure Shortbread Rounds) Use the gluten free Walkers shortbread cookies to make delicious gluten free dessert
1 stick unsalted butter (melted)
5 tbs Muscovado sugar or brown sugar
Filling:
48 oz cream cheese
1 ½ cups granulated sugar
½ cup sour cream
8 eggs
¾ cup cream
3 tbs vanilla paste
Caramel Sauce:
4 ounces granulated sugar
2 fluid ounces water
7 fluid ounces heavy cream
2 ounces unsalted butter
pinch of Maldon sea salt ( or any other good sea salt)
Method：
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Line the outside of a 10 inch spring form pan with aluminum foil.
3. Remove the cream cheese from the refrigerator to soften.
4. Place the Walkers shortbread into a food processor to make fine crumbs.
5. Add the crumbs and sugar to the melted butter and stir until combined.
6. Press into the bottom of the spring form pan.
7. Place the spring form pan onto a deep baking pan.
8. In a mixing bowl beat the cream cheese until soft and add the sugar, vanilla paste and sour cream.
9. Blend together and add the eggs followed by the heavy cream.
10. Pour the mixture carefully over the top of the crumbs.
11. Bake in the center of the oven for about 45 minutes - 1 hour – until sides of cheesecake are firm but center is still soft.
12. Refrigerate overnight.
13. Prepare the caramel sauce by dissolving the sugar in the water in a heavy based pan and bringing it to a boil. Cook until it turns dark caramel.
14.Carefully stir half of the cream, remove from the heat and stir in the remaining cream, butter and salt to form a smooth sauce.
15.Allow the caramel to cool before pouring over the cheesecake in front of your guests.
