No Bake Dulce De Leche Cheesecake | Greedy Gourmet

Question 1

What is dulce de leche?

Accepted Answer

Also known as caramelized milk, it’s a sweet thick liquid that’s made by heating sugar and milk for several hours. The resulting liquid takes on a saucy consistency that takes on a rich golden brown color and a wonderfully sweet, caramel taste.

Question 2

Where does dulce de leche come from?

Accepted Answer

It originates from Latin America. Like many great recipes, dulce de leche is said to have been discovered by accident.

The story goes that, in early 19th century Argentina, a maid was busy heating a milk and sugar concoction for her boss, a famous general. The scatterbrained maid completely forgot about the pan of simmering milk.

When she returned to the stove, the milk had taken on a deep brown color. Just before she threw away the seemingly spoiled milk, the maid, who was as curious as she was forgetful, decided to have a little taste.

She was blown away.

Just a few years later, the maid’s boss was using her new found secret sauce to make peace deals with his enemies. Today, two centuries later, dulce de leche is a favorite sweet treat for millions of people around the world.

Question 3

How do you make dulce de leche?

Accepted Answer

It’s simple! It's normally made from 3-4 ingredients: milk, sugar, vanilla paste and sometimes baking soda.

While it doesn’t take a whole lot of effort, making it takes patience. This is because the mixture needs to be stirred constantly so that the milk and sugar don’t burn.

Some people make homemade dulce de leche by boiling an unopened tin of condensed milk in a pressure cooker. This is normally done in countries where ready made dulce de leche isn’t available.

Question 4

How is dulce de leche used?

Accepted Answer

While it can be enjoyed on its own, dulce de leche is normally used as an ingredient in sweet desserts. Sweet-toothed Spanish and Latin American bakers often use it to make flan, waffles or sweet cookies.

It can also be used to make ice cream and, of course, a no bake dulce de leche cheesecake!

Question 5

What’s the best type of cream cheese to use?

Accepted Answer

When making a no bake dulce de leche cheesecake, it’s full fat cream cheese all the way!

Question 6

How do I make a dulce de leche cheesecake biscuit base?

Accepted Answer

While lots of people call for graham crackers for a no bake dulce de leche cheesecake base, for me digestive biscuits are the way to go. They just have a better all round taste and create a firmer base.

Added to the digestives, pretzels bring a delicious saltiness that works so well with the creamy, caramel flavors throughout the cheesecake.

The best way to get fine crumbs for your biscuit base is to use a food processor. If you don’t have a food processor, you can place the crackers and pretzels into a sealed plastic bag and bash them up with a rolling pin.

When crushing up your biscuits and pretzels, you can leave chunky bits of pretzel to give it some texture.

Question 7

How do you decorate a dulce de leche cheesecake?

Accepted Answer

A seriously impressive cheesecake deserves a seriously impressive topping. You’ll mix milk and dulce de leche together, before adding the popcorn. Then, you can scatter the popcorn on top of your no bake dulce de leche cheesecake, along with a few drizzles of dulce de leche.

If you want to bring some crunch to the top, scatter some crushed nuts – pecans or almonds would work wonders. You could also pipe on some whipped cream on top for extra decadence.

Description

Ingredients

Cheesecake Crust

Cheesecake filling

Decoration

Instructions