Johanna posted about her cheesecake birthday cake the other day. You know I've never made a real cheesecake before? I've made cheesy ones (no pun intended) with Tastefully Simple add-ins that are no bake, that's it.
I really, really like cheesecake. I mean, I *really* like cheesecake. If there is anything in the world to waste calories on, cheesecake and chocolate are the ones that first come to mind. I figure if I'm going to consume empty calories I might as well do it right. Hearing that Johanna was making her own cheesecake made me head to the pantry to see if I had the materials.
I had everything but dulce de leche. Do you even know what dulce de leche is? I have a vague notion in my head that it's something like caramel so I was tempted to just use some ice cream topper we had, but as I'm becoming a real cook (hahahahahahahahaha) I decided to try to find out how to make my own.
Ready? Go to your pantry and get out a can of sweetened condensed milk. Now put it in a big pot. Fill your pot with water until it totally covers the can of sweetened condensed milk. Put this on the stove and bring to a boil. Turn the temp down and let the can sit in slow boiling water for about 2 hours. The only thing is to make sure that the can never gets uncovered because I'm told it could explode...and that would be bad, so add warm water as needed. Let the can come to room temperature before opening and wah-lah, dulce de leche.
I don't have a mixer so I thought I wouldn't be able to make a cheesecake but I do have a food processor and that worked beautifully!
My dulce de leche cheesecake is now in the oven. Here's hoping for no cracks so that Del will be impressed with my wizardry in the kitchen.
Thanks for the inspiration, Johanna!
12 comments:
Oh, the picture of that can brought back one of my funniest childhood memories. When my mom cooked with sweetened condensed milk, which we always just called "Eagle Brand," she would give me the lid of the can to (carefully) lick. I LOVED that stuff! One day when she was at work I decided that I would open a can and just eat the whole thing and discreetly dispose of the evidence so she wouldn't know. I got a big spoon and sat down, convinced I was about to be in heaven. Well I got about halfway down that can before I was sick as a dog...and it was years before I could look at an Eagle Brand can without being nauseated. It was one of those lessons you just never forget :-)
Oh my! Just thinking about consuming that much sugar in one sitting makes me want to be sick. Ugh. That's a very funny story, thanks for sharing!
Did you use splenda or did you substitute sugar? I cannot wait to see how you like it. I thought it was really good. Did you follow the Alton Brown method? I read it, but I thought it looked like a LOT of work! I decided my cracks weren't so bad!
Oh, by the way, I bought a can of dulce de leche, and it looked just like the one you took a picture of!
I am impressed, Jo! I can't wait to hear how it turned out!
I used sugar because...I'm evil. No because I'm an alien. No, because...since Splenda is made from sugar I thought sugar would do in a pinch.
lol... you never cease to amaze me in the kitchen you too. If it wasn't for the fact that I don't like Cheesecake, or the fact that I seem to get sick on so much stuff right now, it would look even better.
Oh my gosh, it is sssooooooooooo good!!! I think I'll have some for breakfast. ;)
Did it crack? Did you use Alton's method? Come on! Details, woman!! :)
that's so amazing! i want to try it but i'm too scared about the exploding can. you should demonstrate for me when i visit in june :) so where are the pictures?
By the way, I should have known that Del wouldn't care two bits about there being no cracks in my cheesecake. He did say that it's taste was "really good" and couldn't stop eating it, which is pretty good, eh?
My last comment is adjusted to say that Del, although he still doesn't care about the crack-less-ness of the cheesecake, has declared it "the best cheesecake I've ever had...anywhere." How's that? Good job, Johanna.
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