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Method

1) Line a 22 cm spring form tin with baking parchment paper.
2) Pre- heat the oven to 200 C / 400 F/ Gas mark 6.
3) Put the digestive biscuits into a food processor and pour in the melted margarine. Press on to the bottom and 3 cm up the sides of the prepared tin.
4) Bake for 12 -15 minutes or until set. Remove and set aside.
5) Using an electric mixer, whisk the cream cheese, brown sugar, vanilla essence, flour and dulce de leche together until smooth and well blended. Add the eggs one at a time and whisk briefly to combine.
6) Pour this mixture over the cooked biscuit base
7) Reduce the oven temperature to 160 C/ 325 F. Bake for 1 hour or until set.
8) Turn the oven off but leave in the oven to cool.
9) Remove and refrigerate 6 hours or overnight.
10) Unclasp or remove the cake from the tin and place onto a serving plate.
11) To make the toffee sauce, melt the sugar with 3 tablespoons of water in a small saucepan until the sugar has dissolved. Increase the heat and cook without stirring until it starts to caramelise and the sugar becomes golden brown. Remove from the heat, add the butter, pinch of salt then the cream stirring continuously until well blended. Set aside and cool the caramel has cooled ~ about 15 minutes.
12) Pour the toffee sauce onto the cheese cake and spread evenly.
13) To cut run the knife under hot water, wipe it dry and cut the cake into slices.

To serve the stylish way: Dust the plate with cocoa powder

cook: Dessert

Vanilla and Dulce De Leche Cheese Cake

You really don’t need any reason to make a cheese cake for Chanukah. However there is a specific connection between cheese and the festival of lights! At this time we recall the brave heroine, Judith who helped save her people by slaying the vicious Greek general, Holofernes, (164 B.C.E.) with the help of a little cheese and alcohol ~ hence the cheese cake with rum!

Holofernes had brought the Jews of Bethulia to the brink of death by seizing the town's only spring of water. The people grew desperate as they began to weaken from thirst. The beautiful Judith stepped forward and asked to see Holofernes. Taken by Judith's loveliness and charm, Holofernes invited her to an evening banquet intending to seduce her. Judith brought a large wineskin to share with him. Charmingly, she plied him with salty cheeses, then as he grew more and more thirsty, offered him great quantities of wine to slake his thirst.

When Holofernes fell into a drunken stupor, Yehudis took his sword and cut off his head. When Holofernes' soldiers found his body, they were so demoralized that they fled in panic. The town of Bethulia was saved, along with the rest of Israel.

This vanilla and dulce de leche (toffee) cheese cake certainly has the oow and wow factor. Make it when you have a lot of guests as it is amazingly delicious but quite rich and does serve 12 people. However once completely cool you can freeze it. Dulce de leche (the name means "sweet milk" Wink

is a traditional dairy product from Argentina. It is used as a topping for ice cream or fresh fruit, like bananas, as a filling for cakes like this cheese cake. Thick and intensely flavoured, it should be slightly warmed to make it pourable.

Preparation Time: 30 minutes plus 6 hours 15 minutes cooling
Cooking Time: 1 hour 20 minutes
Serves: 10 -12 people

Ingredients:

For The Base
225g digestive biscuits
125g melted margarine

Filling
675g Full Fat Cream cheese
200g light brown muscavado sugar
2 tablespoons vanilla essence
50g plain flour
175ml dulce de leche
2 eggs

Toffee Sauce
120g caster sugar
120g butter
Pinch of salt
100ml double cream

Tagged in: Ashkenazi, Shabbat, Shavuot, Family Dining, Dinner Party, Family Cooking

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please call Denise on 01923 836 456 or email denise@jewishcookery.com.

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