kit kat chunky caramel cheesecake

As it often happens, whilst I'm waiting for one thing to bake, I then get the idea to bake something else. And well, most of the time my kitchen is accommodating and has everything I need so it's a bit of a no-brainer, I end up staying in the kitchen cooking up a storm. My last post mentioned a generous gift of Kit Kat bars that I received and why not use a few more Kit Kats whilst I'm at it?! This recipe will require three Kit Kat Chunky caramel bars for those interested (though nothing saying that you can't use more if you want) but I do think three is enough to make a mighty good cheesecake.

I do feel rather guilty whenever I eat a bar of these; so chopping them up and eating it sparingly in a cheesecake makes me feel slightly less guilty. There's no logic there but you get the gist of how my brain works.

I've tried making cheesecake base from scratch but no matter how many times I've tried, I find plain graham crackers/digestive biscuits always work a treat. It's stress relieving too - place 175g digestive biscuits in a plastic bag and crush them thoroughly with a rolling pin (be careful though - the bag can break!). Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.

Pour the crushed biscuits into a lined springform baking tin. Pour over 75g melted unsalted butter, mix and pat down firmly into the base of the tin. Chill in the fridge whilst you make the cheesecake filling.

A stand mixer comes in really handy at this point (this is my baby the boy gifted me for Christmas and I love it!) Beat together 450g softened cream cheese, 150g caster sugar, 1 tsp vanilla extract and 4 eggs until the mixture is smooth.

 Time to chop up those Chunky bars (and maybe eat a little bit whilst you're at it).

I lined the biscuit base with about 2/3 of the chopped Kit Kats, poured over the cream cheese mixture and then sprinkled the top with the remaining 1/3 chopped Kit Kats.

 Bake for 50 minutes until the top is golden and there is only a slight wobble left to the cheesecake. Allow to cool in the tin for 10 minutes before running a knife around the edge and loosening it from the tin.

 And what are you waiting for? Dig in!

I think I might be slightly sugar overloaded on Kit Kats but I'll just say that this cheesecake is divine - the texture of the cheesecake light and the Kit Kats give the cheesecake great flavour and texture. I wish someone had told me earlier that I could bake with Kit Kats! Ah well, not too late now, still a few more Kit Kat bars on the kitchen bench for me to experiment with.