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Chocolate, caramel and salty pretzels come together in this rich and creamy Sweet and Salty Cheesecake! If you love sweet and salty snacks, this cheesecake is for you.

This post is sponsored by Challenge Dairy. Thank you for continuing to support the brands that make My Baking Addiction possible.

A few months ago my mom and I drove way too far to pick up a couple of cheesecakes from a little farm that just so happens to also have a small cheesecake bakery.

And by small I mean, tiny. Just an adorable little roadside cabin with a couple of freezers that contain some seriously dreamy cheesecake.

They sell their cheesecakes in halves, so you can mix and match flavors to feed a few, or a crowd.

It’s first come, first serve, so you have to get there early if you want your favorite flavors.

If you know anything about me, I am rarely early for anything – even cheesecake, so we got there late morning and had about 4 flavors to choose from.

I had my heart set on key lime, but they were all sold out for the day, so we opted for triple berry and sweet and salty cheesecakes.

Since I love berries with cheesecake, I thought it would be the standout, but let me tell you, the sweet and salty cheesecake was incredible, so I just had to try the flavor combination in my own kitchen.

After testing this sweet and salty cheesecake recipe about 4 times, my cheesecake testers (Elle’s school staff) can vouch that I finally got it right!

SALTY AND SWEET: THE PERFECT COMBINATION

It feels like people either love or hate the combination of sweet and salty.

Me? I am all for it.

Whether I’m spooning my salted caramel sauce into my mouth or actually enjoying the combination in salted chocolate chunk cookies or salted dark chocolate granola like a normal person, once I start eating something that’s sweet and salty, I can’t stop.

So this Sweet and Salty Cheesecake? It’s got pretty much everything I need in one bite.

Creamy vanilla cheesecake on top of a chocolate crust? Check.

Rich salted caramel sauce? Check.

Crunchy, salty pretzels? Check, check, check.

MAKING SWEET AND SALTY CHEESECAKE

Making this Sweet and Salty Cheesecake starts with a chocolate cookie crust. Different from making a graham cracker crust, this one only needs Oreos and my favorite Challenge Dairy Unsalted Butter.

I’ve been working with Challenge Dairy for years because I truly believe in the quality of their products and use them daily in my home. From their butter to their cream cheese, we always have Challenge Dairy products in our fridge.

In fact, did you know that they are the only dairy product company that controls the whole process from milking the cows, to transporting milk, to packaging the product? How awesome is that?

So of course I reach for their butter when making any cheesecake crust. I also grab Challenge Dairy Cream Cheese when making the vanilla cheesecake filling for this recipe.

I mean, if we are going to go all out on this recipe, we may as well use the best products around, right?

The filling for this recipe is a pretty standard vanilla cheesecake. The real magic happens after the cheesecake is baked (check out my guide for how to bake cheesecake in a water bath for tips on getting that crack-free top) and cooled.

Just before serving, top the cheesecake with salted caramel sauce and chopped pretzels. I love using dark chocolate caramel pretzels for even more chocolate and caramel flavor, but you could use regular pretzels if that’s what you have on hand.

This Sweet and Salty Cheesecake is the ideal recipe for anyone who loves chocolate, caramel, and pretzels – especially combined!

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Sweet and Salty Cheesecake

Yield: 1 9-inch cheesecake

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour 5 minutes

Cooling Time: 8 hours

Total Time: 9 hours 25 minutes

Chocolate, caramel and salty pretzels come together in this rich and creamy Sweet and Salty Cheesecake! If you love sweet and salty snacks, this cheesecake is for you.

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Ingredients

For the Crust

• 24 whole Oreo cookies, crushed into fine crumbs
• 4 tablespoons Challenge Dairy Unsalted Butter, melted

For the Cheesecake

• 4 8-ounce packages Challenge Dairy Cream Cheese, room temperature
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 4 large eggs, room temperature
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• ⅓ cup heavy cream

For the Topping

• 1 cup homemade salted caramel sauce
• 1 6-ounce bag dark chocolate sea salt caramel pretzels (Snappers), coarsely chopped

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Separate a 9-inch springform pan into two pieces. Line the bottom of the pan with foil, fasten on the side piece, and spray the inside of the pan with nonstick cooking spray. Tightly wrap the outside bottom and sides of the springform pan with two layers of heavy duty foil. This step prevents leaks when using a water bath. I also take the extra step of placing the foil wrapped spring form pan inside an oven bag while baking, but this is optional.
2. Combine the crust ingredients in a medium bowl and stir until the ingredients are evenly distributed.
3. Spoon the crumbs into the prepared pan and press into the bottom of the pan to form a crust layer. Bake crust in preheated oven for 10 minutes. Remove pan to a cooling rack.
4. Bring a kettle of water to boil for the water bath.
5. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or in a large bowl with an electric mixer, beat cream cheese and sugar for about 2 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and mix for an additional 30 seconds. Add in eggs, one at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl after adding the second and fourth egg. After adding the final egg and scraping the sides of the bowl, mix again for 30 seconds. The mixture should be smooth and creamy. Add in the vanilla and heavy cream and mix for an additional 30 seconds.
6. Pour the cheesecake filling over the crust.
7. Place pan into a larger pan (I use a roasting pan) and pour boiling water into the larger pan until halfway up the sides of the cheesecake pan. Gently lay a piece of foil over the pan – do not tighten the foil as we’ll want to allow the air to be able to circulate.
8. Bake 55-65 minutes, the edges will appear to be set, but the center will still have some jiggle to it. At this point, turn off the oven, and leave the oven door cracked. Allow the cheesecake to rest in the cooling oven for one hour.
9. After one hour has passed, carefully remove the cheesecake from the water bath and place on a cooling rack to cool completely. Once the cake is completely cooled, place it into the refrigerator for at least 8 hours.
10. Just before serving, top with the homemade salted caramel sauce and pretzels.

Recommended Products

As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programs, I earn from qualifying purchases.

• 
  Pyrex 8-Piece Mixing Bowl Set
• 
  KitchenAid 9-Speed Digital Hand Mixer

Nutrition Information

Yield 12 Serving Size 1 slice
Amount Per Serving Calories 619Total Fat 43gSaturated Fat 24gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 12gCholesterol 157mgSodium 458mgCarbohydrates 52gFiber 2gSugar 40gProtein 9g

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