No-Bake Snickers Cheesecake

Cooking method

1. Step 1:

   

   How do you make a no-bake Snickers cheesecake? Gather the ingredients for the base. Chocolate shortbread cookies work well. If all you have are plain ones, just add more cocoa. Use the best butter you can find — natural, with no vegetable fats.

2. Step 2:

   

   Crush the cookies however is easiest — a blender attachment, a meat grinder, or, like I did, a rolling pin. Just put the cookies in a bag and bash them well with the pin. They should turn into an even crumb. Pour them into a bowl and add the cocoa powder. Mix.

3. Step 3:

   

   Melt the butter any way you like. I used the microwave. See the end of the recipe for how to do it right, plus other methods.

4. Step 4:

   

   Pour the butter into the cookie crumbs. Stir until you get an even mixture, like wet sand. Press it into your mold. I used a 6-inch (16 cm) ring with a foil base. The wider the mold, the shorter the cheesecake. Pack the crumbs down with a glass, forming a bottom and sides. If your mold is wider, you can skip the sides, since there'll be less crumb to go around. Refrigerate the base to set.

5. Step 5:

   

   While the base sets, make the filling. Gather its ingredients. Any soft cream cheese works (the spreadable tub kind). You can make your own dulce de leche or use store-bought. Choose a good, trusted brand with no vegetable fats or additives — just two ingredients, milk and sugar. Its quality will determine the flavor and quality of the finished cheesecake.

6. Step 6:

   

   Bloom the gelatin in a little cold water. I used a quick-set kind, but any will do — only the soaking time differs by type.

7. Step 7:

   

   Put the dulce de leche in a bowl and beat it with a mixer until fluffy.

8. Step 8:

   

   Add the cream cheese to the whipped dulce de leche. Beat them together until smooth. Room-temperature cheese mixes in more easily and quickly.

9. Step 9:

   

   Melt the bloomed gelatin to a liquid (microwave or stovetop). Add it to the cheese mixture.

10. Step 10:

    

    Stir.

11. Step 11:

    

    Take the mold with the base out of the fridge. Spoon in the filling and smooth the top. Mine came out fairly thick because the dulce de leche was very dense, but that didn't affect the flavor. Refrigerate the cheesecake for 4 hours — it'll set completely in that time.

12. Step 12:

    

    A couple of hours in, start the caramel. Gather its ingredients. Use the richest cream you can — 33-35%. The butter should be natural and good quality too, no substitutes. Roasted peanuts are best. Mine were salted, so I didn't add salt to the caramel.

13. Step 13:

    

    How do you make the caramel? Bloom the gelatin. Pour the sugar into a heavy-bottomed saucepan. Set it over high heat. Swirling the pan gently, wait for the sugar to melt. Don't stir — just rotate the pan. The sugar should turn amber, no darker, or it'll be burnt. At the same time, heat the cream almost to a boil.

14. Step 14:

    

    As soon as the sugar turns amber, take it off the heat and pour in the cream in batches. Be careful — the mixture will bubble up vigorously. Stir. Return it to the heat.

15. Step 15:

    

    Cook the caramel over low heat, stirring constantly. Any lumps at first are fine — they'll dissolve as it cooks. When the caramel is smooth, add the butter. Cook until it's fully melted in. Turn off the heat.

16. Step 16:

    

    Add the bloomed gelatin. No need to melt it — it'll dissolve in the hot caramel. If your peanuts aren't salted, add a pinch of salt. Stir and let the caramel cool.

17. Step 17:

    

    Once it's warm, stir in the peanuts. If using raw nuts, toast them first in a dry skillet and rub off the skins. Mix.

18. Step 18:

    

    Take the cheesecake out of the fridge. Pour the peanut caramel over the top and smooth it out. Chill for another couple of hours.

19. Step 19:

    

    Release the finished cheesecake from the mold by running a sharp knife between the cake and the ring. I had no trouble — it set perfectly. Serve cut into portions. Enjoy!