Butterscotch Cheesecake Recipe (with Brown Sugar Meringue)

Real butterscotch cheesecake is a revelation. Rich and deeply flavorful and decorated with light and airy brown sugar meringue, this recipe is also gluten-free and the perfect celebration cake.

Course Cheesecake Recipes

Cuisine American

Prep Time 1

Cook Time 1 30

Additional Time 6

Total Time 8 30

Servings 8" cheesecake

Calories 739kcal

Author Jennifer Field

Equipment

Ingredients

For the Crust

½ cup gluten free rolled oats
¾ cup mixed salted nuts or 3/4 cup of your favorite toasted nut/s
pinch of salt I use Morton's kosher salt
3 Tablespoons dark brown sugar
3 Tablespoons cold butter

For the Butterscotch in the Batter

11 oz dark brown sugar 1 1/3 cups, packed
4 oz unsalted butter 1 stick
½ teaspoon kosher salt I use Morton's
6 oz heavy cream 3/4 cup

For the Cheesecake

all the butterscotch sauce from above
24 oz full fat cream cheese 3 8oz blocks, at room temperature
2 large eggs at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract or paste

For the Brown Sugar Meringue

3 large egg whites
6 oz dark brown sugar generous 3/4 cup, packed
heavy pinch of salt
½ teaspoon vanilla extract or paste

For the Butterscotch Sauce

3 oz unsalted butter 6 Tablespoons or 3/4 stick
4 oz dark brown sugar 1/2 cup, packed
¼ teaspoon kosher salt I use Morton's
6 oz heavy cream 3.4 cup

Instructions

To Make the Crust

Line the bottom of a springform pan with a parchment circle. Spray the sides with pan spray. Wrap the bottom of the pan in two thicknesses of heavy duty aluminum foil. Preheat your oven to 350F.
Put the rolled oats, nuts, salt, and dark brown sugar into the bowl of your food processor. Process in pulses until fairly finely ground, but don't overprocess and end up with mixed nut butter.
Cut the butter into pieces and scatter them into the bowl. Pulse to combine.
Press evenly into the bottom of your 8" springform pan.
Bake for 10-12 minutes and remove from oven. Allow to cool at least 30 minutes before adding the cheesecake batter.

To Make the Butterscotch for the Batter

In a medium, heavy-bottomed saucepan, heat the butter over medium heat until about halfway melted. Add the dark brown sugar and salt and stir well.
Continue to heat, stirring constantly, until the butter has all melted and the sugar has dissolved. Not all will dissolve because there isn't enough water in that small amount of butter to dissolve all the sugar. That's okay.
Keep cooking and stirring, raising the heat to medium-high, until the sugar starts to caramelize. You'll smell that distinctive "burned sugar" smell and probably see some smoke rising from the pot. Stir for another few seconds, then carefully pour in the cream and remove from the heat. NOTE: Watch it carefully. If you burn it, you'll have to start over, so err on the side of slightly underdone rather than burned.
Whisk well until as smooth as you can get it. Strain through a fine mesh strainer to catch any bits of sugar crystals.
Set aside to cool until warm, stirring occasionally to further cool it, about 30-45 minutes.

For the Cheesecake Batter

Preheat oven to 325F and put a large pot or kettle of water on to boil.
Put the softened blocks of cream cheese into a large bowl. Mix with your hand mixer until smooth.
Pour in about 1/3 of the butterscotch and blend until smooth, scraping bowl as necessary.
Add the rest in two more additions, mixing in between on medium speed.
Add the eggs, one at a time, and blend well, scraping bowl as needed.
Blend in the vanilla and scrape the bowl while folding the batter together really well.
Pour into the prepared pan and smooth the top.
Place the pan into a larger roasting pan and put into the oven. Pour in boiling water to come halfway up the sides of the springform pan (about 1 1/2").
Bake until the cheesecake is deep golden brown on top and is set completely around the edges with just a bit of a jiggle in the center. You're looking for an internal temperature of 165F. This will take anywhere from 1 to 1 1/2 hours, depending on your oven.
Turn off the oven and crack open the door. Let the cake cool in the water bath for about an hour. Then remove to cool completely on a cooling rack. Chill at least 6 hours.

To Make the Meringue

Put the three egg whites, the sugar, and the salt into your stand mixer bowl. Bring about 1" of water to a boil in a pot that it big enough to let the mixer bowl sit down inside it but not so big that the bottom of the bowl touches the water.
Keep the water at a high simmer, and heat the whites, whisking constantly, until the mixture has thinned out, is no longer grainy, and registers 180F on an instant read thermometer.
Take the bowl off the heat and attach it to your mixer.
Add the vanilla.
Whip until the meringue holds glossy, stiff peaks that bend over sexily. Scrape the bowl a couple of times while whipping to make sure all your whites whip up beautifully.
Spread the meringue on top of the chilled cake and lift up with your spatula to make dramatic swoops and curls all over the top. Stop when you like how it looks.
Use your kitchen torch to brown the meringue as much as you like. You can also do this under your broiler for 2-3 minutes, turning the cake at least once and watching it carefully so the meringue doesn't burn.

To Make the Butterscotch Sauce for Serving

Follow the butterscotch-making rules above using 3 oz butter, 4 oz dark brown sugar, 1/4 teaspoon of salt and adding 6 oz heavy cream once the sugar caramelizes. Stir over low heat until smooth.
Since this butterscotch has proportionally more butter than the first one, you should not have to deal with any sugar crystals. if you do end up with some, just strain them out.
Use a hot knife to slice the cake into 12 serving. The servings will look small, but this is a whole lot of cheesecake going on, so 1/12 of this cake should be sufficient as a serving. Serve with the sauce drizzled over the top, swooshed onto the plate, or however you like. Note the butterscotch will cool, into a soft candy that won't run, but it will be easy to eat and to cut with the side of your fork when you eat.

Video

Notes

To Make Butterscotch Cheesecake Bars, increase the crust amounts to 3/4 cup oats, 1 cup, mixed nuts, 4 T dark brown sugar, 4 T butter and a heavy pinch of salt. Press into the bottom of a 9 x 13" pan.

You will not have to adjust the amount of filling. The bars will not bake up as tall as the cheesecake, but that's fine since you're making bars. Rather than topping with meringue, consider topping them with a thin layer of butterscotch sauce or even swirling some of the "second butterscotch" into the batter before baking.

Nutirionals are based on 1/12 of the whole cake and are calculated for that and not for bars.

Nutrition