Helen's long love of baking has inspired her to create this delicious Bannoffee Cheesecake with ANNE’s Pretzels Recipe and lucky for us, she's shared it!
Here's a little bit more about Helen:
Helen is a Pastry Chef from Charlottetown, PEI. She has worked in the industry for the last decade after graduating from The Culinary Institute of Canada in 2012. Now, she’s running a wholesale bakery in Charlottetown called Helen’s Pastry Co. She specializes in cheesecakes, so what better recipe to share than a cheesecake including a delicious ANNE Chocolates product!
Now let's dive in!
Bannoffee Cheesecake with ANNE’s Chocolate Pretzels
Ingredients you'll need:
Crust:
- 24 Oreos, crushed into crumbs
- 1/4 cup melted butter
Cheesecake:
- 910g Cream Cheese
- 200g Brown Sugar
- 160g Sour Cream
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 1 banana
- 4 eggs
Topping:
- 2 bags of Prissy’s Chocolate Covered Pretzels
- 2 bananas
- Dulce de Leche
- Prepared 1 L sweetened whipped cream (whip cream with 200g icing sugar and a touch of vanilla extract)
1. Prepare the Dulce de Leche:
Remove the sticky label from a can of sweetened condensed milk. Place a dishcloth in the bottom of a large pot and place the can on top of the cloth. Fill the pot with water until it’s a couple of inches higher than the can of milk. You can then bring it to a boil, and simmer for 2-3 hours. MAKE SURE to add more water as it evaporates - you never want the water level to go below the top of the can of milk. After a few hours, remove the pot from the heat and then let it cool down until you can safely reach into the water using tongs
and remove the can of milk. Set it aside overnight. (It’s shelf stable until it is opened).
2. Prepare the Crust:
Line the bottom of a springform pan with parchment paper. Prepare the cheesecake crust by pouring the melted butter into the Oreo crumbs and mixing it well. Press the crust mixture firmly into the bottom of your springform pan. Place into the fridge while you prepare the cheesecake batter.
3. Prepare the Cheesecake Batter:
In a mixer, add cream cheese and brown sugar. Mix well for a few minutes, occasionally scraping the sides of the bowl. Blend the banana in a blender or mash it really well by hand. Add it to the cream cheese mixture. Then add the sour cream and vanilla, and finally the eggs.
4. Pouring the Crust: Scrape the sides of the bowl really well between each addition. Pour over your crust and bake in the preheated oven for approximately 1.5 hours at 275 degrees. Edges will likely have puffed up just a little bit and may have just begun to turn a light golden brown and the centre should spring back to the touch but will still be jiggly. If not using a convection oven, you can bake your cheesecake in a water bath. It can be cooled at room temp and then placed into the fridge overnight.
5. The next day, take your cold cheesecake pan and run a hot paring knife around the edges of the cake to loosen the sides. It should then be easy to pop open the sides of the pan. Place the cake carefully on a cake board or stand to prepare for decoration.
6. Open your can of condensed milk to see it is now a lovely caramel colour. This is the Dulce de Leche. You can scoop it into a bowl and microwave for just a few seconds to make it slightly more runny. (Optional: put it into a piping bag)
7. Slice up your remaining bananas into rounds.
8. Take 1 bag of the Prissy’s Chocolate Covered Pretzels and crush or cut them up into small peices.
9. Prepare your whipped cream by whipping the cream with a 1/4 cup of powdered sugar and add 3/4 of it to a piping bag with a metal tip.
10. Now you can decorate your cheesecake! Start by “icing” your cheesecake with a smooth layer of whipped cream. Alternate layers of drizzled Dulce de Leche, crushed Prissy’s Pretzels, whipped cream and bananas in a pattern/ design of your choice.
11. Top with piped whipped cream and garnish with the remaining whole Chocolate pretzels. Optional: add a light sprinkling of Maldon salt.
Enjoy!😋
