Salted Caramel Cheesecake Blondies

Salted Caramel Cheesecake Blondies are amazing. The perfect combination of cheesecake and blondie with a drizzle of caramel and a sprinkle of salt!

Salted Caramel Cheesecake Blondies are a match made in heaven and the result of a major sweet craving I was having this week.  I love salted caramel anything.  I’m pretty much addicted to Salt & Straw’s Sea Salt with Caramel Ribbon Ice Cream.  I get it every time!  No matter what.  If you are ever in Portland, you must visit Salt & Straw and try it!  Just be sure and call me so I can join you.

I do  like my sweets with a bit of salt.  Speaking of salted ice cream, have you tried McCormick’s Sea Salt Cream & Cookies.  So it doesn’t have the caramel but the salted vanilla ice cream is amazing!!

Enough about ice cream, I got a little sidetracked but I get pretty excited talking about ice cream.  But today I’m here to talk about these Salted Caramel Cheesecake Blondies because they are pretty amazing too.

I actually prefer a blondie over a brownie. Call me crazy.  And when you combine it with a layer of cheesecake and caramel it’s hard to resist.

You want to use a good quality caramel sauce.  I use the Mrs. Richardson’s Butterscotch Caramel.  I always have a jar on hand.  You also want a good quality salt to use on top.  I love Jacobson’s Salt, the fact that is made here in Oregon, right out of Nehalem Bay, doesn’t hurt.  They have an amazing selection of salts and I have loved every one I’ve used.  For the blondies I used their Flake Finishing Sea Salt.  I also love to sprinkle it on my steaks before I grill them and just about everything!

The only downside to this recipe is it only makes an 8 x 8  pan.  You are not going to want to share!

A couple of tricks I used:

• Line the 8 x 8 glass pan with parchment paper.  It makes it much easier to remove the bars.
• Be sure your cream cheese is at room temperature.  If I forget to take it out to soften, I put it in the microwave on the defrost setting for 30 seconds, rotate it and do 30 more sections or so to soften it up.
• Use a large flake salt (not the small stuff that goes in your salt shaker).  Jacobsons Flake Finishing Sea Salt is my favorite. You are going to find yourself putting it on everything.
• Chill the bars before cutting, it will make for an easier, cleaner cut.  If you have any leftovers keep them in the fridge.

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Salted Caramel Cheesecake Blondies

Course Dessert

Prep Time 30 minutes

Cook Time 50 minutes

Total Time 1 hour 20 minutes

Servings 16 -20 pieces

Author Leigh Anne Wilkes

Ingredients

• 1 8 oz. package of cream cheese room temperature
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 3 eggs
• 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 12 Tbsp butter melted
• 1 1/2 cups brown sugarn packed
• 3 Tbsp caramel sauce
• 1/2 tsp flaked finishing salt

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
• Spray a 9 x 9 or a 8 x 8 glass pan with cooking spray. Line with parchment paper and spray paper again.
• Beat together the cream cheese and granulated sugar at medium speed until creamy, about 2-3 minutes.
• Beat in one egg and 1 tsp vanilla. Set aside
• For the blondie batter, mix together the flour, baking powder and sea salt in a medium bowl.
• Mix together the melted butter and brown sugar in a large bowl, add in 2 eggs and 1 tsp vanilla. Mix until smooth and combined.
• Fold in the flour mixture with a saptual until just combined. Don't over mix.
• Spread half of the blondie mixture in the bottom of the prepared pan.
• Top with half of the cheesecake batter by the spoonful. Drizzle half of the caramel sauce in between the spoonfuls of cheesecake batter.
• Add remaining blondie batter, and carefully spread.
• Add spoonfuls of remaininbg cheesecake batter. Use the tip of a knife to gently swirl together to create a marbled effect.
• Bake for 50-55 minutes or until the top is set and a toothpick comes out clean.
• Let cool 10 minutes and lift out of pan using the parchment paper.
• Cool on a rack.
• Drizzle with remaining caramel sauce and sprinkle with flaked finishing salt.
• Chill in refrigerator until ready to serve. Cut into squares and serve.

Notes

Recipe adapted from Food Network Magazine.

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