Salted Caramel Cheesecakes

By dyannucci

Hands-on time: 40 min. Total time: 4 hr. 40 min.
There's something so special about your own individual dessert. For the biggest impact, sprinkle on a beautiful flake salt at the end; if you don't have that, sea salt will work, too.

CALORIES 254; FAT 12.7g (sat 5.5g. mono d.Sq, poly1.1g); PROTEIN 5.7g; CARB 30.1g; FIBER 0.3g; CHOL 64mg; IRON 0.6mg; SODIUM 256mg; CALC 89mg

Ingredients

• 30 vanilla wafers
• 2 tablespoons canola oil
• Cooking spray
• 2/3 cup packed light brown sugar
• 2/3 cup plain fat-free Greek yogurt
• 12 ounces 1/3-less-fat cream cheese, softened
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/8 teaspoon table salt
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 2 tablespoons water
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1/2 cup evaporated milk
• 3/8 teaspoon flake salt

Preparation

Step 1

1.Preheat oven to 300°.

2.Place cookies in a food processor; process until finely ground crumbs measure about 1 cup. Add oil; pulse to combine. Coat a 12-cup muffin tin well with cooking spray. Spoon about 1 packed tablespoon crumb mixture into each muffin cup; press crumbs firmly into bottom. Bake at 300° for 7 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove from oven; cool.

3. Wipe food processor clean. Place brown sugar, yogurt, and cream cheese in processor; process until smooth. Add vanilla, table salt, and eggs; process until smooth. Spoon about 3 tablespoons batter into each-muffin cup. Bake at 300° for 18 minutes or until centers of cheesecakes barely move when pan is touched. Remove pan from oven; cool on a wire rack to room temperature. Cover pan; refrigerate cheesecakes 3 hours or until well chilled.

4. Run a thin knife around outside edge of each cheesecake. Carefully remove cheesecakes from pan; place on a platter. Chill cheesecakes until ready to serve


5. Combine granulated sugar and 2 tablespoons water in a medium, heavy saucepan over medium-high heat; cook until sugar dissolves, stirring gently as needed to dissolve sugar evenly (about 3 minutes). Continue cooking 12 minutes or until the color of light brown sugar (do not stir). Remove from heat; carefully stir in butter and milk (caramelized sugar will harden and stick to spoon). Place pan over medium-high heat until caramelized sugar melts. Briug to a boil; cook 1 minute. Remove pan from heat; cool caramel to room temperature. Cover and chillI hour or until slightly thickened. Spoon about 1 tablespoon caramel over each cheesecake. Sprinkle cheesecakes evenly with flake salt. SERVES 12 (serving size: 1 cheesecake)