Yes, you read that correctly: smoked cheesecake. We do this by cooking the cheesecake indirectly on the barbecue at a low temperature for two hours. On the forehand we threw wood chips on the coals.
Isn’t that crazy? No definitely is not! This provides a delicious smoky flavour to the cheesecake. And that smoky flavour matches very well with the homemade caramel sauce.
In general, you can vary any way you want with a cheesecake. We made the pie crust of bastogne biscuits. We kept the filling fairly cheesecake-basic with vanilla sugar and lemon juice and lemon zest. We made the caramel sauce ourselves. See instructions below for the entire recipe.
Smoked vanilla and lemon cheesecake with caramel sauce
Smoked cheesecake from the barbecue with a pie crust of bastogne biscuits. Topped with a homemade caramel sauce.
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Ingredients
The pie crust
- 175 gr bastogne biscuits
- 3 tbsp brown sugar light
- 8 tbsp butter unsalted
- butter to grease the spring form
Filling
- 600 gr cream cheese
- 120 gr brown sugar light
- 2 tsp vanilla sugar
- 2 tbsp butter unsalted
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 2 tsp lemon zest grated
- 5 eggs
Caramel sauce
- 250 gr sugar
- 1 litre water
- 200 ml whipped cream
- 1 tsp vanilla sugar
Other
- handful wood chips hickory (or to your own taste)
Instructions
- Prepare the barbecue for indirect grilling. To do this, maintain a working temperature of 110 °C.
- Put a handful of wood chips in a container of water and let it soak for 10 minutes. Then let it drain.
Prepare the pie crust
- Preheat the oven to 200 °C.
- Break the bastogne biscuits and mix them with the brown sugar in a food processor. Then put it in a bowl with the melted butter and mix everything with a mixer into a dough.
- Grease the spring form with melted butter and wrap the sides with aluminium foil.
- Spread the dough evenly on the bottom and press gently. Push it up a bit with your fingers against the side.
- Place the spring form in the oven and bake for 5 minutes. Then remove from the oven and let it cool.
Prepare the filling
- Place all ingredients for the filling, except the eggs, in a bowl and blend in a food processor until it is smooth. Then add the eggs one by one. Always wait with the next egg until the mixture is smooth again.
- Spread the filling on top of the pie crust. Gently tap the springform pan on the sheet a few times to prevent air bubbles.
On the barbecue
- Sprinkle the wood chips on the coals. Then place the cheesecake on the grid of the barbecue and let it cook for about 2 hours at a maximum of 110 °C. The cheesecake is ready when you insert a wooden toothpick and it comes out clean. The filling should become firm and the colour should turn bronze.
- Remove the cheesecake from the grill and let it cool to room temperature. Put it in the refrigerator for another 2 hours.
Prepare the caramel sauce
- Put the sugar with the water in a slightly higher saucepan and bring to the boil at high heat for 3 minutes.
- Then turn the heat to medium heat. Tilt the pan slightly and keep turning the pan to make the sugars turn to an evenly golden brown colour. You don’t have to stir. Just make sure it doesn’t burn and that it continues to cook. The colour is important. It should not be too light (little flavour) but also not too dark (too bitter).
- Remove the pan from the heat when the colour is golden brown. Then add the whipped cream. Don’t be alarmed, because this will fizz. This is the reason we use a slightly higher pan. Then return the pan to medium heat and whisk until smooth. Meanwhile, add the vanilla sugar.
- Remove the pan from the heat and let it cool to room temperature. Drizzle the cheesecake with the caramel sauce.
