I started subscribing to Bon Apetit again after an absence of many years. In my first issue I came across a recipe that sounded awfully good to me. Cheesecake bars, flavored with Dulce de Leche and sprinkled with Sea Salt. Man, what's NOT to like about that combination. So here's the recipe adapted from Bon Apetit, June, 2010.
Crust
2 1/4 cups graham crackers, crushed
2 tablespoons sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
10 tablespoons melted butter
Filling
3 8 oz. packages cream cheese, room temperature
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1/2 cup Dulce De Leche (available at your grocery store)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Glaze
2/3 cup Dulce De Leche
3 tablespoons heavy cream
sea salt or fleur de sel
Combine the crust ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Press into lightly greased (spray Pam is fine) 9 x 13 baking pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. Let cool.
In a mixing bowl combine cream cheese and sugar until fully blended. Add eggs one at a time, fully incorporating after each addition. Add Dulce De Leche and vanilla extract and mix thoroughly. Pour and scrape over crust and spread evenly all the way to the edges of the pan. Bake at 350 for 38 to 42 minutes until filling is puffed, browning, and starting to crack. Remove and let cool.
Heat glaze, combine and spread over baked cream cheese and sprinkle with sea salt and refrigerate for an hour.
Now a couple of specifics. Salting the dessert, you want to be careful as it's a fine line to perhaps salt it too much and it's easy not to salt enough. Here's what you do, salt it once, somewhat liberally, and then refrigerate. When you go to cut the squares, test one, and if the saltiness is not enough, salt again. That should be sufficient, and perfect.