White Chocolate Caramel Macadamia Nut Cheesecake Tart with Macadamia Brittle

Ingredients

• For the Macadamia Nut Brittle

• 1 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 Tablespoon butter
• 1 cup macadamia nuts, coarsely chopped

• For the Crust

• 2 cups of shortbread cookies, crushed
• 5 Tablespoons butter, melted

• For the Caramel/Macadamia Nut Layer

• 20 individually wrapped caramels, unwrapped
• 1/4 cup canned evaporated milk
• 1 cup of macadamia nuts, coarsely chopped

• For the Cheesecake Cake Layer

• 16 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 1-1/2 cups frozen whipped topping, thawed
• 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste (or pure vanilla extract)
• 1 cup White Chocolate Chips
• 6 large Strawberries for Garnish, wiped clean (do not rinse with water)
• White chocolate bar for making white chocolate shavings for garnish (optional)

Instructions

1. In a medium non-stick sauce pan boil water and sugar together until sugar is dissolved. Continue to cook on low boil until the mixtures turns light golden brown. Remove from the heat, stir in butter until melted and add the chopped macadamia nuts. Stir to incorporate and pour mixture onto a Silpat or parchment paper in a thin layer. Allow to cool completely and chop into pieces.
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a microwavable bowl, melt butter and then add cookies crumbs, mixture to coat crumbs well. In an 11” non-stick removable bottom tart pan, press crumb mixture onto the bottom and up the sides. Press down well with your hands or the bottom of glass. Place tart pan on a baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes until golden brown. Let cool.
3. In a medium sauce pan, place the caramels and evaporated milk and cook over medium heat, reduce to low heat when it boils. Stir continuously until all the caramels are melted completely. Pour the caramel on top of the cookie crust and spread to within ½ inch of the edges. Evenly distribute the 1 cup of chopped macadamia nuts over the caramel.
4. With an electric mixer or whisk, beat cream cheese with thawed frozen whipped topping until creamy and smooth. Whisk in the vanilla bean paste. In a 1 cup microwavable cup, microwave 1 cup of white chocolate chips until melted and creamy (about 1 ½ minutes). Fold the melted chocolate into the cheesecake mixture until well blended. Spread cheesecake filling onto of prepared tart crust. (You can pipe the filling on as an option).
5. For Strawberry Fans – With a pairing knife, make 4-5 lengthwise cuts from the end of the berry, but not all the way to the end of the stem. Gently fan apart the slices.
6. Garnish the tart with strawberry fans spread out around the edges of the tart and fill the spaces in between with macadamia brittle. (Optional – you can also make white chocolate shavings to sprinkle on top. Use a peeler to shave pieces of chocolate off the bar).
7. Refrigerate for at least 3 hours. Remove tart from pan, slice and serve!