This delicious Cranberry Cheesecake is made with Sweetened Condensed Milk, it’s a very easy recipe to make, and absolutely delicious. This Sweetened Condensed Milk Cranberry Cheesecake makes for an amazing dessert for the holidays, and the best part is that it doesn’t require any baking, so your oven can be free for all the other dishes you might be baking. Made with the best Eagle Brand® Sweetened Condensed Milk.
Start by making the cranberry sauce to give it a chance to cool down. Place the cranberries, the sugar, the orange juice, and the zest in a small saucepan. Cook the cranberries over medium heat, stirring occasionally for about 15 minutes, until they have fallen apart and you’ve obtained a thick sauce.
Strain the sauce using a fine mesh sieve. You can opt to use the sauce with the cranberry skins if you want, but I prefer without the skins.
Make sure to press down on the cranberries to strain all the sauce out.
Place the sauce in the fridge for 1 hour to cool down.
Crust
Pre-heat the oven to 325ºF.
Make the crust by mixing the graham cracker (or digestive biscuit) crumbs, the sugar, and the melted butter. Press the crumble down on the bottom of a 9 or 8” springform pan.
Bake the crust in the pre-heated oven for 15 minutes. You don’t necessarily have to bake the crust, but baking will help make the crust less crumbly once you serve the cheesecake. If you don’t bake the crust, simply insert the pan in the freezer while you make the cheesecake.
If you baked the crust, remove it from the oven and let it cool down.
Cheesecake
Place 2 tbsp of cold water in a small bowl. Sprinkle the gelatin on top and mix.
Let the gelatin sit for 5 minutes to hydrate.
Pour 2 tbsp of hot water on top of the gelatin, and mix to dissolve the gelatin. It should have dissolved completely. Set it aside.
Beat the cream cheese with an electric mixer for 3 minutes, until fluffy and creamy.
Scrape down the sides of the bowl to ensure all the cream cheese is getting whipped properly.
Add the Eagle Brand® Sweetened Condensed Milk, the lemon juice, and the dissolved gelatin to the bowl. If the gelatin has hardened, insert it in the microwave just for 5 seconds to melt it again.
Mix all the ingredients together until completely incorporated.
To assemble
Pour half of the cheesecake batter on the bottom of the pan with the cooled down crust.
Spoon about 1/3 cup of the cranberry sauce over the cheesecake batter. Use a knife to swirl the sauce around.
Pour the remaining cheesecake batter on top.
Spoon another 1/2 cup of cranberry sauce over the cheesecake and swirl with a knife.
Give the pan a gentle tap against the counter to smooth out the batter and to release any air bubbles as well.
Place the cheesecake in the fridge for 6 hours.
After 6 hours, remove the cheesecake from the fridge, run a knife around the edges of the pan, and open the springform pan.
Whipped Cream
Whip the cream with the mixer over medium high speed. Add the powdered sugar and continue to whip for a total of 2 minutes until it achieves stiff peaks.
Place the whipped cream in a piping bag fitted with a star tip.
Pipe the whipped cream on top of the cheesecake and top with sugared cranberries if desired. I also decorated mine with rosemary sprigs.
Notes
For the sugared cranberries recipe, simply place 1/2 cup of water and 1/2 cup of sugar in a small saucepan, then stir over medium heat until the sugar has melted. Remove from the heat, add 1 cup of fresh cranberries to the syrup, stir to combine and let them sit in the syrup for about 1 minute. Remove the cranberries with a slotted spoon to a baking sheet lined with a cooling rack. Let the cranberries air dry for 2 hours. Then roll them in granulated sugar. They can be kept in the fridge for quite a few days.You can skip baking the crust, but baking it will make the crust less crumbly when you serve the cheesecake.