Caramel Apple Cheesecake Bars
These caramel apple cheesecake bars have a graham cracker crust, cheesecake filling, cinnamon apples, crumble topping, and caramel drizzle.
Ingredients
For the crust
- 1 ⅓ cups Graham crackers crumbs
- 1 teaspoon Granulated sugar
- ⅓ cup Butter unsalted, melted
For the spiced apples
- 2 cups Apples peeled, cored, and sliced into small cubes
- 1 ½ tablespoon Granulated sugar
- ½ teaspoon Cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon Nutmeg
For the streusel topping
- ¾ cup Flour
- ½ cup Rolled oats
- 1 teaspoon Cinnamon
- ⅓ teaspoon Kosher salt
- ⅓ cup Brown sugar
- 6 tablespoon Butter melted, unsalted
For the cheesecake filling
- 16 oz Cream cheese room temp, full fat
- ⅔ cup Granulated sugar
- ½ cup Sour cream
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla extract
- 2 Eggs
- 1 tablespoon Cornstarch
Instructions
- Peel and cut the apples into small cubes. I like using my apple corer and slicer to make this process easy and quick.
- Preheat an oven to 180c (350f) and prepare a 9x9 inch cake pan with parchment paper.
- Make the crust: pulse graham crackers in a food processor until fine crumbs form. If you don’t have a food processor on hand, place the crackers in a Ziplock bag and smash the crackers with a cup until fine crumbs form.
- Into a small to medium mixing bowl, add the graham crackers crumbs, sugar, and melted butter. Mix with a spoon until the crumbs are coated with butter.
- Transfer the crumbs into a baking sheet lined 9 by 9 inch pan, pressing evenly and firmly into the pan.
- Bake the crust in a 180c (350f) preheated oven for 8 minutes. Keep an eye on the crust and make sure it doesn’t burn. Take the crust out of the oven and let it cool to room temperature while you make the filling.
- Lower the oven to 160c (320f).
- In a medium-sized mixing bowl, add the chopped apples, cinnamon, nutmeg, and sugar, and mix it with a spoon until well combined.
- Make the streusel. In a medium mixing bowl, add the flour, oats, brown sugar, kosher salt, cinnamon, and mix until well combined.
- Add the melted butter and mix with a spoon until well combined. Set aside while you make the cheesecake filling.
- In a large mixing bowl, add the room-temperature cream cheese, sour cream, granulated sugar, and vanilla extract, and mix with an electric hand mixer until is creamy.
- Whisk the eggs in a small bowl add them to the cheesecake mixture and mix until the mixture is smooth.
- Sift the cornstarch into the mixture and mix until combined and there are no lumps of cornstarch showing.
- Pour the cheesecake filling onto the baked crust and smooth it out with a spatula. Layer the spiced apples on top of the cheesecake batter evenly.
- Sprinkle with the crumble topping on top of the apples. Bake the cheesecake a 160c (320f) for 40 minutes or until the edges of the cheesecake are set, but the middle is a bit jiggly.
- Open the oven door halfway, and let the cheesecake cool to room temperature for 1 hour.
- After the cheesecake is cooled, wrap the cheesecake with plastic wrap tightly, and place the cheesecake in the fridge to cool completely for at least 5 hours.
- Drizzle homemade or store-bought caramel sauce over the chilled cheesecake, slice, and enjoy!
Notes
- Make sure that you are using room-temperature cream cheese in this recipe, this step makes it easier to mix the cream cheese with no unnecessary lumps, we don’t want that.
- To make this process easy, and quick, use an apple peeler and corer.
- Use high-fat cream cheese or the well-known Philadelphia cream cheese. Using full-fat cream cheese ensures that your cheesecake will be stable and will not crack.
- Let your cheesecake chill in the fridge for at least 5 hours. We know it’s very hard to resist eating this delicious cheesecake right away, but you have to let the cheesecake cool and set it in the pan. We like to let the cheesecake sit in the fridge overnight.
- For a smooth and creamy cheesecake, make sure that you are using room-temperature ingredients. Before you begin to make this cheesecake, make sure that your cream cheese is completely soft, and that your eggs are at room temperature.
- Don’t overbeat the mixture! It's really easy to overbeat the mixture, and that is one of the most common mistakes. To avoid overbeating your mixture, make sure that you lower the speed of the hand mixer and add each egg at a time.
- Scrape down the sides of the bowl frequently to ensure that you have a homogeneous mixture that has no cream cheese lumps.
- Don't open the oven door before the cake is fully baked or about to be baked! Drastic changes in the temperature of the cake while baking can cause the cake to collapse or crack.
Nutrition
Calories: 572kcalCarbohydrates: 55gProtein: 7gFat: 37gSaturated Fat: 21gPolyunsaturated Fat: 2gMonounsaturated Fat: 10gTrans Fat: 1gCholesterol: 133mgSodium: 468mgPotassium: 195mgFiber: 2gSugar: 34gVitamin A: 1269IUVitamin C: 1mgCalcium: 98mgIron: 2mg
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