Caramel Apple Cheesecake Bars

Expect a lot of apple recipes over the next few weeks because we went apple picking and now I have an overabundance of apples. I've had this recipe pinned to my Pinterest board for a long time so I was really excited to be able to put this together. This recipe will take a little bit of time because there are a lot of steps, but the results are so worth it!

This comes from Key Ingredient.

Ingredients:

Crust:

-2 cups all-purpose flour

-½ cup firmly packed brown sugar

-1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened

Cheesecake Filling:

-3 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, softened

-¾ cup sugar, plus 2 tablespoons, divided

-3 large eggs

-1½ teaspoons vanilla extract

Apples:

-3 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and finely chopped

-½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

-¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg

Streusel Topping:

-1 cup firmly packed brown sugar

-1 cup all-purpose flour

-½ cup quick cooking oats

-½ cup (1 stick) butter, softened

Preheat the oven to 350.

In a medium bowl, combine flour and brown sugar. Mix with your hands until the mixture is crumbly. Press evenly into a 9x13 baking pan sprayed well with cooking spray. Bake 15 minutes.

While the crust is baking in the bowl of your stand mixer beat the cream cheese with 3/4 cup sugar in an electric mixer at medium speed until smooth. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, then the vanilla. Stir to combine.

Pour the filling over the warm crust. In a small bowl, stir together chopped apples, remaining 2 tablespoons sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Spoon evenly over cream cheese mixture. Sprinkle evenly with Streusel topping. Bake 40-45 minutes, or until filling is set. Drizzle with caramel topping and let cool.

This made a lot of cheesecake so I gave some pieces to friends. Boyfriends were insisting that their girlfriend get the recipe. Even though there is a lot of cook time, this recipe is worth it. The crust was really good, the brown sugar was flavor was detectable. The apple topping and Streusel topping made for a good sweet and crunchy combination. This is good with or without the caramel drizzle on top.