For this easy Thanksgiving dessert, I decided to go back to my roots. Cheesecake! Does anyone remember when that’s all I did on this blog? So around this time of year I would make Cranberry sauce cheesecake, pecan pie cheesecake and of course a caramel apple cheesecake but this year I want to make not a full chesecake but cheesecake bars.
As you may know if you have been around here for a while, I don’t like to make these posts longer than they have to be. I mean to be honest everyone skips to the bottom anyway. Leave me a comment and let me know if you actually read this. So in essence this dessert is in 4 parts. The graham cracker crust, then a layer of apple chunks, cheesecake filling and cinnamon pecan streusel.
I hope you all enjoy this easy thanksgiving dessert recipe and thank you all for reading. If you recreate this, please tag me on social media so I can see. If you enjoyed this recipe, please consider subscribing. This way, you can get emails every time I post. If you have a favorite pie that you wam me to make, let me know in the comments. Have an amazing week and I will see you all in the next one
Apple Crisp Cheesecake Bars
A sweet and tangy cheesecake dessert layored with graham cracker crust: cinnamon sugar coated apple chunks: a cheesecake layor and a cinnamon pecan struesal topping on top.
Ingredients
Cheesecake Filling
- 2 (8oz) Blocks of Cream Cheese
- 2/3 of a Cup of Granulated Sugar
- 3 Eggs
- 1/3 of a Cup of Sour Cream or Greek Yogurt
- 1 1/2 of a TSP of Vanilla Extract
- 1/4 of a TSP of Salt
Apple Filling
- 1 Granny Smith Apple Peeled and in Small Cubed
- 1 1/2 TBSP of Brown Sugar
- 1 1/2 of a TBSP of Granulated Sugar
- 1 TSP of Cinnamon
- 1 1/2 TBSP of Flour
Streusel Topping
- 6 TBSP of Light Brown Sugar
- 3 TBSP of AP Flour
- 1 1/2 Teaspoons of Cinnamon
- 3 Tbsps of Unsalted Butter
- 1/4 of a cup of pecans
Instructions
To Prep
- Preheat the oven to 350•
- Peel and slice your apple into small cubes. Submerge the cubes in water to prevent browning. Set aside.
- Prepare a 9x9 inch baking dish by lining it with parchment paper and leaving flaps on either end so that you can lift the bars out of the pan when they are done.
For Crust
- Place the graham crackers in a freezer bag. Bash them up with a meat tenderizer until you get fine crumbs.
- Melt the butter in the microwave completely.
- Combine the crumbs and the butter until you get a texture that resembles wet sand.
- Pack the crumbs into an even layer in your prepared baking dish.
- Bake for 10 minutes or until golden brown.
Apple filling
- Take the apple cubes out of the water and dry them off.
- Combine the apples, flour, granulated sugar, brown sugar and cinnamon in a bowl.
- Scatter that around in an even layer on top of the cooled crust.
- Set Aside
Cheesecake Filling
- Place the cream cheese in the bowl of your stand mixer or by hand with a hand mixer. Beat until smooth. Scrape down the bottom and the sides of the bowl and beat again until smooth.
- Add the sugar and beat until incorporated. Scrape down the bottom and the sides of the bowl and beat once more until incorporated.
- Add the greek yogurt and beat until incorporated. Scrape down the bottom and the sides of the down and beat again until incorporated and smooth.
- Add the eggs one at a time scraping down the bowl and beating to incorporate between each addition.
- Pour the cheesecake mixture over the apple mixture, level it off and tap the pan on the table to get rid of any trapped air bubbles.
- Bake for approximately 25 to 30 minutes until the middle jiggles just slightly.
Struessal Topping
- Add the flour, brown sugar, and cinnamon to a medium sized bowl.
- Cut up the cold butter into cubes and cut it in with a knife, pastry cutter or just massage it with your hands into the dry ingredients until you get small pea sizes of butter.
- Scatter the streusel over the cheesecake and place it back in the oven for another 5 minutes or until golden brown.
- Let the slab cool for 20 minutes and then cover it in plastic wrap and place it in the fridge for 2 hours.
- Cut into squares and enjoy.
If you have any questions or comments please don’t hesitate to leave a comment down below, message me on instagram, facebook or leave me an email.