SALTED CARAMEL APPLE PIE CHEESECAKE BARS

Salted Caramel Apple Pie Cheesecake Bars – apple pie, cookies, cheesecake; all rolled into one. Delicious rich flavors of salted caramels, apples and cinnamon and luscious cheesecake!

I am a creature of habit after all. And I have had all sort of cheesecakes in my day, and I’ve never met a cheesecake I didn’t love, but maybe I’m biased here.

I know you guys probably have had enough of salted caramel desserts, but I’m just getting started so bear with me. But these bars are not really about the salted caramel sauce, which by the way I just use store bought caramel sauce, but feel free to make your own.

These squares are about the cheesecake and the apples. It’s no secret that I also like apple pie, so why not combine two of my favorite desserts together, cheesecake and apple pie. It’s really no rocket science here. While most apple cheesecake bars call to put the apples and some sort of streusel topping over the top of the bars, here I went against the norm and mixed the apples with the cheesecake together.

Salted Caramel Apple Pie Cheesecake Bars Recipe
Salted Caramel Apple Pie Cheesecake Bars - apple pie, cookies, cheesecake; all rolled into one. Delicious rich flavors of salted caramels, apples and cinnamon and luscious cheesecake!



Ingredients
For Crust

• 6 tbsp butter melted
• 2 cups graham cracker crumbs
• 3 tbsp sugar
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon

For Cheesecake Filling

• 16 oz cream cheese at room temperature
• 3 eggs
• 1/4 cup sugar
• pinch of salt

For Apples

• 2 large apples peeled, cored and sliced in small pieces
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 3 tbsp sugar

Topping

• caramel sauce I used store bought
• sea salt

Instructions

1. Heat oven to 350 F degrees. Line a 9x9 baking pan with parchment paper, spray it with cooking spray first so that the parchment paper sticks to the pan. Set aside.
2. In a medium bowl mix together the melted butter, 1/2 tsp cinnamon, sugar and the graham cracker crumbs. Pour the mixture into the prepared baking pan and press evenly. It might be easier to use the bottom of a glass to press the crumbs down to make a thin layer. Bake for 10 minutes.
3. While the crust is baking make the cream cheese mixture. To the bowl of your mixer add the cream cheese, sugar, eggs and pinch of salt. Beat on medium high for at least 5 minutes or until the mixture is smooth.
4. In a medium bowl mix together the apples with the sugar and cinnamon. Gently fold in the prepared apples into the cheesecake mixture. Pour the cream cheese filling over the crust in the baking pan. Level the top off with a spatula.
5. Bake uncovered for about an hour or until the filling is set. Let the cheesecake cool completely before slicing into it.
6. Once the cake is cooled slice it into 2 inch squares. Drizzle with caramel sauce and sprinkle with sea salt.

Recipe Adapted : SALTED CARAMEL APPLE PIE CHEESECAKE BARS @ jocooks