I baked! I had this idea churning and we were having cheesecake for Christmas day so I left some space after just having it – then I just went for it without an occasion. This has pretzel & graham cracker crumb crust with cheesecake topped with apple and salted caramel.
The cheesecake is super fluffy and has a great balance of crumb to cheesecake to topping ratios – I pretty much want each in every bite.
Cheesecake with Salted Caramel Apple Topping
Ingredients:
(for graham cracker & pretzel crust)
1 packet of graham crackers
1/2 cup of pretzels
1 stick of butter, melted
1/4 cup sugar
(for cheesecake)
16 oz cream cheese
2/3 cup sugar
8 oz sour cream
4 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup heavy cream or half and half
(for salted caramel apple topping)
3 large cortland apples
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 cup caramel sauce
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350-degrees.
In a food processor, blend together the graham crackers, pretzels, butter, and sugar and press into a springform pan sprayed with nonstick spray.
Bake for 8 minutes then reduce heat to 325 degrees.
In a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, mix together the cream cheese, sugar, and sour cream, scraping down the sides of the bowl.
Add in the eggs, one at a time, and vanilla and heavy cream.
Bake for 60-minutes until the edges are set and the middle is barely giggly.
Let the cheesecake fully cool out of the oven, in the pan.
Peal and chop the apples to cook over medium-low heat in the butter. Add in the brown sugar and cinnamon and cook for ~5 minutes until they soften but aren’t mush.
Add in a teaspoon of the caramel apple sauce and some salt. Taste and add in more of the kosher salt as you like. Refrigerate until serving.
When serving, spoon apple topping over the cheesecake and drizzle with remaining caramel and a sprinkle of kosher salt.
Enjoy!
I loooved this. I started with apple topping from just 2 apples then made more wanting there to be PLENTY. I love the little salt bits in the crust and on the topping. Cheesecake is so convenient to prep ahead of time and I liked the salted caramel apple topping even better when it was cool – just like the cheesecake.