Caramel Apple Crumble Cheesecake

So apparently I am so out of it.   I didn't even realize it has been over a week since I last posted.  Not that I have done nothing the last week,  I have almost been non stop.    My birthday was Friday, so I spent the day over the border shopping with my sister and her friend.  I managed to pick up some baby clothes, some clothes for me and a playpen.   I have yet to find Biscoff spread,  what aisle does that normally sit in?  Do they sell it at Target?

The rest of the weekend involved multiple family dinners for Thanksgiving, cleaning and finishing up the nursery.  I got all my decals and photos up on the walls so now I just need to add a few small accessories and buy some drapes.  It's all coming together...just a few more weeks until baby.

This week also involved my yearly addiction to check out Cirque du Solieli.   This years show was called Amaluna.   This was the 6th Cirque show I have seen.  I find them hard to pass up when they are in town.  The shows are always so creative and unique and the performers are quite simply amazing.  I can't even imagine the training they must go through.   Just crazy.  Unfortunately this one was not my favorite or close to it. . Given my wide comparison range I just felt the acts in this one, although still impressive were not a big as I have seen at others.  The clowns were also more annoying than funny.   I think my favorite so far was either La Nouba, (Disney World) or Mystere (Las Vegas).   I highly recommend both if you are ever in either of these places, although Vegas as several others that I hear are quite cool.   Anyone have any favorite cirques they would recommend?

With all the family dinners that were going on this weekend I did manage to get some baking done.   One great one and one fail.  The great one would be this post, the fail would be a bubble bread loaf that rose beautifully and then somehow just died in the oven.  Frustrating!


Apple Crumble Caramel Cheesecake

INGREDIENTS:

Crust

• 2 cups vanilla wafer or graham cracker crumbs
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 cup butter, melted

Cheesecake

• 4 large apples
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 2-3 tbsp butter
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 3 tbsp brown sugar
• 2 - 8oz packages cream cheese, room temperature
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup sour cream
• Your favorite caramel sauce

Crumble

• 1/2 cup all purpose flour
• 1/2 brown sugar
• 1/2 cup quick oats
• 1/4 cup rolled oats
• 1 tsp cinnamon 
• 1/3 cup butter,  cool but slightly softened

INSTRUCTIONS:

1) Preheat oven to 350F.   Combine crumbs and cinnamon in a medium bowl.  Add melted butter and mix to combine and coat the crumbs.  Press into a 9 inch springform pan, lined with parchment.  Bake for 10 minutes.  Set aside and let cool.
2) Peel and core the apples. Chop into slices.  Toss with lemon juice.  In a medium saute pan, on medium heat at butter.  Once melted add apples, brown sugar and cinnamon and cook for about 5-8 minutes until apples sofften but are not mush.   Remove from heat and set aside.

3) Make the crumble :   In a large bowl combine all the crumble ingredients except the butter.  Mix together.  Then cut in the butter with your hands.  The mixture will darken and be slightly combined and clumped together in small pieces.

4) In a food processor, add cream cheese (in chunks) and granulated sugar.  Process until almost smooth, chunks are broken down.   Add eggs, sour cream and vanilla and process until well combined. Scraping down the sides as needed.
5) Preheat the oven to 375F. Grease the sides of the pan with butter, 3/4 of the way up.  Take 2/3 of the apples and put on top of the crust.   Drizzle with caramel sauce.  Top with 1/4 cup of crumble.
6) Cover the apples with the cheesecake mixture and smooth out.
7) Bake the cheesecake on the middle rack for 10 minutes, then reduce the heat to 300F and bake for 35-40 minutes.  Turn off the oven and let the cheesecake sit for 20 minutes in the oven.  It is okay if the cheesecake cracks, it get completely covered.  Remove from oven to cool further.
8)  Preheat the oven to 400F. When the cheesecake has come back to room temperature.  Top with remaining apples in the center, drizzle with more caramel sauce and cover with the crumble.  Bake for 15-20 minutes until the crumble has started browning.
9) Let cool before slicing.  Drizzle with more caramel sauce when serving.

I honestly was a little worried about how this would turn out but I was so pleasantly surprised.   Even my Dad thought it was quite good and he is a hard dessert person to impress.   The process to get this done can be a little lengthy but well worth it.

MEG's RATING : D-EEEEE-LICIOUS.

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