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These Apple Cheesecake Bars are so good this time of year! Like an apple pie…but with cheesecake!
Since when are squats the new black? I mean, jeez. It used to be you could go to the gym, run a little, maybe do some bicep curls, and be done. Now?
Now you gotta do squats. Lots of them. With kettle balls. Have you ever seen a kettle ball? They’re labeled in kg so when the ball looks small, it really isn’t. I just thought I’d warn you so you don’t to go up to the rack thinking “oh this thing is light, I’ll pick up the bigger one” and then your arms pulls out of its socket. {Not that that happened to me or anything…}
And it doesn’t end there, oh no.
Did you know you’re supposed to hold the kettle ball out in front of you perpendicular to the ground while you do squats? Or, swing it between your legs? It’s like Go Go Gadget arms!
And in classes, it’s even worse. Squats, lunges, one legged squats, weights over head on one legged squats. These ladies must either have iron glutes, or they have permament grab bars in their bathrooms. Just sayin’!
So, in honor of my tons and tons of squats, and because I can’t sit down on my own, I made you Apple Cheesecake Bars.
I know, like with squats, there are 5,432 versions of these bars floating out there on the internet. But these are different, I promise.
Because of the crust. It’s always the crust!
The crust on these bars is a combo of Nilla Wafers and Graham Crackers. It gives the bars so much depth! Then it’s topped with an amazing cheesecake mixture (do you use sour cream in your cheesecakes? I almost always do, I think it gives such a creamy, delicious texture!) and apples with cinnamon and sugar.
And there’s crumble.
Lots of crumble.
Oh, crumble. It’s worth 3,245 squats with kettle balls, don’t you think?
You know what would be a great way to serve these bars? Topped with caramel sauce. Salted caramel would be even better. But, uh, I forgot in the photos.
They were good even without the caramel.
Apple + Cheesecake + Crust = my favorite Fall dessert! (Well, in addition to these. And these. And this.)
Do some squats, then make these to reward yourself. If you use a kettle ball, you can have 5. Right?
Apple Cheesecake Bars
Ingredients
For the Crust
- 12 Graham Cracker Sheets
- 50 Nilla Wafer Cookies
- 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
- 12 tablespoons butter melted
For the Cheesecake
- 2 8-ounce packages cream cheese, room temperature
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 1/2 cup sugar plus 2 tablespoons, divided
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 Granny Smith apples peeled, cored, and finely chopped
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
For the Topping:
- 1 cup brown sugar firmly packed
- 1 cup flour
- 1/2 cup quick cooking oats
- 1/2 cup butter softened
Instructions
- Line a 9x13” pan with foil and spray with cooking spray. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Make the Crust: Pulse graham crackers and Nilla Wafer cookies in a food processor until they are fine crumbs. Place in a bowl and stir in cinnamon and melted butter. Press into prepared pan. Bake for 8 minutes, while preparing filling.
- Beat cream cheese, eggs, sour cream, sugar, and vanilla with a hand held or stand mixer. Place apples in a small bowl and sprinkle with 2 tablespoons sugar and cinnamon.
- Make the topping by mixing all topping ingredients in a medium bowl with a hand mixer.
- Pour cream cheese mixture over hot crust. Sprinkle with apples. Sprinkle evenly with topping. Bake for 40-45 minutes (mine took 43). Cool to room temperature and then chill for at least 3 hours before cutting.
Recipe Video
Other Apple Goodness:
Sweets from friends:
Caramel Apple Poke Cake by What’s Cooking Love
Biscoff Caramel Apple Cider by Something Swanky
Applesauce Cupcakes by Bakeaholic Mama
Last Updated on May 13, 2020
I don’t have vanilla wafers where I live now. Can I double up on the Graham crackers? (No American Graham crackers either, they are tea biscuits)
Yes those should work!
I made this for a neighborhood party and it got rave reviews. It is basically a delicious mashup of apple crisp and cheesecake.
I do have some feedback thoughts to share that I think could help future bakers.
1. I think the foil is unnecessary. I used it, but would 100% skip it next time and just make sure I greased the pan really well. There’s a lot of butter in the crust to get you by too.
2. I would suggest getting all the parts prepped before the crust goes in the oven. I didn’t read far enough ahead to see that the filling was to go on top of the hot crust and I was still making it when the crust was done. Honestly, I think re-ordering the recipe with the crust instructions last might help folks like me (the people who didn’t prepare well. Lol!).
3. If you’re not used to making cheesecake, knowing when it is done might not be intuitive. It should be set around the edges, but still jiggle in the middle.
4. This took much longer to cool (and thus, set) than I expected. I was pushing it for my gathering. If you’re making it for an occasion the same day you’re baking it, I would suggest starting VERY early in the day, or do the day before. Leftovers held up beautifully in my fridge for a few days so I don’t think you’re going to have any less of a “wow, this is amazing” reaction from your audience.
5. I didn’t have Granny Smith apples so I used 3 smaller Haralsons that we picked at the orchard. Still delicious.
6. This might be guilding the lily, but I think serving it with a little drizzle of caramel ice cream topping would be delicious.
Make this dessert. It is so good!
These are so good! I brought them into work and everyone went crazy over them and wanted the recipe. Don’t be intimidated by the steps, they are so worth it
Delicious! I have made several times and always a big hit!
Very delicious recipe! Like others, I halved the recipe. Overall very delicious and doesn’t taste overly sweet.
The filling part seems kinda…. seized.. not smooth. What did I do wrong????
A few issues could cause this:
1. If your cheesecake isn’t room temp enough – it’ll cause lumps in the batter.
2. What brand of cream cheese are you using? And had it been frozen? I have had that happen with frozen and thawed cream cheese, where it doesn’t perform quite right. It still works in the recipe but looks funny.
Excellent recipe. I made 1/2 recipe. Everyone loved it.
These were a huge hit.
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