Easy Apple Cream Cheese Dessert
Caramel, apples, and the fall are made for each other. And while these apple cheesecake bars bake, your house will smell like a fall-scented bakery. No candles required. Usually layered bars, or actual cheesecakes, mean lots of dishes and work, but these caramel apple cheesecake bars are fast, easy, made in one bowl, and a mixer is optional. They provide all the glory of real cheesecake, minus the work or water bath. The buttery, brown sugar-graham cracker crust is good enough to eat on it’s own and I never say that about crust.
Normally it’s soft and gooey desserts that make me swoon, but this crust is so good that I adapted my Salted Caramel Swirled-Pumpkin Cheesecake Bars, just so I could have this crust again. While baking, the bars rise up fairly considerably in the pan, more than you’d think they would if you’re an oven-door watcher. They shrink back down as they cool. The crust is crunchy, buttery, with plenty of snap. If you’ve ever had an oatmeal-cookie-crusted pie, that’s what it reminds me of, with graham cracker crumbs in place of the oats.
The cheesecake layer is thick, dense, soft, yet firm, with warm, comforting flavors. Biting into the apple pieces, which retain some texture while baking, is a great contrast to the soft, smooth cream cheese. Upon cooling and prior to serving, I drizzled on extra caramel sauce. The more, the merrier.
What’s in the Caramel Apple Cheesecake Bars?
To make this caramel apple dessert, you’ll need:
Egg Cream cheese Granulated sugar Molasses Vanilla extract Spices Cornstarch Apples Salted caramel sauce
How to Make Caramel Apple Cheesecake Bars
Make the apple cream cheese bars by melting butter, and stirring in brown sugar and graham cracker crumbs. While it bakes, the butter and brown sugar caramelize and you’re left with caramel undertones, which play off the salted caramel sauce used on the top layer. The cheesecake layer is a mixture of cream cheese, cinnamon and sugar, molasses, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, molasses with apples folded in. One tablespoon of molasses really rounds out the flavor profile and adds depth you just can’t get without it. It’s one of the quintessential flavors of fall for me.
Before baking, I swirled salted caramel sauce over the top layer. You can either make your own or use store-bought. I’m a big fan of TJ’s Fleur de Sel sauce, but use your favorite thick caramel sauce. Don’t use ice cream sundae topping, with corn syrup being one of the first ingredients. It’s too thin and will get lost in the bars. Thicker is the only way to go. This apple cream cheese dessert needs to be baked for about 45 minutes. Then, they need to cool to room temperature before being chilled.
Can I Double This Recipe?
Yes, you may double the recipe and bake the bars in a 9×13-inch dish.
How to Store Apple Cheesecake Bars
Since this is an apple cream cheese dessert, it must be stored in the fridge. I recommend wrapping the bars in foil to prevent them from drying out. They’ll keep up to 5 days in the fridge and can also be frozen.
Tips for Making Apple Cheesecake Bars
I used one medium diced, unpeeled Fuji apple. Use your favorite type of apple, peeled or unpeeled. If you’re trying to save calories and fat where you can, you can use light cream cheese. Often in baking you cannot use light products because the item won’t turn out or set up, but I’ve tested it here and it’s fine. The spice level is on the robust side, but not overpowering, and starts off with 1 tablespoon of cinnamon. In order to lend enough flavor to this dessert with the dense crust, thick layer of cream cheese, and apple (all are bland on their own) seasoning liberally is necessary or the dessert won’t pop and will taste bland. Of course, add spices to taste.
More Caramel Apple Desserts:
Baked Caramel Apple Fritters — Love the taste of apple fritters but don’t want the calories or hassle that comes with frying them? Then these FAST and EASY baked apple fritters made with just four main ingredients are PERFECT!! Tried this recipe? Leave a review! Consider leaving a 5 star rating if you’ve made and loved one of my recipes!
Caramel Apple Blondies — Super soft, moist, chewy and all the flavor of caramel apples minus the stick! You’re going to love these apple blondies!
Caramel Apple Cheesecake Crumble Bars — These caramel apple cheesecake bars feature a buttery crust that’s topped with cheesecake and spiced apples. After they’re done baking, the bars are drizzled with salted caramel sauce!
Caramel Apple Crumble Pie — Apple pie meets apple crumble in this easy caramel apple crumble pie recipe. This apple pie is dense, rich, and is packed with caramel apple flavor!
Caramel Apple Crumble Foil Packs – EASY, zero cleanup, made on the grill (or oven) in record time, and tastes amazing!! Juicy apples, chewy crumble topping, and luscious salted caramel…SO irresistible!!
Cinnamon Roll Apple Bake — A layer of cinnamon rolls topped with apples and a crunchy oatmeal crumble makes this the ULTIMATE apple crisp!! EASY, ready in 40 minutes, and tastes AMAZING!!
Baked Apple Fries — Breaded and baked with oats, cinnamon, and sugar and dipped in caramel! Totally beats regular French fries!!
