Caramel Apple Cheesecake

Cheesecake is one of those things that you either love or hate. I happen to love it, and with all the cream cheese I've been making lately I'll be making more cheesecakes in the near future. This cheesecake is simple, pretty and delicious. Sweet without being overly sweet and just a little bit tart from the apples.

A word of caution though; when you get to the part where you cook the apples in butter, make sure you cook them long enough. I didn't one time and let me tell you~ semi-crunchy apples do not make a tasty topping!

I found the recipe on allrecipes.com, but I changed it a bit after I had made the recipe as written. I think it improved on the whole cheesecake so I'll give you my changes here. If you want to look at the original recipe, you can click the link above.

Caramel Apple Cheesecake

Crust
2 cups finely crushed graham crackers
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted

Mix it all together and press evenly into a 9 inch spring form pan. Bring the crust half-way up the sides of the pan and press it all down firmly. Set aside while you make the filling.

Filling
2- 8 oz packages of cream cheese
1-14 oz can sweetened condensed milk (not evaporated)
3 large eggs
1/2 cup frozen apple juice concentrate, defrosted
2 medium all-purpose apples. peeled and THINLY sliced

Beat cream cheese until light and fluffy. Gradually beat in sweetened condensed milk, being careful not to over beat. Add in the eggs and apple juice concentrate. Mix well. Pour into your prepared crust and bake at 300 degrees for about 45-50 minutes or until the center springs back when gently touched. Cool completely

Meanwhile, in a small pan melt 1/4 cup butter and gently cook the apples until soft. Remove the apples and set aside. Cool completely.

You can either choose to use purchased caramel as a topping or you could follow this excellent tutorial and recipe to make your own. This is the recipe that I use and we love it. Plus there is always enough left over for topping brownies, ice cream and other various desserts :)

To Assemble
When your cheesecake and apples have completely cooled, you will arrange the apples in the way that pleases you on top of the cake, drizzle with caramel and refrigerate 2-3 hours. Let the cheesecake sit out for about 30 minutes before slicing.

Tips

• When you remove your cheesecake from the oven, let it sit undisturbed for about an hour. Then, using a long thin knife, gently run it around the cheesecake. This is to make sure that the cheesecake isn't sticking to the side of your spring form. Remove the side of the spring form and let the cake cool completely.
• You could add nuts, chocolate pieces or crunched up toffee bars to the top of your cheesecake after the caramel has been drizzled on for added caramel appley-ness.
• Store leftovers in the refrigerator.

Now, who wants some cheesecake??!!