Cinnamon apple caramel cheesecake (and Super Bowl 2012)

We usually go to Joe's parents house on Super Bowl Sunday, but this year we decided to stay home.

One. because Joe has been working 7 days a week juggling multiple jobsites

and two. because Cash is SUCH a maniac lately, it is so hard to take him anywhere!

Joe went to work at the restaurant in the morning to continue working on the hostess stand. It is looking amazing, I can't wait to see the whole place come together. Since Joe had the truck the kids and I took a walk to Walmart and Albertsons to get some Game Day snacks. We loaded the stroller as full as we could and came home to start prepping some snacks. It's a good thing I wore my Easy Tones (and took a 3 mile walk) because the dessert we made is probably jam packed with calories!

We got home and Gwen and I got to baking our Cinnamon Apple Caramel Cheesecake. I found the recipe here while looking up crochet patterns and needless to say, I have been dying waiting to bake it for about 2 weeks.

I have never made a cheesecake before, but this was so easy to make!

Here's how you do it!

What you need:

crust:

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 cup (2 sticks) butter (room temperature)

cream cheese filling:

2 8oz packages cream cheese (softened)

1/2 cup granulated white sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract

2 eggs

apple filling:

2 apples (I used Gala- our favs!)

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

2 tbs granulated white sugar

crumb topping:

1/2 cup oatmeal (I just used a packet of instant oatmeal, what I had on hand)

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter (room temperature)

1 cup all-purpose flour

topping:

Caramel dessert topping

How you do it:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 350 F

2. In a bowl combine the 1 cup flour and 1/2 cup brown sugar. Cut in the 1 cup butter with a pastry blender (or a fork) until it's kind of crumbly. (make sure to not over mix with the butter, it will become too creamy, still works just not as easy to spread in the pan!)

3. Press the crust into the bottom of a 13 x 9 inch baking pan. Bake 15 minutes or until lightly browned.

4. While the crust is baking, beat the 16oz of cream cheese with the 1/2 cup sugar (start slow!) until smooth. (About 1 minute) Add the eggs, 1 at a time, and beat about 20 seconds after each to combine. Next add the 1 tsp vanilla and beat until combined. (Make sure not to over-beat the cheesecake batter, this will lead to excess air being incorporated and may lead to cracking later on)

5. Pour the cream cheese batter over the warm crust.

6. Peel the apples and chop them into 3/4" chunks. Mix with the 1/2 tsp of cinnamon and 2 tbs of white sugar.

7. Spoon the apple chunks evenly over the cream cheese mixture.

8. In a bowl combine the 1 cup flour, 1/2 oatmeal and the 1/2 cup brown sugar for the crumb topping. Cube in the 1/2 cup butter using a pastry blender or a fork to create a crumbly topping.

9. Crumble the topping over the cream cheese batter and apples.

10. Bake for 25 minutes (or until the mixture is set) at 350F, and reduce to 300F for an additional 5 minutes.

11. The original recipe doesn't say this, but let cool for a bit before you cut into 3 x 3 bars. (I refridgerated mine for a bit)

12. Drizzle with the caramel topping and enjoy!

Joe took one bite and said it was too sweet for him, but he's more of a popcorn guy.

This morning I had to fight the urge to have a piece of cheesecake for breakfast!