To Make Apple Cheesecake Bars
Apple Cheesecake is a little sweet, a little tart, a little crunchy and a lotta creamy. A great fall or holiday dessert or afternoon treat. It combines the creaminess of cheesecake with a buttery gingerbread and walnut crust and apple pie filling for a fantastic flavor experience.
Equipment
- A few bowls
- 3 qt saucepan
- Scale - optional but highly recommended.
- Blender. - used for processing cottage cheese, ricotta and queso fresco, you'll need it to break up the curds.
- Hand mixer - used for processing quark cheese, yogurt, or cream cheese.
- Baking pan - You could make this in a 10″ round spring form, or a 8×10″ rectangular dish for a taller cake, and make it more festive using layers. But I prefer making this as single-layer bars in a 9×13″ baking dish with deep sides. It’s easier to eat that way and you can make smaller snack sized portions easily.
Ingredients
Apple Pie Filling
- 2 lbs apples (Granny Smith or other tart and sweet variety) - peeled, cored and chopped or sliced
- ¾ cup dried cranberries or 1 ½ cups fresh. I used applejuice sweetened dried cranberries.
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- ¼ cup maple syrup
- 2 tbsp butter - salted or unsalted, but omit the extra salt if using salted butter.
- 4-5 tsp arrowroot flour or corn starch - if your apples aren't very juicy, you might just need 4 tsp or add a few tablespoons more water if it gets too thick. For fresh cranberries use the 5 tsp, if dried use 4 tsp.
- ¼ cup water
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- ½ tsp nutmeg
- ½ tsp cardamom optional
Crust/Topping
- 220 g walnuts (about 2 cups) - finely chopped or crushed.
- 280 g einkorn flour (about 2 ½ cups) - This volume measurement is for fresh milled einkorn flour. If you're using all-purpose or pre-milled flour in a bag, I'd use only 2 cups to start. Add more later if necessary.
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tbsp cinnamon
- 2 tsp fresh grated ginger - or 1 tsp dried powder
- ⅔ cup panela sugar - or coconut sugar.
- 1 cup butter (2 sticks)
- ½ tsp Redmond real salt
- 1 egg
Cheesecake Layer
- 500 g quark cheese (2 cups) - or choose one of the substitutes listed in the notes
- 240 g heavy cream (1 cup)
- 100 g maple syrup (1/3 cup)
- 3 large eggs - 4 small
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 4 tbsp arrowroot flour or cornstarch
- 2 tsp lemon zest - or preserved lemon paste
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- Pinch mineral salt
Instructions
Apple Cheesecake Bars Instructions
- First you'll want to get the apple pie filling started and while that is cooking, you'll have plenty of time to work on the rest of the recipe.
Apple Pie Filling
- Peel and core the apples and if your apples were unsprayed, you can save the scraps to make vinegar. Chop or thinly slice the apples and add them to the saucepan. Toss with the lemon juice as you go to keep them from browning.
- Make a slurry with the arrowroot and a quarter cup of water. Mix well to eliminate any lumps, and add to the apples in the pot.
- Add all the other filling ingredients: maple syrup, butter, cinnamon, starch, cranberries, and spices.
- Place on a burner and heat on gentle heat to a simmer. Stir occasionally, especially in the beginning, and simmer for 30 - 45 minutes or until the apples are soft. After the first 20 minutes, add the cranberries. My apples took 45 minutes. Don't let them get mushy.
- Take the pot from the burner, uncover and let cool for a few minutes before adding it to the cake.
- While the filling is cooking, prepare the rest of the ingredients.
Prepare The Crust And Topping
- Preheat the oven to 350 ℉
- First, take all the butter out of the fridge to melt it for the topping and crust. Melt in a small metal bowl or saucepan on the stove on very low. Once melted, remove and let it cool a bit before adding it to the rest of the ingredients.
- Grind your flour and measure it out. Place it into a medium sized bowl. Add the crushed walnuts, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, sugar, and salt.
- Dump the melted butter into the flour mix and mix well. Make a little well in the center.
- Add the egg to the well in the flour, and now use a fork to just break up the egg a bit before mixing it into the rest of the dough. Incorporate everything, knead for a minute, and set it aside for a few minutes so the flour can absorb the wet ingredients.
Prepare the Cheesecake Layer
- For the cheesecake layer you can either use a hand mixer if you have quark cheese, cream cheese or yogurt. Otherwise use a high speed blender to really break up the curds of cottage cheese, ricotta, and queso fresco.
- First add the maple syrup, heavy cream, eggs, vanilla, starch, lemon juice and zest, and salt.
- Dump the cheese in and start blending. Blend until you've eliminated all lumps and all the ingredients have turned into a smooth batter.
- If you're using a hand mixer instead of the blender, mix the cheese and cream first, making sure to break up all the lumps, then add the rest of the ingredients
Assembly
- Grease your baking pan.
- Take half of the crust mix and evenly press it into the baking pan bottom. I use a measuring cup to press down on it, or you can use a glass with a flat bottom to even it out.
- Pour your cheesecake filling over the crust.
- Spoon the apple pie filling over the cheesecake layer evenly. If you blended your cheesecake ingredients, the consistency will be runny and the apple pie filling will sink, so just be sure to distribute your spoonfuls evenly. Don't mix it.
- If you've used the hand mixer, you'll get a bit thicker cheesecake and your apple filling will likely stay on top. If you'd like it to sink a little, just use a spoon to gently lift up on the cheesecake layer in a few places to allow the apple pie filling to sink. Do as you prefer.
- Take the rest of the crust mix and crumble it evenly over the top.
- Bake at 350 degrees for 60 minutes or longer if needed. You'll want to bake it low and slow. Test for doneness by pressing on the center. Once it resists pressure, it's done.
- Turn off the oven and open the door a crack. Leave your apple cheesecake in the oven for half an hour or so to cool.
- You can eat it at any point, it tastes great warm, but I like mine chilled for a few hours.
- If you're serving it for a fancy occasion, you can drizzle the top with caramel sauce, cajeta, or a maple glaze.
- This cake will keep for a week in the refrigerator and still be really good, but I think it tastes best for up to 4 days. Freeze portions of it wrapped tightly in cling wrap and foil or in a freezer dish. It will keep for a few months this way. Defrost in the refrigerator.
Notes
Substitutions For Quark Cheese
If you're not into making your own quark cheese, here are a few dairy products that work as substitutes.
Cottage cheese - Use a full fat, small curd cottage cheese with this recipe. It's best to wash the curds and drain it well, but you can use it as is too, however, your cheese mix will be very runny.
Homemade ricotta cheese
Ricotta cheese - If your ricotta cheese is a bit wet, you can drain it first for a better cheese consistency. But it works either way.
Greek yogurt - Use the full fat, unflavored version.
Cream cheese - Cream cheese will make a very dense and heavier cheesecake, but you can definitely use it. I'd mix it half and half with the Greek yogurt for a bit of tang and a similar consistency to quark cheese.
Homemade queso fresco cheese
Queso fresco - This is another homemade cheese, but it's super quick to make. I've got instructions on my queso fresco cheesemaking page for that. You'll need just milk and vinegar or lemon juice and it takes 15 minutes to make and about half an hour to drain. Done!
Tips for Making The Awesomest Apple Pie Cheesecake
How To Make A Layered Cake
To make a layered cake, you will need to make a firm filling. Here are some tips for doing this:- Use cream cheese, Greek yogurt, queso fresco, or quark cheese that has been well drained. Cottage cheese might work if you wash the curds and drain it really well. I don’t think ricotta cheese would work for this, it’s just too soft.
- Use a hand mixer instead of the blender if possible, it will help keep the cheese more firm.
- Separate your eggs and blend the egg yolks into the cheese base, but whip the whites separately till very firm. After mixing all the other ingredients, gently fold your stiff whites into the batter. This should yield a slightly firmer texture overall.
- Use a smaller sized pan with high sides (I used a 8×10 deep dish, which worked great, or you can use a 10″ spring form. Line the bottom with parchment paper.
- When layering, press about 2/3 of your crust into the bottom of the pan. If you’re using a spring form, you can go up the sides too for a nice presentation once the sides are removed.
- Spread half of the cheesemix over the crust, then half of the apple filling, half of the remaining crumbles and repeat.
- This will take longer to bake. Just keep an eye on it and cover with aluminum foil if it gets too dark on top before it’s done. Press the middle to check for doneness. You should feel resistance.
- Chill for several hours before cutting into it.