Kara and I first saw this recipe probably a year ago and we both instantly started drooling. But we put off making it for a couple of reasons. First, it seemed like a lot of steps–crust, caramel, nuts, cheesecake, whip cream. Who has time for all that? And second, we needed a place to take it because it’d be dangerous sitting idle in our fridge. Lucky for us Kara’s friend Melissa’s birthday gave us an excuse to try this recipe!
Because we’d been eyeing this cheesecake for so long we had really really high expectations. I’ve eaten a lot of cheesecake in my lifetime so this one had a lot to live up to. Plus we’re kind of food snobs…I admit it.Since we changed several parts of the recipe we were semi nervous about it not turning out. We decided not to use a springform pan and instead opted for 2 pie dishes. We also tried to simplify the recipe a bit. We skipped the pecans and the whip cream layer because those parts weren’t important to us, all we really cared about was the cheesecake layer, the crust and the caramel apples. And the original recipe called for a homemade caramel sauce but we went with our favorite store bought kind: Trader Joe’s Fleur de Sel Caramel Sauce. If you have not tried this caramel sauce you must do it. It’s. To. Die. For.So all in all this cheesecake was fabulous. I think Kara would agree that even though we eliminated a few steps the outcome was even better than we imagined. Since we got 2 pies out of this recipe we saved one for Thanksgiving dinner. Can’t wait!!

Here’s what you’ll need

Pulse the Teddy Grahams in a food processor

Combine the crumbs and the melted butter

Press the crumbs into the pie dishes and bake until golden brown

Pour in a layer of caramel sauce then refrigerate

Melt butter in a skillet then add brown sugar, cinnamon and salt

Stir to combine

Add apples and toss to coat

Cook apples until tender and most of the liquid has reduced

Pour the apples on top of the caramel layer

Ok now for the cheesecake. Beat the cream cheese until smooth

Add the vanilla

In goes the lemon

And the eggs. Beat until smooth. Almost done.

Add the cheesecake on top of the apples. Spread evenly

After it has baked and cooled you can drizzle on some caramel sauce, if desired

Yum!

This is a great pie for Thanksgiving
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