Salted Caramel Apple Cheesecake Bars is a great fall baking recipe with a shortbread crust, cheesecake filling, and an irresistible streusel topping. The salted caramel drizzle makes these the perfect fall dessert for Thanksgiving or Christmas!
Happy October, everyone! It was a beautiful day here today and I actually got out for a walk with Baby Wishes. We have to take advantage of these days before the sidewalks are covered in snow, am I right? I have been in a huge baking mood lately and these Salted Caramel Apple Cheesecake Bars are a product of that.
As many of you know, I have had to be on a dairy-free diet since July because my daughter has a cow’s milk protein allergy. As of September, she was still having issues and I had to also stop consuming soy. It has been really hard and challenging!
I immediately thought about how hard the holidays will be since I love to bake. Imagining not being able to eat any of the holiday Christmas cookies and desserts made me so sad. This is NOT an ad by any means, but a friend introduced me to Earth Balance butter sticks.
The butter is dairy free and soy free and bakes up exactly the same as regular butter would. I’m soooo glad to have found it because now I don’t have to miss out on any baked goods at home. I made my apple cider cupcakes and my Levain Bakery Chocolate Chip Cookies with this butter and they tasted EXACTLY the same…maybe even better.
These Salted Caramel Apple Cheesecake Bars will disappear so fast at any event you bring them to. That’s a promise! They are basically like a bite-size cheesecake. You could use store-bought sauce, homemade sauce, even use my friend Anna’s Salted Caramel Butter Sauce to pour over the top!
Honestly, these bars don’t even need the caramel drizzle, but I love the flavor that it adds and the extra “punch”. If you are looking for a dessert that is a little less sweet, feel free to leave it off! These bars would be a huge hit for the holidays, Thanksgiving and Christmas. They are a very nice addition to any holiday dessert trays!
How To Make Salted Caramel Apple Cheesecake Bars
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- ½ cup packed light brown sugar
- 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened to room temperature
- Two 8-ounce packages cream cheese, softened to room temperature
- ½ cup sugar, plus 2 tablespoons, divided
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and diced
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ½ cup salted caramel topping
- 1 cup packed light brown sugar
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- ½ cup quick cooking oats (don’t use old-fashioned oats)
- ½ cup (1 stick) butter, softened to room temperature
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- In a medium mixing bowl, combine flour and brown sugar.
- Cut in butter with a pastry blender until mixture is crumbly. Press evenly into a 13 x 9 baking pan lined with heavy-duty aluminum foil.
- Bake 15 minutes or until lightly browned.
- In a large bowl, beat cream cheese with ½ cup sugar in an electric mixer at medium speed until smooth.
- Add the eggs 1 at a time, beating after each addition. Add vanilla. Stir to combine.
- Pour this egg mixture over warm crust.
- In a small bowl, stir together chopped apples, remaining 2 tablespoons sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Spoon evenly over cream cheese mixture.
- Sprinkle evenly with Streusel topping (recipe below).
- Bake 28-30 minutes, or until filling is set. Chill in the refrigerator for a couple of hours to set and make them easier to cut into.
- Drizzle with caramel topping before serving. Enjoy!
- Combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl.