Salted Caramel Apple Cheesecake Bars
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 November, 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!
If you’re looking for more apple desserts, definitely try my Cinnamon Apple Dumplings. They have a secret ingredient in the sauce that will blow your mind! You will also love my Cinnamon Apple Pie Bread. It is one of the most popular fall recipes on my blog! If you are looking for more salted caramel desserts, try my Salted Caramel Kentucky Butter Cake. You won’t be disappointed!
Check out my how-to video of me making the recipe for these 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.
These look delicious!
Thank you!
Serious caramel love in these cheesecake bars!
These are absolutely incredible. Thanks for such a great, easy to follow recipe!
I love these bars! Perfect for our holiday company!
Delicious! I wish I could eat these every day!
Oh my gosh, these bars are crazy good!
That caramel takes these over the top – delicious recipe!
This is totally irresistible! A new favorite in my house!
The salted caramel really puts this over the top!
These are fantastic. Love the drizzle on top!
Yum. Now these look delicious! Neither of my daughters ever had food-related issues as children, thank goodness. But fortunately these days there are so many options available food-wise.
These bars are irresistible!
Such a fun combination, I love it!
How do I get the rest of the directions? The last thing I can see is
Streusel Topping:
1) Combine all ingredients in mixing bowl.
I would love to make these Saturday but what do I do next??
That is just the directions for the streusel topping. The full directions are above it and say when to add the topping.
This is by far one of my most favorite desserts. I served it with salted Carmel ice cream And drizzled it with salted carmel sauce. Was a great hit with guests too
Do you buy the salted caramel sauce