Caramel Apple Cheesecake

Happy Holidays! My favorite time of the year has approached, quickly! I thought I'd share a recipe for a cheesecake dessert. I baked two cheesecakes for thanksgiving ... but feel free to alter the recipe and start off with one.

What you will need:

• 2 large bowls
• a strainer
• two crusts - we used already made graham cracker crusts
• caramel - the ice cream topping caramel works well or you can make your own
• pecans, walnuts or hazelnuts - we used hazelnuts but I'd prefer pecans (optional)

What you will need for the apple filling:

• about 8 apples - we used a mix of three different apples - Figi, Granny Smith and MacIntosh
• 1/3 cup of white granulated sugar
• 1/3 cup of packed light brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon of lemon juice - we just eyeballed
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 tablespoon cornstarch
• 2 tablespoons of unsalted butter

Peel, core and slice apples. Then place them in a large bowl. After all the apples are sliced you can pour the lemon juice over the apples - to keep them from browning.

Then you are going to combine the sugars, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt and corn starch. Apples naturally produce water so you are you going to put the apple mixture into a strainer over a large brown. Let them drain for about a half an hour or more.

While your apples are sitting out draining you can start the cheesecake filling!
What you will need for the cheesecake filling:

• 4 packages of cream cheese
• 3/4 cup of white granulated sugar 
• 1/4 cup of packed light brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla - we eyeballed it
• 4 eggs

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees (or if you want your apples to sit out for awhile wait until you're ready to bake). Beat the cream cheese, sugar and vanilla until it is well blended. It would be best if you used a mixer but we didn't. Then blend in your eggs one at a time. 

You want to leave your apples out to produce about 1/2 cup of juice or more. You can spray a cup and pour the juice in the cup along with the butter and heat the mixture for about 5-7 minutes in the microwave OR you can heat the juice and butter in a saucepan over medium-high heat on the stove.You want the liquid to boil until it becomes syrupy. Pour the the syrup over the apples and mix.

Once the oven is preheated you can put together your cheesecake! You can mix your hazelnuts into the apple mixture now or save it for the top of the cake. Spoon the apple filling in your crust - not too much about halfway. Save some apple for the top of the cheesecake.

Then, you are going to pour the cheesecake over the apples.

Bake the cheesecake for 30-35 minutes.

When your cake is done baking you can mix your caramel with the apple mixture and place the apples on top of the cake or place the apples on top of the cheesecake first and then drizzle the caramel over the apples.

Refrigerate for 4 hours and then ENJOY!