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These Apple Streusel Cheesecake Bars are a delightful apple recipe perfect for Thanksgiving dessert. They have a buttery shortbread crust, creamy cheesecake filling and are topped with cinnamon apples and a cinnamon streusel! A delicious fall dessert and super simple way to enjoy cheesecake and apples together!
Looking for more apple dessert ideas? Try my Easy Apple Crisp, Apple Crumb Cheesecake Pie or my Easy Caramel Apple Cheesecake! So many options!
An Easy Apple Dessert Recipe
We’ve been getting pretty excited for fall around here. The boys just LOVE being outside and the afternoons here get SO hot! We’ve been loving some cooler mornings lately and can’t wait for cooler evenings.
How to Make Apple Streusel Cheesecake Bars
Along with the cool weather comes the awesome fall flavors and treats. These Apple Streusel Cheesecake Bars combine some of my favorite things about fall – apple and cinnamon. And since making a full on cheesecake can be a little more involved and time consuming, these bars make a nice option. They are a little quicker and easier to put together, don’t require a water bath and are easy to serve.
Make the Best Shortbread Crust
To get started making these bars, you’ll make the crust. Unlike a traditional cheesecake, these bars have a shortbread crust. It makes a firmer crust that holds up really well to eating the bars.
The shortbread is a quick combination of flour, brown sugar and cinnamon. You then cut the butter into the flour mixture until it’s crumbly. Pour the mixture into a 9×13 inch cake pan and press it all together evenly. Bake for about 8 to 10 minutes.
Make a Cinnamon Apple Filling
The apples can be chopped and combined with a little flour, cinnamon and nutmeg and then set aside while you put together the cheesecake filling. The flour helps to coat the apples a bit and soak up some of the moisture, while the cinnamon and nutmeg give nice flavor and make it feel like it’s fall.
What kind of apples should I use?
You can use whatever your favorite apple is. I personally think the tart flavor of Granny Smith apples work well, but Red Delicious, Honeycrisp or Gala apples would work as well. You could also use a mix of a couple different types of apples to give it even more flavor.
Make A Simple Cheesecake Filling
The cheesecake filling is a pretty straight forward filling. It uses a little less cream cheese than a full sized cheesecake, so that the bars aren’t too tall. It’s also got some brown sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg for flavor.
Spread the filling evenly on top of the shortbread crust, then top it evenly with the chopped apples.
Make the Streusel Topping
The final step is to make the streusel. You’ll combine the flour, brown sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg, then add the melted butter. Stir it all together until it’s combined and crumbly, then sprinkle it evenly over the bars.
The bars bake for about 45 minutes, then cool on the counter for about 45 minutes, which allows them to cool gradually. Cut up the bars, store them in the fridge and serve them cold!
These Apple Streusel Cheesecake Bars make a wonderful fall treat! They’re perfect for using up any apples you might have lying around and great for sharing as the holiday season starts to pick up (yay!). The combination of apples, cinnamon and streusel just makes you feel all good inside!
More Apple Recipes to Enjoy
Caramel Apple Blondie Cheesecake
Easy Apple Crisp
Apple Crumb Cheesecake Pie
Cinnamon Apple Layer Cake
Cinnamon Apple Icebox Cake
Apple Cinnamon Cheesecake
Caramel Apple Cookie Cups
Apple Streusel Cheesecake Bars
- Prep Time: 1 hour
- Cook Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
- Total Time: 2 hours 30 minutes
- Yield: 20-24 bars
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American
Description
These Apple Streusel Cheesecake Bars are a delightful apple recipe perfect for Thanksgiving dessert. They have a buttery shortbread crust, creamy cheesecake filling and are topped with cinnamon apples and a cinnamon streusel!
Ingredients
Shortbread Crust
- 1 1/2 cups (195g) all purpose flour
- 6 tbsp (84g) packed brown sugar
- 3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 cup (112g) salted butter, room temperature
Cinnamon Apples
- 4 1/4 cups (506g) chopped apples (3–4 large apples)
- 1 1/2 tsp all purpose flour
- 1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
Cheesecake Filling
- 20 ounces (565g) cream cheese, room temperature
- 3/4 cup (168g) packed brown sugar
- 3 tbsp (24g) all purpose flour
- 1/2 cup (115g) sour cream
- 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 1 large egg white, room temperature
Cinnamon Streusel
- 1/2 cup (65g) all purpose flour
- 1/2 cup (112g) packed brown sugar
- 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp nutmeg
- 4 tbsp (56g) salted butter, melted
Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees and prepare a 9×13 inch pan with parchment paper that sticks up above the sides of the pan, so that you can remove the bars later for easy cutting.
2. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, brown sugar and cinnamon.
3. Cut in butter into the flour mixture with a pastry blender or fork until mixture is crumbly.
4. Press evenly into the bottom of the pan and bake for 8-10 minutes. When the crust is done baking, turn the temperature up to 325 degrees.
5. In another large bowl, combine the chopped apples, flour, cinnamon and nutmeg and set aside.
6. To make the filling, blend the cream cheese, brown sugar and flour in a large mixer bowl on low speed until well combined and smooth. Be sure to use low speed to reduce the amount of air added to the batter. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.
7. Add the sour cream, vanilla extract, cinnamon and nutmeg and mix on low speed until well combined.
8. Add the eggs and egg white one at a time, mixing slowly to combine. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed to make sure everything is well combined.
9. Pour the batter into the pan with the crust and spread evenly.
10. Spread the cinnamon apples evenly over the top of the cheesecake filling.
11. In another small bowl, combine the flour, brown sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg for the streusel.
12. Add the melted butter and stir together until crumbly.
13. Sprinkle the streusel evenly over the apples.
14. Bake the bars for about 45 minutes or until the center is just set. Remove the bars from the oven and allow to cool on the counter for about 45 minutes, then refrigerate until cold and firm.
15. Use the parchment paper to remove the bars from the pan and cut into bars. Serve cold. Bars are best when stored well covered in the fridge and eaten within 4-5 days.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 bar
- Calories: 247
- Sugar: 13.8 g
- Sodium: 135.1 mg
- Fat: 15.2 g
- Carbohydrates: 24.9 g
- Protein: 3.8 g
- Cholesterol: 56.3 mg
Keywords: apple recipes, easy apple recipes, apple dessert ideas, thanksgiving dessert ideas, cheesecake bars
These look delicious! Could they be cooked in muffin cups? How would this effect cooking time?
You could do them in muffin cups. Bake time is going to be more like these mini cheesecakes, maybe a touch longer.
Hello Lindsay!
Can this recipe be used to make a 9 inch cake? Can they be stored frozen?
Thank you!
You should be able to make it as a 9 inch cheesecake. Ideally I would kind of adjust it to match the amounts that I typically use for that size cheesecake, but it should be fine.
What type of apples work best for this recipe?
You can use whatever your favorite apple is. I personally think the tart flavor of Granny Smith apples work well, but Red Delicious, Honeycrisp or Gala apples would work as well. You could also use a mix of a couple different types of apples to give it even more flavor.
Absolutely love this recipe! I’ll be making dessert for Thanksgiving and so I experimented with it to see if I’d like it. I love it! My boyfriend was so excited to try it that we both had a piece while it was still cooling. It’s delicious both cold and warm. Obviously I wouldn’t heat this back up once it’s chilled because of the cheesecake aspect, but man was it good soon after it was out of the oven. Highly recommend!
★★★★★
So glad you enjoyed it!
I made this on Tuesday for Thanksgiving. It traveled well in a cooler and it was a huge hit. It’s been requested that I make it for Christmas. Thank you
Wonderful! Glad it was a hit!
I’ve made a few of your recipes and they are amazing. I want to use your caramel apple blondie cheesecake recipe combined with this one– so I want to use the blondie base instead of the shortbread-do you know if I would bake the blondie until cooked (25-30 minutes) and then bake the additional 45 minutes? Or do you suggest I bake the blondie briefly and then bake it another 45 minutes with cheesecake and apples on top? I actually want to make these as cupcakes just for ease of eating but I don’t think it would give me enough height for all the ingredients. Thank you for any input!
Ok, so you’re looking for a fully baked cheesecake and not a no bake, right? You should be able to bake the blondie all the way and then add the cheesecake layer from these bars on top. It may seem strange, but the blondie will be fine, much like the brownie in this cheesecake.
Hi there! Can these be frozen? Love your recipes and would like to be able to have some in the freezer!
They should be fine frozen. I would probably wrap each piece of cheesecake and then store the wrapped pieces in a Ziploc bag. I hope you enjoy them!
If I bake these bars 3 days ahead, will they keep okay in the fridge until serving?? I was hoping to bake them Wednesday night and serve then Saturday evening. If yes, should I refrigerate in the original pan/shape or cut them up and seal them in a tupperware container? Thank you!
Yes, cheesecake keeps really well. I would leave them in the pan and just cover them and then slice them before you use them on Saturday.
Amazing!! Thank you so much! 🙂
Just in time for the cooler weather! I love cooking and baking with apples, and this recipe is on the list. Thanks, Lindsay! I have to head to the orchard!
Loving all these fall and apple orientated recipes! I’ve been bracing myself for a barrage of pumpkin recipes on all the blogs, but surprisingly, they’re still yet to come! I’m not a huge fan of pumpkin, at all, so apple and anything spice are my autumnal preferences 🙂
I’m glad you’re enjoying them! There certainly will be pumpkin to come, but not quite yet. 🙂