Apple Crumb Cheesecake Pie

This is the dessert I made for my "competition" with Cathy (after we went to the Country Mill and split a 1/2 bushel of Northern Spy apples we somehow turned it into having a bake-off to see who could make the better apple dessert - really, why do I turn even getting apples into a competition? LOL!!). She made an apple spice cake with warm rum sauce which was fantastic, reminded me a lot of the apple pudding cake I make for Dave that is so, so good. I didn't get her apple spice cake recipe, but click here for my apple pudding cake recipe.

I found two recipes for this 2 desserts-in-one apple pie/slash/cheesecake;  it's weird but it seems they are both using a third person's recipe but use different amounts of ingredients to make the filling - I'm curious what the original recipe calls for. I bet one of these recipes is the original and one is modified but I don't know which is which! click here and here for the recipes I based this on. I sorta combined the two recipes to come up with my version:

Ingredients:

• dough for 1 piecrust (homemade or store bought)

APPLE PIE FILLING:

• 6 cups apples, peeled and diced
• 2 T. lemon juice
• 6 T. brown sugar
• 6 T. white sugar
• 1/4 cup cornstarch
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon coarse salt
• 1 1/2 cup water

CRUMB TOPPING:

• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup old-fashioned oats
• 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 2 T. unsalted butter, melted
• pinch of coarse salt

CHEESECAKE:

• 1 8oz. package cream cheese, softened
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1 large egg, room temperature
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 Tablespoons sour cream

GARNISH (optional):

• 1/4 cup caramel sauce (I used Sanders)

INSTRUCTIONS:

• Preheat oven to 375'

APPLE PIE FILLING:

1. Drizzle the lemon juice over the apples and toss to coat. Set aside.
2. Stir together the sugars, cornstarch, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt in a large saucepan. Whisk in the water until everything has dissolved.
3. Bring the mixture to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce the heat slightly and simmer for 2 minutes.
4. Add the apples and increase the heat to medium-high to bring the mixture to a full boil again. Reduce the heat to low and simmer, stirring occasionally for 10-12 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and let the mixture cool.
5. Refrigerate the filling in an airtight container for 4-6 hours to thicken. Store in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.

FOR THE PIECRUST:

1. Spray a 9" pie plate with nonstick baking spray.
2. Place the dough in the pie plate. Fold the edges of the dough under and crimp them. Refrigerate until ready to sue.

FOR THE CRUMB TOPPING:

1. Mix together all crumb topping ingredients and set aside.

FOR THE CHEESECAKE:

1. Beat the cream cheese until creamy. Add the sugar and beat the mixture until smooth.
2. Add the egg and beat until fully incorporated but do not over beat the batter.

ASSEMBLY:

1. Spread the cheesecake batter in the prepared pie crust.
2. Gently spoon the apple pie filling on top of the cheesecake batter.
3. Sprinkle the crumb topping evenly over the pie filling.
4. Bake for 40 minutes
5. Drizzle with caramel sauce if desired.

notes: Either I didn't cut the apples in small enough pieces, or I didn't cook them long enough before adding them to the pie because they were crunchy even after the pie was baked. It still tasted great, but the apples needed to be cooked a bit more. My advice is to cook your apples until they are just soft and not crunchy - don't overcook tho or it'll be mushy. Mine didn't soften much during the baking of the pie.