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. 

Caramel Apple Pie with Crumb Topping

I forgot to take a picture until there was only
one slice left! Just trust me that it was pretty :)

Brooke and I had another "Chopped" competition - this time we got to pick whatever we wanted to make for dessert instead of pulling ingredients out of a hat like last time (click here for that post). She made an oreo cheesecake with mousse topping and I decided to make a cherry pie. We went to the store for supplies and what do you know, our little grocery store didn't carry cherry pie filling, or any cherries for that matter - so I switched to apple. Instead of making my own filling I went with store-bought apple pie filling and doctored it a little by adding a bit of lemon juice and some cinnamon. I wasn't being lazy not making my own - I just had the rest of the meal to make and didn't have much time! I will post Brooke's dessert later and you can guess which of us won... for now here is my pie:


Ingredients:

• unbaked deep dish pie shell
• 2 cans apple pie filling
• 1/2 cup caramel topping
• lemon juice and cinnamon (to doctor the pie filling and make it taste more homemade)
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 cup flour
• 2/3 cup brown sugar
• 1 Tablespoon sugar (I used raw turbinado sugar - it's crunchier)

Spread 1/4 cup caramel topping in the bottom of an unbaked deep dish pie shell, topped with the doctored apple pie filling.

In a separate bowl combine 1/2 cup butter, 1 cup flour, and 2/3 cup brown sugar. Mix together with a pastry cutter, food processor,  or your fingers until crumbs form. Sprinkle evenly over the pie filling and then sprinkle on 1 Tablespoon of sugar over top of that.

Bake at 375' for 50 - 60 minutes until done - watch that the crust doesn't burn. If it gets too brown cover the edges with strips of aluminum foil. After you remove from the oven drizzle another 1/4 cup caramel over the top. Let cool.

Mini Fruit Pies

My niece asked me to make her favorite mini pies for graduation last week, she wanted to share them with her co-workers/students on her last day of school. I made 48 total and that wasn't nearly enough, she said they were gone in like an hour and a half! Oops, I didn't plan that very good - but she said they were delicious and everyone loved them - yay.

This is a very easy shortcut way to make cute little mini pies using refrigerated pie crust and canned pie filling.

Roll out the crust so it's a little thinner than you would use for a full pie, then cut circles using a 2.25" round cookie cutter - I've also used a small juice glass before and that works just fine. Gently press the dough into mini muffin tins that have been lightly sprayed with non stick spray.

Using my small cookie dough scoop I fill the cups about 3/4th full, too full and they'll bubble over (which makes a mess in the oven, trust me). Bake at 400' for approx 12 minutes until the edges of the crust are browned. Cool for a few minutes in the pan and then carefully remove to a cooling rack (I use a small knife to help lift them out).

I made blueberry using canned pie filling, after they were cool I drizzled them with powdered sugar mixed with a little milk (put in a small baggie, snip a bit off the tip and drizzle away).

She also requested apple and of course I forgot to buy apple pie filling...so I was all set to drive to the store for some when it occurred to me that I have apples and should just whip up my own apple filling. I peeled and diced 2 apples, put in a saucepan with a little bit of flour (like a tablespoon), 2 tablespoons of sugar, a dash of cinnamon and a small amount of water. Cook for 5 minutes or so at medium heat until the apples have cooked a bit but aren't mushy. To finish the apple pies I made a crumb topping  from 1/4 cup flour, 2 tablespoons of sugar, a dash of cinnamon, and 4 tablespoons butter - using a fork I cut the ingredients together until it formed coarse crumbs - and then sprinkled on top.

Dave gave the blueberry pies a 10+ and the apple a 9.5...apparently canned pie filling tasted better than my made up apple pie filling. Oh well. Paige said she loved them both so that's good :)

Here is how her decorated station for her graduation turned out - she was happy with everything :)