Caramel Apple Cheesecake Pie – Sally’s Baking Addiction

I always love a good dessert mash-up, especially when it involves cheesecake. Have you seen this pecan pie cheesecake or these coconut cheesecake brownies before?

Today we’re talking all things apple. This recipe is as if I started making an apple crisp or salted caramel apple pie, then threw in a cheesecake. It’s very layered, textured, rich, and undoubtedly tasty. During testing and photography, my team and I made about 8 of these pies… and neighbors were literally leaving notes on our doors to bring them more. (Yes, that really happened!)

Why You’ll Love This Caramel Apple Cheesecake Pie

• A “people pleaser” dessert—satisfies the cheesecake lovers and apple pie lovers
• No water bath or pastry pie crust needed
• A magnificent use of dessert’s favorite condiment, homemade salted caramel
• Tons of texture in every bite
• It’s a lot of steps and layers, but each are quite simple to make
• A great make-ahead recipe because it needs time to chill

4 Layers to Love

This is a texture lover’s pie, for sure. Crispy, crumbly, creamy…oh my!

1. Graham Cracker Crust: A classic crumb crust gets extra crispy from a longer bake time, just like in this s’mores brownie pie.
2. Cheesecake Filling: Smooth, velvety, creamy, and lightly tangy cheesecake pie filling provides a perfect contrast to the textures in the layers above and below.
3. Caramel Apples: Tart apples get the sweet treatment here. Tossed in cinnamon & brown sugar, then drizzled with salted caramel… is there a better way to get your apple a day? They bake long enough to soften but still maintain their texture, much like an apple pie.
4. Streusel Topping: This crumbly topping is a scaled down version of what we use on these salted caramel apple pie bars. I reduced the quantity down because, in testing, I found that too much streusel topping created a mushy layer on this pie.

Pie Testing (& Retesting)

My team and I tested many different versions to figure out the very BEST way to make caramel apple cheesecake pie. Some tests:

1. We tried pre-cooking the apples before adding them to the pie, but not only was it an extra step (and an extra pan to wash), it made the apple layer a bit too soft and wet.
2. Then we tried layering the caramel and apples directly on top of the crust, but the caramel adhered to the crust, making it nearly impossible to cut.
3. We tried it without the streusel topping. Silly mistake. Our strategically selected panel of taste testers (i.e., neighbors who happened to be home LOL) overwhelmingly preferred the versions with the streusel topping to the versions without.

All this recipe testing led to today’s truly delicious dessert—are you ready for it?

Start With a Graham Cracker Crust:

The recipe begins with this graham cracker crust. It’s just 3 simple ingredients: graham crackers, granulated sugar, and melted butter. If you’ve had trouble with graham cracker crust in the past, or if it’s not easy to get graham crackers where you are, read this How to Make a Graham Cracker Crust post for guidance and substitution suggestions.

Bake the crust by itself for 10 minutes, so it can set its shape before filling the pie. It’s ideal if the crust is still a tad warm when you add the filling (so it adheres nicely to the base).

Grab These Ingredients for Filling & Topping:

• Cream Cheese: Use 1.5 8-ounce blocks (12 ounces/340g total) of full-fat cream cheese. Make sure you’re buying the blocks of cream cheese and not the tubs of cream cheese spread.
• Brown Sugar: We’re using brown sugar in the cheesecake filling, like we do in this pecan pie cheesecake. Brown sugar also goes in the caramel apple and streusel layers.
• Sour Cream: Makes for a smooth and velvety texture, and gives it that lightly tangy flavor we all love in cheesecakes.
• Pure Vanilla Extract: Pure vanilla extract adds flavor, especially homemade vanilla extract!
• Egg: The egg provides structure in this baked cheesecake pie.
• Apples: I like to use a mix of tart & sweet apples in baking, like 1 Granny Smith and 1 Honeycrisp or other sweet variety. Peel and slice them really thin, then chop the slices into bite-size pieces. If your apples are too thick, they won’t cook down enough.
• Lemon Juice: I usually include lemon juice in a cheesecake filling, but in this pie, let’s add it to the apples. Tossing the chopped apples in lemon juice helps prevent browning, but we also want to give them a head start on softening before we layer them in the pie.
• Cinnamon: Apple’s favorite spice!
• Homemade Salted Caramel: Have you ever made this liquid gold before? This recipe for salted caramel is surprisingly simple. Use some in the filling and then as much as you want when serving the finished pie. If you want regular caramel (and not salted), reduce the salt in the caramel recipe down to 1/2 teaspoon.
• Oats: Use old-fashioned whole rolled oats. If you don’t want oats in the streusel topping, try halving the crumble topping used on this apple crumble pie and use that instead.
• Flour: Just a little bit in the streusel topping, for structure.
• Butter: Cut cold, cubed butter into the dry streusel ingredients, until you have a crumbly topping. You also use butter in the crust. (And in the homemade caramel!)

Again, there are a lot of layers. Go slow, and read through the recipe and watch the video tutorial before you begin. I categorize this as an intermediate baking recipe.

Let’s Assemble the Caramel Apple Cheesecake Pie