Apple Streusel Cheesecake

Creamy apple streusel cheesecake, the perfect autumn cheesecake made with apples and topped with lots of sweet crumbs.

Incredibly creamy apple streusel cheesecake with soft and aromatic apples cubes and topped with crunchy, sweet crumbs.

I couldn't resist another cheesecake. I know I've already posted lots of them in July, fruity ones like the Blueberry or the Cherry Cheesecake, others full of chocolate like the Double Chocolate Cheesecake and the White Chocolate Apricot Cheesecake and so on.

I was inspired to make this cheesecake by Rosa from For the Love of Italian Cooking. She recently posted this delicious looking New York Cheesecake and revealed that her secret to an extra creamy cheesecake is replacing the usual sour cream with heavy cream. The first time she did that was due to a mistake, but the resulting cake was so good that she's been making it like this ever since.

I was so taken by this idea that I could not resist baking a cheesecake just to see how that works. And I love the result: the cake was so wonderfully creamy, really melting in your mouth! I hope you will try this, you will love it for sure!

This is an updated post from October 2016. Rosa passed away in 2018, so this apple crumb cheesecake is in her memory.

If you would like to see more of Rosa's recipes, have a look at this Ultimate Meat Sauce for Pasta, these Gnudi - Ricotta Dumplings and this recipe for Macerated Strawberries.

Ingredients

What kind of cookies for the crust?

• Crushed cookies or graham crackers and melted butter.
• I used the very common German butter cookies, which are crisp, sweet, and very easy to get around here. They are very similar to Petit Beurre.
• However, any regular cookies available in your area will be perfect as well. For instance, graham crackers.

Dairy:

What is quark?

• Quark is a fresh dairy product, traditional in the cuisines of German-speaking, Scandinavian and Slavic countries. It is protein-packed (½ cup has 11 g protein in it) and is super healthy, especially the low-fat kind.
• Quark is very cheap and very common in Germany, but maybe not that easy to find in other countries. However, most larger supermarkets probably sell quark nowadays, I really hope you can find it.
• It is similar to Greek yogurt, but less tart in taste and slightly stiffer. When it comes to consistency, I think strained yogurt comes closest to quark. When it comes to taste, cottage cheese is a close approximate, however quark has a slightly stronger taste and is very smooth, while cottage cheese has those little balls in it.
• If you cannot find any quark at all, but you would still like to try this apple crumb cheesecake recipe, try substituting quark with blended cottage cheese and cream cheese in a 1:1 ratio, so a total of 500 g/ 1.1 lbs/ 2 ½ cups.

Cream cheese: Regular, full-fat cream cheese, Philadelphia style.

Heavy cream: Heavy or double cream. Not sweetened whipping cream or other sweetened products.

How to make it?

This apple streusel cheesecake is super quick to make especially if you have a stand mixer or a food processor.

Crust:

• Place the biscuits or crackers in the food processor, add the melted butter and process until everything is combined. Press the mixture on the bottom of a springform lined with parchment paper and bake for 10 minutes.

Streusel:

• Place the cookies or crackers, cubed cold butter, flour, brown sugar and cinnamon in the food processor and mix until you obtain streusel. Transfer to a bowl and scrape the walls of the food processor well. If it is well scraped, you will not need to wash it before you make the filling.

Filling:

• Attach the paddle attachment to the food processor.
• Mix the quark and the cream cheese until very fluffy.
• Continue on the lowest speed and add the sugar, flour, vanilla extract and salt.
• Mix to incorporate, then start adding the eggs and the egg yolk, one by one, mixing well in between. Pour in the heavy cream and incorporate.
• Peel the apples and chop them into small cubes. Mix with 2 tablespoons lemon juice.
• Brush the walls of the springform with some butter. The form is hot, so the butter will melt and brushing will be very easy.
• Place the chopped apples on the base of the cake and carefully pour in the filling. Stir gently to make sure that the apples don't get pushed towards the walls of the springform. Evenly sprinkle the cake with the streusel.

Bake the apple crumb cake:

• Bake for 40 to 50 minutes
• The streusel should be quite brown and the middle of the cake still a bit wobbly.
• Turn off the heat but leave the cake inside the oven. Place a wooden spoon in the door of the oven to prevent it from closing and leave the cake for another two hours in the oven.
• Take it out and let it cool completely.
• This cheesecake is best served the next day.

How to make without the food processor?

• To make the crust place the biscuits or crackers in a freezing bag and crush them with a rolling pin. Mix with the melted butter and press on the bottom of the prepared springform.
• To make the streusel crush the remaining biscuits or crackers and mix with the flour, sugar and cinnamon.
• Cut the cold butter into the mixture using a butter knife until you obtain crumbles. Set aside.
• To make the filling mix the cream cheese and quark with a hand mixer until very fluffy.
• Continue on the lowest speed and add the sugar, flour, vanilla extract and salt.
• Mix to incorporate, then start adding the eggs and the egg yolk, one by one, mixing well in between. Pour in the heavy cream and incorporate.

More cheesecakes?

Double Chocolate Cheesecake

German Cheesecake

Blueberry Lemon Curd Cheesecake

Crustless Cheesecake

Pumpkin Cheesecake - No Bake