Apple Streusel Cheesecake with Cream Cheese and Quark

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

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 Chocolate Cheesecake and the White Chocolate Apricot Cheesecake and so on. But cheesecake is one of my favorite kind of cakes, something I bake really really often, a cake that most everybody loves, so why not? It was not planned, but here it is: my first cheesecake featuring apples and streusel.

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!

The list of ingredients might seem long, but don’t let that discourage you, there are only common and cheap ingredients on the list and the cake is really easy and quick to make, especially if you use a food processor. This is one of the things I love most when making such a cheesecake. They are so quick and easy and the result is always delicious.

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Apple Streusel Cheesecake

Rating  5.0 from 1 reviews

Prep time:  30 mins

Cook time:  50 mins

Total time:  1 hour 20 mins

Serves: 12-14

Ingredients

• For the base:
• 200 g/ 7 oz butter cookies
• 100 g/ 3.5 oz butter
• For the streusel:
• 65 g/ 2.3 oz butter, cold
• 50 g/ 1.7 oz butter cookies
• 75 g/ 2.6 oz/ ⅔ cup all-purpose flour
• 50 g/ 1.7 oz/ ¼ cup brown sugar
• ½ teaspoon cinnamon
• For the filling:
• 400 g/ 14 oz cream cheese
• 250 g/ 8.8 oz quark
• 100 g/ 3.5 oz/ ½ cup granulated sugar
• 2 teaspoons all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 pinch of salt
• 2 eggs (small Germany, medium US)
• 1 egg yolk
• 200 ml/ ¾ cup + 2 tablespoons heavy cream
• 2 small apples
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius/ 360 degrees Fahrenheit. Line the base of a springform 26 cm/ 10 inch diameter with baking paper.
2. To make the base of the cake: place the broken butter cookies in a food processor and process until you have fine crumbs. Alternatively you could place them in a freezing bag and crush them with a rolling pin. Melt the butter and give it to the cookie crumbs. Mix well, transfer the mixture to the springform and press with your fingers to make the base of the cake. Bake for 10 minutes in the preheated oven.
3. Make the streusel now, so you will not have to clean the food processor twice. Place the cold butter and butter cookies, flour, brown sugar and cinnamon in the food processor. Process until the mixture starts forming large crumbs. Alternatively mix with your hands until you get the crumbs. Transfer to a bowl. Scrape the food processor as good as you can, I didn't bother washing it before making the filling.
4. To make the filling attach the paddle attachment to the food processor. Alternatively you can use a hand mixer. 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.
5. Peel the apples and chop them into small cubes. Mix with 2 tablespoons lemon juice.
6. Brush the walls of the springform with some butter. The form is hot, so the butter will melt and brushing will be very easy.
7. 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 and bake for 40 to 50 minutes. The streusel should be quite brown and the middle of the cake still a bit wobbly.
8. 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. It is best eaten the next day after baking.

3.5.3208

Others you might like:

Chocolate Cheesecake

German Cheesecake

Blueberry Lemon Curd Cheesecake