From Scratch Apple Cheesecake Bars with Greek Yogurt
These bars have a buttery soft crust, rich New York-style cheesecake middle with sweet apples mixed in, and a light and crumbly streusel topping.
Ingredients
For the Base *alternative option at the bottom of ingredients
- 1 cups flour
- 3 tablespoon sugar
- 1 tablespoon blackstrap molasses option to use maple syrup
- 5 tablespoon unsalted butter
- 2 tablespoon olive oil
For the Cheesecake Filling
- 1 ¼ cups cream cheese
- ¼ cups full fat plain Greek yogurt
- ¼ cups white sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 pinch sea salt
- 1 tablespoon flour
For the Apple Filling
- 4 cups diced or sliced peeled apples 3-4 medium apples. *see notes
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
For the Streusel Topping
- ¼ cups + 3 tablespoon sugar
- ½ tablespoon maple syrup
- ½ cups flour
- ¼ cups rolled oats
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ cups unsalted butter
*Alternative Option for Base
- 1 cup flour
- 3 tablespoon sugar
- 1 tablespoon maple syrup
- 6 tablespoon unsalted butter
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
Instructions
Make the Base
- Preheat oven to 350℉. Either Line a 9"x7" or 8"x8" baking pan with parchment paper or spray with olive oil.
- In a medium-sized bowl, combine all the ingredients for the base: flour, sugar, maple syrup, butter, oil. Press mixture into pan. Bake 15-18 minutes until it's light golden brown If you lightly touch the top it should be slightly firm and not wet at all once baked. Set aside and leave oven on.
Make the Cream Cheese Filling
- While the crust is baking, in a medium-sized bowl combine the cream cheese and sugar. Add the egg, vanilla, salt, and flour and combine well until smooth (use a stand mixer, hand mixer, fork, or whisk). Set aside.If you're doing this part by hand use a potato masher to blend the chunks!
Make the Apple Filling
- Slice and chop the apples into ½" or smaller pieces. Add apples to a medium-sized mixing bowl. Add sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg and mix together. Set aside.
Make the Streusel
- Re-use bowl you used to make the base (or get another medium bowl) and add in sugar, maple syrup, flour, rolled oats, cinnamon, and butter. Combine all ingredients with your fingers or a fork. Set aside.
Layering the Bars
- Pour cheesecake mixture onto baked base. Pour apples over cheesecake mixture spreading them out evenly. Using your fingers, crumble the streusel topping over the top. Bake at 350℉ for 35-40 minutes or until the cheesecake is set. Let the bars cool in the fridge for at least 2 hours to harden and set.
Serving
- Once cooled, remove bars from pan using parchment paper to pull them out. Set on a cutting surface and slice into 12 even-size bars. There are no rules, you cut them as big as you want! Enjoy!
Notes
*I prefer Granny Smith. I've used Fuji and Jazz with great success too. A blend of apples always works well.
*Alternative Option for Base: For softer, more of a shortbread crust
1 c. flour
3 tbsp. sugar
1 tbsp. maple syrup
6 tbsp. unsalted butter
1 tbsp. olive oil