My favorite thing to do this time of year is to go apple picking with my girlfriends. However, our version of apple picking involves eating every single apple dessert on the menu of a small road-side stand and buying bags of already-picked apples. This is to ensure that we have plenty of time to stop at the wineries near the orchards for wine tasting. So I say that I love apple picking, but truthfully, I’ve never picked an apple (at least not that I can remember after wine tasting). On our last trip, we had a pie very similar to this one. This pie is part cheesecake and part apple crumb pie. Enjoy!
Apple Cheesecake Crumb Pie |
Yields 1 small 6″ pie.
Ingredients
- FOR THE CRUST:
- 5 ounces (1 cup) flour
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 ounces (4 tablespoons) cold unsalted butter, diced
- 1/2 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
- 3-4 tablespoons cold water
- FOR THE CRUMB TOPPING:
- 1/4 cup flour
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
- pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
- 1/8 teaspoon ground ginger
- 3 tablespoons butter
- FOR THE FILLING:
- 1 small apple (I prefer Honey Crisp)
- pinch of orange zest (optional)
- 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon flour
- pinch of salt
- 6 ounces cream cheese, softened
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 large egg, at room temperature
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 2 teaspoons cornstarch
- Caramel sauce for serving (optional)
Instructions
- First, make the crust: stir together in a small bowl with a fork the flour, sugar, and salt. Add the butter and use your finger tips or a pastry cutter to blend it into the flour.
- Once all the butter pieces are about the size of small peas, add the vinegar and a small amount of water, stirring between each addition. Add enough water so that the dough comes together in a ball, but isn’t overly sticky.
- Form the dough into a disk, cover it in plastic wrap, and let it chill in the fridge at least 30 minutes.
- Meanwhile, make the crumb topping: combine all ingredients except butter in a small bowl. Add the butter and rub it in until well incorporated. Set aside.
- Now, peel and dice your apple into 1/4” chunks. You should end up with about 1 cup of diced apple pieces.
- Add the apple to a medium bowl and toss with the cinnamon, flour, salt and orange zest (if using). Set aside. I
- n another bowl, beat together the cream cheese, vanilla, egg, sugar and cornstarch. Set aside while you prepare your pie crust.
- Preheat the oven to 375°.
- Roll the pie dough disk on a lightly floured surface into a circle about 8-9” in diameter. Carefully transfer this to a 7” pie tin and fit it in the bottom gently (do not ever stretch pie dough—it will shrink back in the oven). Fold the overhanging dough under the edges to form a double crust and make a pretty edge, either with a fork or your fingers. Do not prick the bottom of the dough with a fork. Transfer the pie tin to a small baking sheet and bake in the oven for 10 minutes.
- Remove from the oven. If the crust has puffed up, gently push it back down before pouring the cream cheese mixture on top. Add the diced apples on top, followed by the crumb topping. Bake for 30-40 minutes. If the crumbs aren’t brown enough, broil for a few minutes. This pie is great at room temperature, or even chilled. Serve with caramel sauce.
Ha! I do the same thing on peach-picking trips here in central Texas… I have had many a slice of peach pie with peach ice cream while on these excursions! Your recipe looks delicious – part apple crumb, part cheesecake – my family would love this!!!
i don’t think i’d be able to share this, it would be a dessert for one instead;-)
this looks insanely good :) perfect for a dinner party. thank you for sharing this.
Good golly!! This looks fabulous. I am responsible for dessert for Thanksgiving. I think you have given me just what I need!! Thanks for sharing!
holy baker! i wish we lived closer so i could be your sampler. wonderful meeting you, christina!
Christina, it was nice meeting you, too. I love this cheesecake. Mostly because I don’t have to go out and buy 3 or more blocks of cream chese for it! It looks amazing. I am glad you had a great time this weekend. Can’t wait to follow your blog!
Christina, thank you for saying hi and I love your recipes and your blog, already! :)
Absolutely LOVED meeting you this weekend! Had such a wonderful time! And I stand corrected…I will always from now on capitalize The South! LOL
Your newest followers and friends
Charisse and Eric
Hi Christina!! It was awesome meeting you this weekend. I love your blog and your photography is gorgeous! It was very ironic that we are going through the same situation, I hope everything works out for you. You’re such a nice person so I’m sure it will. We will definitely have to chat and keep each other posted!
haha, sounds like my kind of apple picking :)
So um yea…….totally gonna appear on my thanksgiving day table!
So nice seeing you at the festival! wish we had longer to chat! you always have a friend in LA!
Heyyyy!! Your desserts are NO joke! They Look SO Yummy and I love that they are ‘printer friendly’!! It was so great to meet you at the festival! Hope to chat again soon!
this looks awesome. i had a crumb cake in the city this weekend. Don’t tell anyone. People will think I’m ridiculous for buying food when there was SO much food at the festival. Anyway, this looks yummy and you should totally submit this to my apple cook off!
apple cheesecake with a crumb topping, delish. I love you version of apple picking..too fun!!
sweetlife
Hi Christina,
Your blog is so great and your pictures are beautiful! I think I’d want to be your neighbor. Fun to meet you last weekend. Now we are blog friends.
I think a lot of us do “apple-picking” that way! This cheesecake looks fantastic!
part cheesecake, part apple crumb pie??? Oh my it sounds incredible!
This looks so amazing! I absolutely love this blog. As a person with a sweets addiction myself, this blog is heaven. I hope you don’t mind us linking to some of your recipes in the future.
-Sarah
Editor
RecipeLion.com
This looks SO good. I’ve been searching everywhere for a 6 or even 8 inch pie pan, and have not been able to find it!! Ok, not everywhere… haven’t actually gone to any specialty store or anything, but they definitely don’t sell them at any of the 6 stores in my general vicinity that have a kitchen section. Lame. Where did you get yours?
Just made this last night – absolutely fantastic! I used my 6″ springform pan that I’ve used for other recipes on this blog and as always, the results were perfect and a great use for the local apples I have! Thanks as always for recipes that are consistently great for just two of us!
-Lindsay
P.S. We actually ended up cutting this into eight slices and we still have a few leftover! It’s still cheesecake after all:-)
So glad to hear it, Lindsay! Thanks so much for taking the time to write in with a success story :) Happy baking!
Hi! Decided to try this recipe today and it was delicious! The crust didnt come out too pretty (it was my first time & hey, practice makes perfect!) but everything – the crust, the crumb topping, the apples, the cheesecake – it was all delicious! I didnt have a 7 inch pie pan or spring form pan, only a 9 inch which explains the crust a bit and why the filling and topping wasnt as thick as I would have liked, but it was expected. I’ll definitely be making this again, and soon! Thanks for sharing!
Thanks so much, SoPhie! I’m glad to know it can kinda be scaled up in a 9″ pan. I should make a large version of this dessert soon, because I love it so! :)
I made this pie for Thanksgiving. I have two questions, the crumb topping was not crumby at all. It was more of a paste, I ended up plopping in on the pie. Second, the caramel sauce was hard as a rock after it cooled. We warmed it up in the microwave. I bought your dessert book and that’s where I found the recipe. Can you tell me where I went wrong? It was still delicious.
Hi Stephanie,
Thanks for writing. I’m not exactly sure what happened, but if I had to guess, the topping may be pasty because they butter was too warm. Cold butter right from the fridge will keep a topping crumbly. Yes, homemade caramel sauce lacks the chemicals and the weird stuff store-bought brands add to keep it soft and pourable at room temperature. I’m glad a little heat did the trick ;) I’ve been reading about homemade caramel sauce recipes that have corn syrup in them to help with the room temperature softness, but generally, my readers hate when my recipes have corn syrup, so I’m at a loss.
Anyway, thanks so much for writing. I hope you had a great holiday :)
Christina
If I use a standard pie dish do I make a recipe and a half? Only have a10″ pie plate. Thanks!
can this pie be made in advance and frozen?
I don’t think so, I don’t like the texture of cooked apples once frozen :( sorry!
Where can i find the recipe for this? :) For some reason it is not showing up here on the page. Thanks!