cinnamon apple cheesecake with streusel topping

fall flavors on a plate. and in a glass.
you know you want it.

Well, if it's not already obvious, we are obsessed with the fall, especially all of the flavors and smells that come with it. So I couldn't resist making this awesome dessert once I saw it floating around on Pinterest. I had never made cheesecake before until this so I was kind of hesitant at first but once I got done making it, I realized it was actually a lot easier to make than I would have thought! My only problem with the recipe was and this was entirely my fault because I got way too excited and ahead of myself to realize the mistake....I made the crust and cooked it in the pie pan BEFORE I realized it needed to be in a 9x13 pan. Of course, the whole "cheesecake bars" thing didn't make sense to me until after the fact. Beginner's mistake! The only thing I did different because of this since in the pie pan it was soooo much thicker, I cooked it for about 20 more minutes and it still turned out amazing! I think this will be my contribution to our family Thanksgiving dinner along with my never fail and always amazing puppy chow! We paired this delicious dessert with an Angry Orchard Cider Beer and it made for an awesome Sunday snack...and probably Monday morning breakfast, minus the beer. Or will I minus the beer?! Who knows! If you have apples you want to use up and feel the itch to whip up something besides apple crisp, I would highly suggest making this because you won't be disappointed!
I followed the recipe from The Girl Who Ate Everything blog and it turned out great! Besides having to add extra cook time, I'll mark where I made some changes from what she did! So here's what you'll need:

Crust:

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened 

Cheesecake Filling:

3 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, softened **I only used 2 1/2 packages**

3/4 cup sugar, plus 2 tablespoons, divided

3 large eggs

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Apples:

3 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and finely chopped

**I used my food processor to really get chopped up fine and super tiny...I didn't want big apple chunks like apple pie**

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

**I added a few extra pinches of both cinnamon and nutmeg to add extra flavor with the apples**

Streusel Topping:

1 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup quick cooking oats

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a medium bowl, combine flour and brown sugar. Cut in butter with a pastry blender (or 2 forks) until mixture is crumbly. Press evenly into a 9x13 baking pan sprayed with cooking spray or Pam of some sort. Bake 15 minutes or until lightly browned.

In a large bowl, beat cream cheese with 3/4 cup sugar in an electric mixer at medium speed until smooth. Then add eggs, 1 at a time, and vanilla. Stir to combine. Pour over warm crust.

In a small bowl, stir together chopped apples, remaining 2 tablespoons sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Spoon evenly over cream cheese mixture.

For the streusel topping:
In a small bowl, combine all ingredients. I like to really combine it by using my clean hands to thoroughly combine the butter into the mixture.

Sprinkle Streusel topping over apples. Bake 40-45 minutes, or until filling is set. Drizzle with caramel topping and let cool. Serve cold and enjoy! Make 16 servings.