October 26, 2021

Apple Crumble Cheesecake – A Perfect Fall Dessert

This mini apple crumble cheesecake is perfect for fall. It starts with a layer of pastry from David Lebovitz and Paule Caillat, the pastry gets covered with a layer of light and fluffy cheesecake followed by thinly sliced apples and finished off with a layer of crunchy crumble topping. The result is a fantastic combination of textures and flavors!

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I first tried out this recipe back in July (i.e. many moons ago). I had been to a restaurant in Michigan that served the most amazing apple cheesecake crumble thing for dessert, and I was completely obsessed. Naturally once I got home I decided I needed to experiment.

Normally when I develop recipes, I think of ways I can combine flavors I love or put a spin on something traditional. In this case I was aiming to recreate something I loved. I started by pulling some of my favorite pastry recipes and ended up settling on this insane one from David Lebovitz and Paule Caillat. It’s the strangest pastry recipe I’ve ever seen, but it works so well!

Searching for a Small Batch Apple Crumble Cheesecake

At that point I was forced to spend another two months experimenting with cheesecake filling, apple layering and crumble portions. I wanted a thin layer of cheesecake that was light enough to balance out all the other textures. The tricky thing is I couldn’t find a single cheesecake recipe that used less than 8oz of cream cheese. After a truly unfortunate experiment where I decreased the cream cheese but still used a whole egg (think very eggy cream cheese…) I decided to try an egg white only approach.

Turns out that was a fricking great idea.

Using just one egg white and whipping it before folding it into the cream cheese created this dreamy cream cheese layer. The cheesecake is light and fluffy and so incredibly soft.

All that to say this recipe has been through a lot. But I am (finally!) incredibly happy with it, and I’m so excited to share.

How to make this Apple Crumble Cheesecake recipe

1) Start with the pastry

This pastry is made by melting the liquid ingredients together and then rapidly whisking in flour. You then want to press the mixture into a 6-inch cake pan with a removable bottom and bake it until nicely browned.

2) Prep the filling

While the pastry is baking you’ll slice the apples and toss them with lemon juice, cinnamon, nutmeg and a bit of sugar.

Then prep the cheesecake filling by beating cream cheese and sugar until it’s nice and soft. Whisk in salt and vanilla and then fold in whisked egg whites.

Finally make the crumble by combining oats, flour, brown sugar, salt and butter.

3) Assemble the pastry

Once the pastry is cooked you can layer in the cheesecake followed by the apples and finally the crumble. The whole thing will need to bake for 20-25 minutes, and then you’re ready to go!

Bonus! If you have any caramel sauce on hand try drizzling the whole cake with it before you serve!

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Small Batch Apple Crumble Cheesecake

5 from 1 vote

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 1

Cook Time 45

Cooling time 1

Total Time 2 45

Course Dessert

Cuisine American, French

Servings 6 people

Equipment

6-inch springform pan

Ingredients

Crust:

55 g butter
8 g oil vegetable or canola
28 g water
Pinch of salt
7 g sugar
100 g flour

Cream cheese filling:

6 oz cream cheese
1 egg white
2.5 tbsp sugar
1 tsp vanilla
Pinch of salt

Apple layer:

1 cooking apple granny smith or similar
1/4 tsp cinnamon
pinch nutmeg
1/2 lemon
1 tsp sugar

Crumble:

45 g brown sugar
25 grams oats
35 g flour
35 g butter softened
Pinch of salt

Instructions

Make the crust

Preheat the oven to 410 F
Combine the butter, sugar, salt, water and oil in an oven safe bowl or baking dish and cook in the oven until it is bubbling, and the butter is just barely starting to brown. You can put it in while the oven is still preheating, but it might take a bit longer to bubble. Generally this will take around 10 minutes.
When the wet ingredients are ready remove from the oven and add the flour. Mix quickly with a wooden spoon until the mixture is completely combined. Don’t over mix it.
Tip the hot dough into a 6-inch tin with a removable bottom and spread it out. Once it’s cool enough to touch press the dough down into the base and sides of the pan such that it reaches up the edges about 1.5-2 inches and is relatively even. Prick the base about 10 times with a fork.
Bake the pastry for 17 minutes, or until golden.

Prep the Apples

While the pastry cooks peel, core and thinly slice your apple. Mix the slices with the cinnamon, nutmeg, sugar and lemon juice in a bowl and set aside.

Prep the Cheesecake

While the pastry is still cooking, prep your cheesecake mixture. Beat the egg white in a standing mixer or using a handheld beater, until very frothy, slowly add a tablespoon of sugar while beating continuously. Once the mixture is relatively stiff and glossy, transfer it to a different bowl (if you’re using a standing mixer, if not you can leave it in its bowl).
In the bowl of a standing mixer or using a hand beater, beat the cream cheese with the remaining sugar until the mixture is really soft and completely lump free. If it’s still cold and stiff, just scrape down the bowl and keep beating. I let mine go for a good 5 minutes or so.
Beat in the salt and vanilla.
Fold half the egg white mixture into the cream cheese. You may need to mix quite vigorously here, so don’t worry too much about knocking some air out.
Fold in the second half of the egg whites and gently mix to combine.

Make the crumble topping

The last component is the topping. Start by combining the dry ingredients in a medium bowl. Add the soft butter and use your fingers to rub and press the butter into the dry mixture. Keep rubbing the mixture between your fingertips until you have a wet consistency and there are no lumps of butter left. Make sure you’ve coated all the dry mixture with butter.

Assemble

Once the pastry is cooked you can assemble the cheesecake. Start by pouring the cream cheese mixture into the hot crust, and spreading it out with a spatula.
Layer on the apple slices trying to get them as even as possible, leave any excess lemon juice in the bowl.
Tip the crumble on top and spread it out. You can either spread the crumble evenly across the whole cheesecake including the pastry or only cover the cream cheese and leave the pastry edge free. The first option will give you a more even surface, but the latter provides a better crumble to cheesecake ratio in each bite.
Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes or until the crumble is lightly golden, and the cheesecake doesn’t wobble much when you shake it.