Small Batch Apple Crumble Cheesecake
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!
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.
Notes
Store in the fridge in an airtight container and consume within 2 days, any longer and the pastry will get soft!