Tuesday, September 14, 2010

It Tastes Like Fall

While the scent of pumpkins and pumpkin pie might cue the fall feeling for some, it's all about the apples to me.  For some reason, that apple pie scent makes it feel like Fall.  I'll eat anything apple any time of the year, but I think I enjoy it most during my favorite season.  I made this ridiculously YUMMO..and super easy...dessert for my in-laws last weekend and it scored RAVE reviews.  I made it on a Friday night and there wasn't a crumb left by Sunday afternoon.  I LOVE those kind of desserts...but I hate that there's never any left to savor ;) 

APPLE STREUSEL CHEESECAKE BARS

1 pouch Oatmeal Cookie Mix (I used Betty Crocker)

1/2 cup butter

2 {8 oz.} pkgs. cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup sugar

2 tbsp. all-purpose flour

1 tsp. vanilla

1 egg

1 {21 oz.} can apple pie filling {I used Kroger brand :)}

1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

 

Mix together cookie mix & butter until coarse and crumbly.  Don’t use an electric mixer…you’ll need to do this part by hand :)

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Reserve 1 1/2 cups of the cookie crumb mixture and set aside.  Press the remaining crumb mix into the bottom of a 13x9 baking dish to form a crust.  Bake for 5 minutes on 350 and remove from oven.

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Meanwhile, in a large bowl, mix together cream cheese, sugar, flour, vanilla, and egg…you can use your electric mixer for this part :)  Spread mixture evenly over the partially baked crust.

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Now mix together apple pie filling and cinnamon and spread evenly over the cream cheese mixture.

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Sprinkle the reserved 1 1/2 cups of cookie crumble mix on top of the apple cinnamon mix and bake for 35 to 40 minutes at 350.  Remove from oven and let it cool for 30 minutes.  Now transfer to the fridge to chill for about 2 hours.  This will give the dish time to firm up.  Remove from fridge and cut into little bars…or if you’re like me, BIG CHUNKS :)  Mmmmm…

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Not gonna lie, folks.  This is, hands down, one of my FAVORITE desserts EVER!!!  Now, I am a little bit biased because I LOVE any and everything apple, but I’m pretty confident this is a winner because it scored rave reviews all the way around.  If I were you, I’d make this the night before you need it just so that you don’t have to wait for it to cool and chill.  I have ZERO patience when it comes to serving myself dessert, so it was torture waiting on this to be ready to eat!!!!  Head to the store and pick up these ingredients as soon as you can…you’ll be SO happy you did!!!!

11 comments:

  1. holy cow, those look DELISH! I am an apple-aholic and love cheesecake, so I'm totally trying this ASAP!!! Thanks for sharing :)

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  2. WOw, these look amazing! Great Fall recipe!

    I am glad that my comment led u to my blog because I have been secretly blog stalking you for several months now writing down recipes and making them as fast as I can. A few months ago I wrote up something on my favorite blogs and I included you... Joey's wife (who is my very good friend) told me that Joey knew you and I thought what a SMALL world that I had been following you on this blog for so long and she put those pieces together!

    Anyways, I LOVE your blog, I tell everyone about it, so please keep posting such amazing recipes!

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  3. Tired this recipe and it is delicious. My teenager loved them and it made a nice dessert for his lunch~~~

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  4. Made this last weekend and my kids LOVED it!!! Thanks so much!!

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  5. Finally made these and WOW so yummy! And they made my house smell delicious too!

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  6. In the oven now!!! I'm taking it to Bunko tonight. YUM!!!! I think it will be a hit!! ;)

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  7. Oh yum! I've gotta try this! Thanks for sharing this great recipe with us at Anything Related!
    ~Rebekah~

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  8. oooh, those look delish!
    Following you from Anything Related Tuesdays. Check out my blog at http://daffodilmama.blogspot.com

    Kim

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  9. That looks lovely and pretty easy too! Thanks for sharing! It's gotta be good, anything with cream cheese is a winner I think!

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