Apple Streusel Cheesecake Bars- Week 2 of 12 Weeks of Christmas Cookies

It's time for Week 2 of the Christmas Cookies!  I can't wait to see what everyone else has in store this week.  I chose to make Apple Streusel Cheesecake Bars from my Betty Crocker Fall Baking 2009 book.  You can also find it here.

Wow!  That's all I can say about this delicious treat.  Okay, so that's not all I can say, but it's the first thing I said!  As these were baking, the whole house had the scent of fall!  As soon as they came out of the oven, I wanted to get a fork and dive in...instead I waited patiently as called for in the recipe. 

You need to make these...today!  And for every fall gathering that you may possibly have on your calendar.  Seriously...you won't regret it.  I can't guarantee that these bars will last past the first few hours!  They remind me of my favorite Cheesecake Factory cheesecake flavor: Dutch Apple Caramel Struesel.  Mmm...now I can have something similar at home anytime I want.  So let's get started:

Apple Streusel Cheesecake Bars

1 pouch oatmeal cookie mix (I used Betty Crocker brand)
1/2 cup cold butter
2 packages of cream cheese (8 oz. each), softened
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg
1 can apple pie filling
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 cup chopped pecans or walnuts

Heat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray 13x9-inch pan with cooking spray.  Place cookie mix in large bowl, cut in butter until it resembles coarse crumbs (with pastry blender or pulling 2 knives through mixture in opposite direction).  Reserve 1&1/2 cups crumb mixture, press remaining crumbs in bottom of pan.  Bake for 10 minutes.  Meanwhile, in large bowl, beat cream cheese, sugar, flour, vanilla and egg with electric mixer on medium speed until smooth.
Spread cream cheese mixture evenly over partially baked crust.  In medium bowl, mix pie filling and cinnamon.  Spoon evenly over cream cheese mixture.  Sprinkle reserved crumbs over top.  Sprinkle with pecans.
Bake 35-40 minutes or until light golden brown. Cool about 30 minutes.  Refrigerate to chill, about 2 hours.  Cut into 6 rows by 4 rows.  Cover and refrigerate any remaining bars.

I don't own a pastry blender (if I did, it would look like this in Blue Willow or Buttercup...hint, hint) so I had to resort to the two knives method which was not fun!  I must admit that I gave up on that method and crumbled it with my hands!  Much faster.  Also, the original recipe called for walnuts, but I happened to have pecans in the freezer so I used those.  They didn't really do a lot for the bars in my opinion.  I think you need a lot more of them to get a good pecan flavor, otherwise I would just leave them off next time.
They were a winner all the way around the table tonight.  C said they might be one of the best things I've made lately.  He has already flipped through this book and marked a few for the fall cooking lineup.  I can't wait to try the rest of them.  Little Man kept saying more, more!  I think we are creating a miniature cookie monster...like father, like son!
I hope your family loves it as much as mine does!
Week 2 Twelve Weeks of Christmas:

Vanilla Cupcakes with Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting

 

Up next on the cupcake list: Vanilla Cupcakes with Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting.  I scoured the web for the "best" vanilla cupcake recipe I could find.  I read a lot about Magnolia Bakery's Vanilla Cupcakes.  They look incredible, but I read mixed reviews.  I finally decided to try this recipe.  This recipe called for yogurt, and I wasn't sure how that would turn out.  They took much longer to bake then the suggested 15-20 minutes...I think it was more like 25 minutes.  Once cooled, I frosted them with this Chocolate Cream Cheese frosting.  Scroll all the way to the bottom for the recipe. I used my standard Nestle Cocoa Powder to create the frosting, I don't buy into the Premium Cocoa Powder hype! :)  Chocolate is chocolate and that's fine with me!

Verdict:  The yogurt gave the cupcakes a very dense texture.  They didn't puff up like you would expect a cupcake to, which could have contributed to the longer bake time.  They weren't super sweet, and we could actually eat more than one at a time.  The frosting had a very distinct cream cheese flavor.  It was very easy to pipe and had a nice smooth, creamy texture.  I used my Wilton Jumbo 1M tip for the piping.  They turned out much cuter than the previous batch.  We kept the cupcakes stored in the refrigerator so that the cream cheese frosting would stay cold.  C said that he preferred the cupcakes cold!  Even Little Man had a whole cupcake, sans frosting.  His tummy isn't sold on chocolate just yet, so we try to avoid it when we can!

If you are looking for a good go-to cupcake that isn't super sweet, this may be your cupcake!