{Recipe} Speculoos Apple Crumble Cheese Bars

Speculoos Apple Crumble Cheese Bars, one of my favourite bakes currently :)

There are 5 components in total - Speculoos crust, cheesecake layer, cinnamon-spiced apples, oat crumble and Speculoos butterscotch. It may sound intimidating but it is really quite simple and straight-forward! Plus the end-product is SO worth it :)

Speculoos Apple Crumble Cheese Bars
adapted from here

Ingredients

Crust
25 Speculoos/Lotus Cookies
 1/4 cup melted butter

Cheesecake 
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
 1 large egg
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Apples
2 medium apples - chopped to chunks
 2 tablespoon granulated sugar
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Crumble 
1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup old-fashioned-whole rolled oats (not quick-cook or instant)
6 tablespoons unsalted butter (3/4 of 1 stick), softened

Speculoos Butterscotch
 
 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
1 teaspoon salt (regular or large-flake sea salt)
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup Speculoos

Method

    Preheat oven to 180C. Line an 8-inch square pan with aluminum foil leaving overhang and spray with cooking spray, or grease and flour the pan; set aside.

    Crust - 

Crush speculoos cookies using a food processor and mix it with melted butter. Press onto the greased pan and set aside.

    Cheesecake - 

In a large bowl, add all ingredients and beat with a hand mixer (or whisk vigorously by hand) until smooth and combined, about 2 minutes on high power. 

Pour into the prepared pan.

    Apples - 

Peel, core, and dice apples and place in a medium bowl. Sprinkle with sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and toss well to combine.

    Crumble - 

In a medium bowl, add the flour, brown sugar, oats, and cut in the butter with two forks. Keep working until mixture is combined and pea-sized crumbly bits are present. If necessary, add an extra tablespoon or two of flour or oats for preferred consistency if mixture is loose.

    After removing pan with the crust layer from the oven, pour cheesecake mixture over the crust, smoothing the top lightly with a spatula.

    Lightly and evenly sprinkle the apples on top of the cheesecake layer.

    Evenly sprinkle with the crumble mixture. It looks like a lot, but it sinks some while baking.
    Bake for 45 to 50 minutes, or until crumble topping is just set and very lightly golden browned. Place pan on a wire rack to cool for about 30 minutes.

    Caramel -

Melt the butter in a medium heavy-bottomed saucepan (not non-stick) over medium heat.

Add the brown sugar, salt and heavy cream and stir the mixture with a rubber spatula until it's well blended. Bring the mixture to a boil, scraping down the sides occasionally, and boil it for 4 to 5 minutes.

Add Speculoos mix and stir till homogenous. 

Remove the mixture from the heat. Transfer the butterscotch sauce to a container to cool.

 Drizzle onto the cooled cheesecake bars and let it set for at least 2 hours before cutting.

 Serve warm, with ice cream! :-)

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