apple cheese cake with salted caramel sauce

Fall is the season for trying to beat the bears to the apple trees, and then creating all kinds of apple goodness before the more fragile apples go off. Our Acane, transparents, apple pears and northern spy all need to be used more quickly than the keeper apples, the Fuji and Cox orange pippens. I made this recipe with the Northern Spies, a great cooking apple, but you could use Granny Smiths or other tart apple. 

Apple Swirl
3 apples, peeled, cored and sliced  
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
3/4 cup salted caramel sauce* (I like this recipe in Sally's Baking Addiction)

Graham Cracker Crust
1 1/2 cups gluten-free graham cracker crumbs (or crushed gluten-free ginger snaps)
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
5 Tbsp melted butter

Cheese Cake goodness
4 pkgs lactose-free cream cheese at room temp
1 cup sugar
2 Tbsp corn starch
4 eggs
1/2 cup lactose-free whipping cream

Additional toppings: MORE salted caramel sauce & a bit of lactose-free whipped cream 

Preheat oven to 350 F.  Prepare a 9" spring form pan, butter the pan and line with parchment paper. 

Put the apple slices, 1/4 cup sugar and 1 tsp cinnamon in a saucepan and heat gently until just soft. Add salted caramel sauce gently. Remove from heat and set aside. Reserve some salted caramel sauce for topping. Just wait, I'll tell you when. 

Mix the crust ingredients with a fork until well combined. Press into the bottom of the spring-form pan. Place in the preheated 350 F oven for eight minutes. Remove from oven and set aside. 

In large mixer, blend the cream cheese until softened. Beat in the sugar, then the corn starch, and then the eggs one at a time. Add the whipping cream and mix well. Pour half the mixture into another bowl. Add ONE HALF of the Apple swirl deliciousness to the second bowl and blend in. 

Using a couple big spoons, put the regular filling and caramel apple flavoured filling interspersed into the spring-form pan over the crust. Swirl just a little bit.  

Place an 8" square baking pan with hot water in the bottom shelf of your 350 F oven. Place the cheesecake on the middle rack of the oven and bake 60 minutes until nearly set. Turn off the oven and crack the door to allow the cheesecake to slowly cool in the oven. Cover and place in the fridge for at least four hours. 

Carefully release the cake from the pan and remove the parchment paper side. Place on a serving platter and cut using a warm knife, cleaning it after each cut. Decorate each slice with a drizzle of the salted caramel sauce and a bit of lactose-free whipped cream if you like.