Gingersnap Apple Cheesecake

Gingersnap apple cheesecake is a wonderful, creamy, crunchy, sweet and cinnamon-y dessert that’s perfect in the fall.

I am so full. Still. Probably because I’ve been eating non-stop since last Thursday. See, Thanksgivings are kind of unusual at my house. It’s my husband’s most-favorite holiday of all, and he loves nothing more than to spend the day sitting on the couch in his pajamas watching football and eating as much turkey and stuffing as any one human being can manage. And I have to admit, I really liked it, too. We never did anything, and dinner was always a pretty leisurely affair. I would get out the crystal and my mother’s china, and we’d eat in the dining room at my grandmother’s table using her best white linens, but all four of us would be sitting there in our pajamas. It was a lot of fun.

But we moved to a more family-style version of Thanksgiving a couple of years ago when my mother and my brother and his family moved into our neighborhood. So we went from a 45-minute to an hour drive down to about two minutes, which makes it a little more difficult to say “Nah, we don’t feel like making that drive, so we’ll see you at Christmas.” (And before you think ill of me, we saw my mom all the time when she lived 45 minutes away…we just decided to keep Thanksgiving for ourselves.)

Since my brother is an excellent cook, he always does Thanksgiving and I, in turn, do Christmas. Where it gets a bit complicated is the day after Thanksgiving…for the sake my husband, the King of Thanksgiving, I always do a full feast on Friday. Yup…the turkey, the mashed potatoes, the stuffing, the whole shebang. Why in the name of all that’s holy would anyone do that, you might ask. One word: leftovers. See, if my husband could figure out a way to eat a Thanksgiving meal every day for the rest of his life, he’d do it. So I happily oblige him on Friday and then we get to have leftovers for as far as the eye can see. And I usually even manage to grab an extra turkey breast for roasting later in the winter so we can do it again. 🙂

I decided to give this pie a go after seeing this post from Betty Crocker. It looked and sounded amazing, but having recently made gingersnaps (which, yes, I did use in this recipe, but feel free to use store bought…not one living soul would give a fat rat’s ass and if they did, you don’t want to know them anyway) I decided that they would make a most excellent pie crust. And dammit if I wasn’t right!

Gingersnap Apple Cheesecake

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Course Dessert

Servings 12

Ingredients

  

Crust

• 12 ounces gingersnap cookies crushed
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter melted

Filling

• 2 8-ounce packages cream cheese softened
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 eggs
• 2 cups apple pie filling ** see note

Crumb Topping

• Reserved gingersnap crumbs
• 4 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter softened

Instructions

 

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
• In the bowl of a food processor, process gingersnaps until finely crushed. (Alternatively, break up the cookies in a large ziploc bag.) Add the melted butter and sugar and process until the crumbs are like wet sand. (Alternatively, mix the crumbs, butter and sugar in a large bowl.)
• Reserve about 1/3 or the crumb mixture.
• Take the remaining 2/3 of the crumb mixture and press firmly into a 9-inch pie plate, covering the sides and bottom. You can use the bottom of a glass to make sure they get patted down firmly and evenly.
• Bake at 375 degrees for 8-10 minutes or until lightly golden brown. Set aside to cool slightly.
• Reduce oven to 350 degrees.
• While crust is baking, in a large mixing bowl, beat cream cheese and sugar until smooth, about 2-3 minutes. Add in the flour, vanilla and egg and beat an additional 2-3 minutes. Pour cheesecake mixture into pie crust. Top with apple pie filling.
• Take reserved gingersnap crumbs and, using a fork, mix together with flour and softened butter until large clumps begin to form. Evenly distribute crumbs over top of pie.
• Bake at 350 for 50-55 minutes. Begin to check pie around 45 minute mark to make sure the top is not browning too quickly. If the top seems to be getting too brown, loosely cover with foil. Pie will be a bit jiggly in the center when it comes out, but it will firm up as it cools.
• Chill at least four hours prior to serving.

Notes

** Note: You can use canned apple pie filling, but to make your own, simply combine 4 granny smith apples that have been peeled, cored and sliced with 2 1/2 cups water in a large pot. Whisk together 1 cup sugar, 3 tablespoons cornstarch, 2 teaspoons cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg and a pinch of salt and add to the apples. Bring to a boil and simmer for 8-10 minutes. Reserve any leftovers to use as an ice cream topping. 🙂