Mini Caramel Apple Cheesecakes with Brown Butter Butter Graham Cracker Crust

I’ve made it no secret that I didn’t have a huge sweet tooth until recent years, it was just never my thing. But despite having the innate ability to turn down pretty much any sweet placed in front of me from an early age, there were three desserts I could never ever turn down – coconut cream pie, crème brulee and cheesecake.

Cheesecake was my first dessert love, and sadly, it’s become kind of lost on me since my recent adoption of all things sweet, I just kind of forgot how much I loved it. I decided to give it another go this week, and I’m happy to report that these adorable caramel apple cheesecake bites completely reignited my love of all things cheesecake – what was I thinking leaving such a wonderful dessert in the dust???

What I love most about these guys is they’re perfect for cheesecake lovers and non-lovers alike since there’s pretty much equal parts crust to apple filling to cheesecake (and caramel sauce!). In full disclosure, I want to make it known that these unassuming little guys are kind of high-maintenance for only 12 little bites, so just be prepared for that, or, double the recipe for double the reward.

The crust is a pretty straight-forward graham cracker crust, with a twist. Instead of drizzling melted butter in while the crackers are being pulverized in the food processor, I start by browning up the butter. Because apparently I can’t make anything lately without adding brown butter, it’s a cruel/wonderful side effect fall has on me – there must be brown butter in EVERYTHING.

Next, more brown butter. Because, see above. Finely diced apples of your choosing (I used honey crisp) are sautéed in a little bit of brown butter, brown sugar and just a touch of salt until they’re slightly soft and caramelized. Once the crust pre-bakes a bit, the apples are nestled into the bottom, and what I love, is that the excess caramel from the apples kind of seeps into the crust, making the brown butter graham cracker combination infinitely more delicious.

The cheesecake filling is simple, just cream cheese, sugar, egg and vanilla mixed together until smooth and gently spooned on top of the apples and crust. It’s all popped into a 350 degree oven for about 10 minutes, just until the cake sets up, and then they’re cooled and popped into the fridge until chilled.

As I often do, I made things a little bit more high maintenance by making caramel sauce from scratch, but you could absolutely use this shortcut recipe, or, just buy store-bought – no judgment.

The only problem I have now?? Stopping myself from inhaling these one after the other. After the other. After the other…