Why is fall my favorite season? The food of course! I get so excited this time of year for the caramel apples, the pumpkin pie and just the delicious scent in my house from all the fall baking. It’s that time of year that you know you’ll need to get the big container of cinnamon because it’s going in everything.

Since caramel apples are one of the first things I crave this time of year I decided to combine them with another one of my favorite desserts, cheesecake! And this time we are going mini. They are easier to serve, they are better for portion control and really they’re just so much cuter.

Ingredients

Crust

1⅓ cups graham cracker crumbs (I like Honeymaid)
2½ T. sugar
6 T. salted butter, melted

Streusel Topping

½ cup flour
¼ cup quick cooking oats
¼ cup + 2 Tbsp light-brown sugar
¼ tsp ground cinnamon
⅛ tsp salt
¼ cup butter, partially melted in microwave

CheesecakeFilling

16 ounces cream cheese, softened
⅔ cup sugar
2 eggs
¼ cup sour cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 lb apples, peeled, cored and finely chopped* (I used Gingergold)

Topping

Salted caramel sauce, homemade or jarred

Instructions

Crust:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line 18 muffin cups with liners.
In a mixing bowl, combine melted butter, graham cracker crumbs and sugar.
Divide mixture into liners and press down firmly o form little crusts.
Bake 5 minutes and cool.

Streusel:

To the melted butter, stir in flour, oats, brown sugar, cinnamon and salt. Stir until clumps form and park in the fridge while you make the

Filling:

Beat cream cheese with sugar until smooth.
Add eggs until smooth.
Add sour cream and vanilla.

Assemble

Pour cheesecake batter evenly over the mini crusts.
Top with chopped apples evenly.
Sprinkle on streusel topping.
Bake about 25 mins.
Cool and chill in fridge a few hours.
Top with caramel!