Apple Pie Cheesecake in a Mason Jar

Is it just me, or did the holidays really creep up on you this year?! Shizzzz man, I'm not ready for all this celebrating. I am, however, almost done with my Holiday Shopping, Yup, you heard me right, I took advantage of that thing called Cyber Monday and got ALLLLLLLL of it done. BOOM, nailed it.

What I didn't finish is all the holiday baking! Last year, I was on my GAME. I'm not going to even try to lie about it, I NAILED IT last year. Chocolate Covered Pretzel Cookies. Sugar Cookies with Royal Icing.  Gingerbread Cupcakes with a Gingerbread Cookie Topper.  Triple Oreo Chunk Cookies. AND as much as I hate to play favorites, these Coconut Christmas Cupcakes dressed up as Santa and his Elves kicked some booty. 

I am exhausted just thinking about how much baking I did last year. Wellllll, ain't nobody got time for ALL that this year, so we have to really impress with what we ARE going to do. Enter Bourbon Spiced Apple Pie Cheesecakes IN INDIVIDUAL JARS. Go ahead, take a minute to take that all in.

I of course have jars still from all the mason jar cupcakes I have made in the past, if you need some, I LOVE the .15 L I got from Sur La Tab- but you can use various sizes and shapes that you find!

Don't be scared, it's WAY easier than it looks and sounds! I have faith in you, YOU CAN DO IT. 

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Individual Bourbon Spiced Apple Pie Cheesecakes

Yield Depends on Jar Size / a dozen .15 L Mason Jars

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INGREDIENTS / 

Layer 1 / Crust

8 Graham Crackers

10 tbsp butter, melted

¼ cup sugar

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Layer 2 / Cheesecake

½ cup sugar

2 eggs, room temperature

2- 8 oz packages cream cheese, room temperature

1 tsp vanilla

Layer 3 / Apples

5 Granny Smith Apples (or whichever type of apple you prefer!)

2 tbsp sugar

½ tbsp nutmeg

¼ tbsp cloves

½ cup bourbon

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Layer 4 / Crumb Topping

½ cup flour

½ cup brown sugar

¼ cup butter

To make the crust / 

Break up your graham crackers, very finely, either by using a food processor or smashing by hand. 

In a bowl, mix together melted butter, graham crackers and sugar. Set aside.

To make the apples / 

Preheat your oven to 350˚F. 

Clean and cut your apples into small pieces. 

Toss apples in a large bowl with sugar, nutmeg, cloves and bourbon.

(You can use cinnamon instead of those spices if you want, I was out! haha)

Spread out evenly on a baking pan and bake for 10 minutes or until they just start to break down.

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WHILE THE APPLES ARE COOKING...

To make the cheesecake / 

Having your ingredients at room temperature if very important when making cheesecake. Make sure they are and then begin!

In a large bowl, place your cream cheese and beat on low-medium until light and fluffy. 

On low speed, mix in the sugar, eggs (one at a time) and vanilla and beat until all ingredients are incorporated, scraping down the sides as necessary. Set aside.

To make the crumb topping / 

In a bowl, mix the flour, brown sugar, and butter (cut into cubes). Break down the butter to mix with the other ingredients (you can use a pastry blender or your hands- I use my hands!) - you're looking to get it to a wet sand texture. Set aside.

ASSEMBLY TIME! Get your jars out!

GUYS, don't get intimidated. I know, it sounds like a lot, but its all so simple and quick, you can really do this!

In each jar, spoon in 2 tbsp of the graham cracker crust mixture you prepared. Press into the bottom of each jar. Bake in the oven on a baking sheet, with raised edges so that they don't slide off when you pull them out.

Bake for only about 5-7 minutes, until they just start to set, they will cook more when we fully assemble and cook these lovies!

Remove from the oven and allow to cool just for 5 minutes, so you don't scorch yourself when you are finishing the assembly, you don't need them to cool completely!

Bring the temperature of the oven to 325˚F.

Using a ⅓ cup measure, scoop the cheesecake layer in next.

You have a ton of apples cooked, scoop about ⅓ cup into each jar, but you will likely have a bit more, so finish it off.

Top the apples off with 1 tbsp of the brown sugar crumb topping.

Voilà, all in, lets get them in the oven.

We are going to use a water bath here. I know, people talk some serious garbage about water baths, but Martha said to do it on her cheesecakes in a jar, and I trust the master, so i went ahead and did it. I am not going to claim to be a cheesecake master, so try it out without a water bath if you're confident, but these were REAL good, so just be careful with the water, ok?

Get out a deep baking dish, the same one you used with walls to bake the crust layer is probably good.

If you don't have a pan that will allow you to bake all 12 at the same time, split it into two pans, side by side in the oven on a rack in the center of the oven.

Place the jars in the pan and fill around them with hot water. Now, Martha says BOILING water, so if you want to give some water a quick boil, go for it. I'm lazy, and my faucet gets pretty hot and it was ace.

Cover the pans with foil and bake for 15 minutes.

At 15 minutes, remove the foil and bake for an additional 12 minutes.

Remove from the oven and let them come to room temperature THEN cover and refrigerate. 

AND YOU'RE DONE. Give yourself a pat on the back, it was a of of steps, and you got through them all. I promise, you will IMPRESS the people that have the pleasure of eating them. I brought them to a holiday pot luck at work, and they were a hit. I work with some SERIOUS critics, and if we can impress them, we can impress anyone.

These are a perfect treat for any occasion, but I think the holidays are the best days for bourbon spiced apples. It would be super sweet to give these with a nice note to your doorman or coworkers. Serve them on the dessert table at home on Christmas and everyone has their own treat to eat, or take home!

I'll admit it, I'm a bit lazy on the baking front this holiday season, especially compared to last year, but making these will give the appearance that I baked for AS LONG as I did last year, but I most certainly did not. Shhhhh don't tell anyone. 

As you can tell, I love baking in jars, have you given it a go? Give me some more ideas to try out! I promise, I'll report back with how it turns out! 

PMS 230 / Chocolate Cupcake w. Graham Cracker Crust & Raspberry Cheesecake

Sorry it has been so long since a post, but this one is totally worth the wait. Chocolate, Graham Cracker. Raspberry Cheesecake. In. A. Cupcake. Yum.O.

I was hired to created Spring inspired cupcakes, and some may say I went a little crazy. I imagined up three types, inspired by three Pantone colors, with three different types of decor. Yes, some say I’m cray, but I’m ok with that.

Although they were for spring, a chocolate cupcake was necessary for the bunch, I can’t disappoint my people! So I got to thinking, what can make it “spring”... well the icing color of course! BUT I didn’t want to just dye the icing, that is what I call cheating! So I had to think up something. Hmmm, what goes good with chocolate, well, raspberry of course! BUT let’s take it up one more notch, and make it RASPBERRY CHEESECAKE. BOOM. NAILED. IT. PMS 230 in a cupcake, here we go!

CLICK HERE FOR THE FREE DOWNLOADABLE RECIPE CARD.​

​Yields 12 Cupcakes in standard liners (you'll have extra cheesecake though!)

FOR THE RASPBERRY CHEESECAKE /

½ cup sugar + 2 tbsp. (for raspberries)

1 pound cream cheese, softened

½ tsp. vanilla extract

2 large eggs, lightly beaten

½ cup sour cream

Pinch of sea salt

¾ cup raspberry

LOOOOOOOOK AT THOSE BEAUTSSSSS!

1 / Preheat oven to 275˚F.

2 / Process raspberries in a food processor until smooth, about 30 seconds. Pass puree through a fine sieve into a small bowl; discard solids. Whisk in 2 tbsp. sugar, and set aside.

3 / Beat cream cheese with a mixer on medium speed until smooth.

4 / Add sugar, then vanilla until well combined.

5 / Add eggs, scraping down side of bowl as necessary. Add sour cream and salt. Pour batter into spring form if you have, if not, any pan (I used a 9 inch glass) will do, because it doesn’t matter if the cake stays together, you will need to ruin it anyway!

6 / Bake until sides are set but centers are wobbly, about 45 minutes. Refrigerate 4 hours or overnight.

FOR THE CRUST /

¾ cup graham cracker crumbs (about 8 full graham crackers)

2 tbsp. sugar

3 tbsp. unsalted butter, melted

1 / Stir together the graham cracker crumbs, sugar and melted butter until well combined.

2 / Press 1 tbsp. of the mixture into the bottom of each cupcake liner.

​FOR THE CUPCAKE BATTER /

1 stick unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces

2 oz. bittersweet chocolate, chopped

½ cup Dutch-processed cocoa powder

¾ cup all-purpose flour

½ tsp. baking soda

¾ tsp. baking powder

2 eggs

¾ cup granulated sugar

1 tsp. vanilla extract

½ tsp. salt

½ cup sour cream

1 / Preheat oven to 350˚F.

2 / Combine butter, chocolate, and cocoa in medium heatproof bowl. Set bowl over saucepan containing barely simmering water; heat mixture until butter and chocolate are melted and whisk until smooth and combined. Set aside to cool until just warm to the touch.

3 / Whisk flour, baking soda, and baking powder in small bowl to combine.

4 / Whisk eggs in second medium bowl to combine; add sugar, vanilla, and salt until fully incorporated. Add cooled chocolate mixture and whisk until combined. Sift about one-third of flour mixture over chocolate mixture and whisk until combined; whisk in sour cream until combined, then sift remaining flour mixture over.

Whisk until batter is homogeneous and thick.

5 / Divide batter evenly among the graham cracker crust cupcake liners, filling each three-quarters full. Bake until skewer inserted into center of cupcakes comes out clean, 18 to 20 minutes.

6 / Cool completely on a wire rack.

ASSEMBLY /

1 / Using a cupcake corer or knife, core the center of the cooled cupcakes out.

2 / Fill a piping bag with the cooled, set cheesecake*. If the cheesecake is thick and you think it won’t pipe properly, using an electric mixer beat it for about 2 minutes to get a better consistency.

3 / Fill the cored cupcake with the cheesecake and then pipe on the top of the cupcake with your favorite tip!

* As you see, I attempted some roses. They all came out a little different!

First I attempted this one. I dropped some food coloring along the seam as instructed. I was doing well, but I didn’t let my cheesecake set long enough, so it was a bit loose. Also, I needed to refill my bag, so I wasn’t able to add the food coloring along the seam again, because it was a mess!

This video even though it isn’t in English shows how you can do a rose also!

I wound up just circling around the cupcake, starting in the center, on many of them, and they were cute too!

So if you have a super special occasion, you should make these. I understand that the cheesecake adds a whole extra element (and a ton more dirty dishes) but take my word for it, you will put a smile on everyones face!

Don't forget to download your free recipe card for keeps!​

Have you experimented with unconventional icings? I tried pumpkin pie (link) a while ago, and it was a crowd favorite, what else can we cook up?

Chocolate Crumb Cheesecake with Brownie Cubes!

This year for Christmas I had a special request from my brother. Cheesecake. Well, I had never made a whole cheesecake, so I brought my tush to the store, bought myself a springform pan and started searching for recipes, I needed a pro to help me out. Enter Smitten Kitchen.

Smitten Kitchen is my favorite food blogger. She makes great cakes (well, she makes great everything) so I knew she would be my gal. Brownie Mosaic Cheesecake was the one. Cheesecake with a chocolate crumb crust, brownies baked INSIDE the cheesecake and a chocolate ganache topping. Done. Done. Done.

RECIPE BELOW, GET BAKING!

Yields 1- 9 inch Cheesecake

FOR THE BROWNIES / 

4 ounces unsweetened chocolate

¾  cup (1 ½  sticks) butter

1 ¾  cups sugar

3 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

½ tsp. salt

1 cup flour

1 / Preheat oven to 350°F. Line 13×9-inch baking pan with foil, with ends of foil extending over sides of pan. Grease foil.

2 / Microwave chocolate and butter in large microwaveable bowl on high for 2 minutes, or until butter and chocolate are completely melted..

3 / Stir the sugar into the butter/ chocolate mixture until completely incorporated.

4 / With an electric hand mixer, blend in eggs and vanilla.

5 / Slowly add flour and salt to the mixture and mix well.

6 / Spread into prepared pan. Bake 30 to 35 minute or until toothpick inserted in center comes out with fudgy crumbs.

7 / Cool brownies completely before cutting to add to the cheesecake.

8 / When brownies are completely cool (I sped up the process by placing them in the freeze for a bit). When they are completely cool, they will slice nicely with a knife or a pizza cutter. Cut them into ¾ inch squares for use in the cheesecake.

You will have more brownie cubes than the recipe calls for.

FOR THE CRUMB CRUST /

3 cups Chocolate Teddy Grahams (1- 10 oz box) - If you can’t find Chocolate Teddies, you can use a chocolate wafer cookie or Chocolate Graham Cracker

10 tbsp. unsalted butter, melted

⅔  cup sugar

¼  tsp. salt

1 / Finely crush the Teddy Grahams (or cookies)

2 / Stir together all of the above ingredients until all the ingredients are evenly distributed with each other.

3 / Butter the sides and bottom of your 9-inch springform pan.

4 / Press the mixture into the bottom of your springform pan and 1 inch up side. You can fill right away with the cheesecake or chill up to 2 hours in the refrigerator.

FOR THE CHEESECAKE /

3 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened

4 large eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

1 cup sugar

2 cups brownie cubes

1 / Preheat oven to 350°F.

2 / Beat cream cheese with an electric mixer until fluffy.

3 / Add eggs, one at a time until incorporated.

4 / Add the vanilla and sugar, beating on low speed until each ingredient is incorporated and scraping down bowl between additions.

5 / Very gently fold in the brownie cubes you baked (and cooled) earlier.

6 /  Place the springform pan in a shallow baking pan. (This is to catch drips, don’t forget to do this, I did and it made a mess in the oven!)

7 / Pour mixture into prepared pan with chocolate crumb crust you prepared earlier.

8 / Bake the cheesecake in middle of oven 45 minutes, or until cake is set 3 inches from edge but center is still slightly wobbly when pan is gently shaken.

Do not take the cake out before the exterior 3 inches look like they are set. It may begin to bubble and brown on the top, but no worries, we are going to cover it with chocolate ganache! Finished cake is more important than the 45 minute time .

FOR THE GANACHE /

½  cup chocolate morsels

2 ounces butter

¼  cup heavy cream

1 tbsp. confectioners sugar

1 / Melt the chocolate and butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Make sure the sauce pan is COMPLETELY dry before you begin adding the ingredients. When water gets into the chocolate during the melting process, it doesn’t break down properly. Believe me, I learned this the hard way!

2 / Stir in the heavy cream and confectioners sugar and stir until well combined.

3 / Remove the saucepan from heat, and let settle for about 2 minutes.

4 / Carefully spoon and evenly spread the chocolate mixture over the cooled cheesecake.

5 / Allow the chocolate to firm in the refrigerator. Refrigerate the cheesecake until time to be served.

This cake was absolutely amazing. I urge you to make sure it is set 3 inches in before you take it out, the center of my cake was a bit underdone, but still tasted amazing. I got so many compliments on this baby, someone even said that it looked like it came from a professional bakery (yay me!). The base of this cheesecake is divine, and I wil surely use it again and bake other things INTO it. The brownies were also ace, and uber easy, so save that recipe!

Have you ever baked things INTO a cheesecake? I may be obsessed, what should I do next?

PMS 158 / Pumpkin Cheesecake Cupcake

I adore cupcakes and am obsessed with design, so why not try to merge them in any way possible?! Pantone colors & Cupcakes are the perfect combo. Every Friday, let's choose a Pantone color and create a sweet based on it! How fun?! ... and now that the leaves are turning, the scarfs are coming out of hibernation and Starbucks brought back the Pumpkin Spice Latte, I knew it was time for a Pumpkin cupcake. PMS 158 it is. Inspired by this!

RECIPES BELOW - GET BAKING!

FOR THE CHEESECAKE / 

½ cup sugar

1 pound cream cheese, softened

½ tsp. vanilla extract

2 large eggs, lightly beaten

½ cup sour cream

Pinch of sea salt (or regular salt if you don't have sea is fine)

1 / Preheat oven to 275˚F. Beat cream cheese with a mixer on medium speed until smooth.

2 / Add sugar, then vanilla until well combined.

3 / Add eggs, scraping down side of bowl as necessary. Add sour cream and salt. Pour batter into muffin cups, filling almost to the tops.

4 / Bake until sides are set but centers are wobbly, about 20 minutes. Let cool in tins on wire racks. Refrigerate 4 hours or overnight.

​Note: I experimented with baking in different sized cupcake pans. I have super-mini, mini and standard. I thought the minis would be perfect, and that I could just insert the cheesecakes directly into the cupcakes, but this didn’t work out so well. Your best bet is to use standard cupcake pans. Use some of the baked cheesecakes to fill (you’ll have to ruin the beauty of them and shove them into the cupcake centers) and slice some of them horizontally to add to the top of the cupcakes before icing.

​FOR THE CRUST / 

¾ cup graham cracker crumbs (about 8 full graham crackers)

2 tbsp. sugar

3 tbsp. unsalted butter, melted

1 / Preheat oven to 350˚F. Combine the graham cracker crumbs, sugar and melted butter until well combined.

2 / Add about 1 tbsp. of the mixture into the bottom of each cupcake liner and bake for 5 minutes until the graham crackers are golden.

3 / Cool on wire racks completely (or you could toss in the refrigerator for a bit) before adding the cupcake mixture.

Note: Do not over bake! The graham cracker will bake for longer when the cupcake batter is added and they go back in the oven. I made the mistake of over baking the graham cracker crusts because they just didn’t look done to me! It didn’t occur to me until it was too late that they would be baked for an additional 18-20 minutes when they were topped with cupcake batter!

​FOR THE PUMPKIN PIE / 

2 large eggs, beaten

1 can (16 oz.) pureed pumpkin

2 tbsp. molasses

¾ cup brown sugar, packed

½ tsp. salt

​1 tsp. cinnamon

½ tsp. ground ginger

¼ tsp. ground cloves

¼ tsp. ground nutmeg

1 tbsp. flour

1 can (12 oz.) condensed milk

1 / Preheat the oven to 425˚F. In a medium bowl, mix together all the ingredients until well combined.

2 / Pour the mixture into a 9-inch round pan. Bake for 15 minutes, then reduce to 350˚F and continue cooking for 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the filling comes out clean. Let cool completely before using.

Note: The edges will brown a bit. Its ok, it will still taste delicious. I did try to avoid the edges of the pie when I was filling my icing bag, but later my roommates ate the pie and said it was perfect!

​FOR THE CUPCAKE BATTER / 

1¾ cups cake flour

1 cup sugar

½ tbsp. baking powder

¼ tsp. salt

1 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature

¾ cup milk

2 large eggs

1 large egg white

2 tsp. vanilla

1 / Preheat the oven to 350˚F. Sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Mix until combined.

2 / Add the butter and ¼ cup of milk to the directly into the dry ingredients. Mix on medium speed until smooth, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.

3 / In a separate bowl, mix together  the eggs, egg white, remaining milk and vanilla.

4 / Add the two mixtures together in 2 additions, mixing for approximately 2 minutes on medium speed after each addition, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.

5 / Spoon the mixture into liners with baked, cooled, graham cracker crust (already prepared) until liners are ⅔ the way full. Bake for 18-20 minutes or until toothpick inserted into the center of the cupcake comes out clean. Allow cupcakes to cool completely before assembling.

ISN'T SHE GORGEOUS!?

ASSEMBLY /

1 / Allow the pumpkin pie, cheesecake and cupcakes to cool completely before assembling.

2 / Using a cupcake corer (or a paring knife if you want more cheesecake inside the cupcake) remove the center of the cupcake.

3 / Using a spoon, scoop cooked cheesecake into the center of the cupcake.

4 / Cut remaining cheesecakes horizontally (about ¼ inch) to get cheesecake “discs” to top the cupcake off with (optional).

5 / Fill an icing bag with cooled pumpkin pie and pipe onto the cupcakes just like you would any other frosting!

Note: I didn’t think the corer was enough cheesecake, but that’s my opinion! If you want less, use the corer, they will still be great. I tried a few different combos and found that the corer with the sliced “discs” of cheesecake OR the larger hole (made with a paring knife) made for the perfect bite (you get some graham, some cupcake, some cheesecake and some pie, perfect!).

HAPPY FALL! Yes, this is time consuming, but if you want a real WOW for the holidays, give it a try! Click here to download the recipe card. Print 'er out, fold it in half and you have a cute 4x6 recipe card with everything you need to succeed (including all the tips on the back)! What are some other sweets you like to make for this glorious season?​