Caramel Cheesecake Apple Dip

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Is anyone else starting to crave the flavors of Fall?

I know there's a good bit of summer still left but I'm already looking forward to a change of season and all the flavors of Fall. Caramel apples always bring Fall-ish thoughts to mind. Growing up, my mom would buy those caramel apple kits from the grocery store. The kits came with those flat sheets of caramel that we had to stretch and wrap around an apple with a popsicle stick stuck in it. Then we'd heat them in the oven, while waiting in anticipation for them to be ready to bite into. As a kid I thought those apples were the best thing ever, even though the caramel really stuck to my teeth. I haven't had one of those apples in years but I still love the caramel and apple combo. This dip is caramel apples for grown-ups. It has all the things you like about a caramel apple layered between sweet cream cheese. It's creamy, caramely, goodness with a little chocolate and toffee thrown in for good measure. It's seriously good stuff.  This cheesecake dip looks pretty on a serving plate, which makes it a great to serve at parties. Plus unlike those caramel apples we'd make as kids, you won't have any caramel stuck to your teeth! 
 

As pretty as it is delicious!

Caramel Cheesecake Apple Dip
(Printable Recipe)

Ingredients:
12 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
3 Tbs. heavy cream
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla

Caramel sauce (recipe below) or store bought
Heath milk chocolate pieces
mini chocolate chips
2-4 Granny Smith or other crisp tart apples, sliced and soaking in lemon juice/water until ready to serve

Method:
This is the method is to make a layered dip, for a quick method see note below.
Line a six inch cake pan or springform pan with plastic wrap. Use enough plastic wrap to hang over the sides of the pan about 2 inches.

Place softened cream cheese in a mixing bowl and beat on medium speed until smooth. Scrap down the sides of the bowl. Add the heavy cream and powdered sugar, mix well, until smooth. Place half of the cream cheese mixture in the lined pan and smooth with the back of a spoon. (If you dip the spoon into warm water before you start to smooth the cream cheese, it will be much easier to spread.) Spoon on a layer of caramel. Sprinkle with a layer of chocolate chips and the Health pieces. How much you use is up to you but don't go to overboard or you may have trouble spreading the top layer of cream cheese.

Oh yeah, that's the stuff!

Place in the refrigerator for about 20 minutes. This will let the caramel set up a bit and make topping it with the remaining cream cheese much easier. Scoop the remaining cream cheese on top and smooth out using the back of a dampened spoon, like you did for the first layer. Fold the overhanging plastic wrap over the top and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, up to overnight. Pull back the plastic wrap so that the top of the cheesecake is exposed. Place a serving plate on top of the pan and invert. Remove the pan and the plastic wrap. Spoon caramel sauce over the top of you cheese cake and top with more of the Heath pieces and chocolate chips. Place the sliced apples around the dip and serve.
*Note: If you want to throw this together super fast, just spread all the cream cheese on a serving platter and top with the caramel, Heath bits, and the mini chocolate chips.

Caramel Sauce

Ingredients:
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
8 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 teaspoons vanilla (or 1 teaspoon vanilla and 2 teaspoons bourbon)
pinch of sea salt

Method:
Place sugar in a small heavy sauce pan. Pour water evenly over the top. Turn stove top to medium-high heat. Hold sauce pan by the handle and swirl occasionally until sugar has dissolved. Turn heat to high, and boil until syrup turns brown around the edges of the pan, about 6-8 minutes. Swirl the syrup occasionally until it turns a deep amber and just begins to smoke.
Remove pan from heat. Add butter and whisk, until all butter is mixed in. Stir in cream. Take care adding the butter and cream as the caramel will boil up and sputter quite a bit.
If sauce has any lumps, set pan over low heat and stir until smooth then turn off heat again.
Stir in vanilla and salt.

Baked Apples with Caramel Sauce...

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and a few pointers on how not to act if you happen to run into Mark Wahlberg. 

I'll start with the Mark Wahlberg tips. A couple of months ago a friend and I went to New Orleans for the week-end to celebrate her birthday. We had decided that on her birthday, which fell on a Sunday, we'd go all out for dinner. We wanted a great fine dining experience, which is pretty easy to do in The Big Easy. Several people had recommended Restaurant August, one of chef John Besh's New Orleans restaurants. Although we called fairly early on in the week, the only times they had open for reservations were either at 6:00 pm or at after 9:00 pm. Even though it was earlier than we really wanted, we decided to take the 6:00 reservation. We figured we'd do Sunday brunch, shop, sight-see, and by 6:00pm maybe we'd be hungry again. We had a fantastic brunch at Brennan's, where I had ordered the baked apple and cream. (this is how the baked apple fits into this tale!) It was delicious and I've wanted to try to recreate them ever since. I could have just had that apple and been perfectly happy but of course I'd ordered the 3 course brunch and my apple was followed by Eggs Benedict and a flambeed crepe. Delicious, but enough to send you into a food coma!

Anyway 6:00 pm rolls around and it's time for dinner. We arrive at August (which is beautiful inside!) and there are only a couple other tables seated. We don't care, we're here to celebrate and enjoy some great food. We were so busy drooling over the menu that neither one of us had paid much attention to the people around us. When our waiter came back with our drinks, he whispered, "You know who that is, don't you?" as he nodded his head toward the table in the back corner. I had glanced over there when we first walked in but didn't really look at the people. I just saw two guys dressed in jeans and t-shirts. My only thought had been, "Who wears an old gray t-shirt to a nice restaurant?" Well apparently Mark Wahlberg, that's who! And for the record, he looks darn good in it too. As far as I'm concerned he should wear that t-shirt all the time, or better yet no shirt at all!

About that time Mark (I feel he won't mind me using his first name. ha ha) and his friend get up to leave. They graciously thank the wait staff, take a picture with the table right beside them, and get ready to walk out of the restaurant. In order for them to leave they have to pass RIGHT BY our table. I whisper to my friend, that I'm going to stop him because it's her birthday. We both were all giggly, like teenagers at this point.

(Insert "How Not to Act" tips here)

1. As Mark Wahlberg approaches, do NOT raise you hand like you are in 3rd grade.

I don't know what happened here I just saw my hand go up in the air. I quickly recovered and dropped my hand back into my lap. I don't think he noticed, or maybe he thought I wanted the waiter...or possibly he wondered why that idiot just raised her hand in a restaurant...

2. Do not just say "Excuse me Mr. Wahlberg, but it's my friend's birthday tonight and....ummm...hee hee, ummm.

Say something intelligent, like congrats on the Oscar nomination for The Fighter, or I loved you in The Fighter, or something, ANYTHING! Well maybe not anything. "Can I touch your abs?", probably would not have been appropriate either.

3. After you've stopped him, giggled like tweens, at least ask if you can take a picture with him with the camera that's sitting right there on the table.

Nope didn't do that either. Although he was super nice, especially when we just sat there looking at him with our big doe eyes. I had seen that flash of, Oh crap, I just wanted to leave, look on his face when I stopped him and I lost my nerve, as well as, apparently, my ability to speak.

I hope you find these tips helpful if you run into Mark Wahlberg in the future.

Oh and Mark Wahlberg was not the only celeb we saw there that night. While I was in the bathroom, Gordon Ramsey came in. He also walked RIGHT BY our table, and my friend said hello. I missed it and had to settle for looking at him from across the room. There was no way that I was going to speak to him. I didn't want to be called a "donkey" or "fat mouthed cow". I realize that's just a character he plays for ratings, but I wasn't about to risk it!

I have to say that even without the celebrity sightings, it was a superb dining experience. The food was fantastic, every bite was more delicious than the last. Each dish was done with precision and the attention given to even the tiniest details was impressive. As amazing as the food was, the service was even better, which is saying a lot. They treated us like we were the celebrities, even offered us a tour of the kitchen, which was too cool. John Besh was not in that night, but we met his chef de cuisine Michael Gulotta. If you get a chance to go to Restaurant August, take it. You may not meet Mark Wahlberg, but you will have an amazing dining experience.

These baked apples are really delicious. When I got home from New Orleans, I looked for a recipe for baked apples like the one I had at Brennan's. I found this one on Saveur's (one of my favorite magazines) website. While it's not exactly what I had at Brennan's, it's just as good!


Baked Apples with Caramel Sauce
printable recipe
Source:Saveur in Issue #123  recipe is based on one in Emily Luchetti’s Four-Star Desserts (Harper Collins, 1996).
slightly adapted 

For the baked apples:
Ingredients:
1⁄4 cup sugar
1⁄4 cup maple syrup
4 tbsp. unsalted butter,
at room temperature
2 tbsp. ground cinnamon
1⁄4 tsp. kosher salt
6 firm Fuji apples, stemmed and cored

For the caramel sauce:
1 1⁄2 cups sugar
1⁄3 cup heavy cream
1⁄2 cup raisins
2 tbsp. dark rum
1/4 cup pecans, toasted, for garnish
Method:
Make the baked apples: Heat oven to 325°. Combine sugar, syrup, butter, cinnamon, and salt in a bowl; set aside. Cut 1⁄4" from bottom of apples so that they sit flat; transfer apples to a 9" x 13" baking pan. Fill hollow cores with reserved sugar–syrup mixture. Cover apples with foil; bake until tender, about 50 minutes.( Mine took longer than 50 minutes to get really soft.)

Put raisins into a small bowl, add rum and let soak while making the caramel sauce.
Heat sugar and 1⁄2 cup water in a 2-qt. saucepan over medium-high heat. Cook, without stirring, until amber colored and a candy thermometer inserted into syrup reads 330˚, about 20 minutes. Remove pan from heat; let cool slightly. Add cream (caramel will bubble up slightly). Stir in raisins and rum; set aside. Serve apples with caramel sauce, toasted pecans, and ice cream, if desired.

SERVES 6

If I ever meet Mark Wahlberg again, maybe I'll just offer him a baked good!