I made this for my Mom’s birthday… she LOVES cheesecake. Let me start off by saying that whenever I make Cheesecake it I must include a topping on it- not because I think cheesecake neccessarily needs a topping, but because when I make it, 100% of the time, without a doubt, never fails… the top WILL crack. I’ve tried everything including the water bath, bake-even strips, venting the oven door before taking it out and much much more. Finally, I came to terms with my cracked-top cheesecakes and decided to just cover ’em up.

Yeild: 8-12 slices

Cake-

3- 8oz. pkgs cream cheese

1 cup sugar

3 eggs

2 T. flour

1 t. vanilla extract

1/2 c. milk

1c. graham cracker crumbs

1/2. t. cinnamon

1/2 stick softened butter

Topping-

2 apples

1/2 lemon

1/2 t. cinnamon

Mix the cinnamon and graham cracker crumbs, cut it with the butter, and press mixture into the bottom of a  9 inch springform pan. In a large bowl blend softened cream cheese with the eggs, sugar, and vanilla extract. Then mix in the milk and flour. Pour mixture into pan overtop graham cracker crumbs. Bake at 350 for about 40 minutes or until set. Let cool, run a knife around sides of pan, remove outer part of springform.

For the topping, peel, core and slice 2 large apples. Toss them in a bowl with the juice of half a lemon and 1/2 t. cinnanmon. Then saute the apple slices in 3 T. butter until they are tender but still crisp. Remove from heat and pour 1/4 c brown sugar overtop of the apples while they are still in the saute pan and gently stir until sugar is melted and apples are coated. Let cool, then top cheese cake. Chill in fridge.