Gluten Free Apple Cheesecake Bars

• porciones: 16 servings
• tiempo activo: 30 minutes
• tiempo total: 3 hours 30 minutes

Ingredientes

40 g (3 tbsp) unsalted butter

5-6 medium slightly tart, firm eating apples, peeled, cored and cut into about ½-inch (1-1.5cm) pieces

100 g (½ cup) light brown soft sugar

30 g (2 tbsp) lemon juice

1 tsp ground cinnamon

½ tsp ground ginger

2 ½ g (1 tsp) cornstarch (US)/cornflour (UK)

5 g (1 tsp) water

140 g (1¼ sticks) unsalted butter, softened

125 g (½ cup + 2 tbsp) light brown soft sugar

½ tsp vanilla bean paste (or 1 tsp vanilla extract)

240 g (2 cups) plain gluten free flour blend

65 g (⅔ cup) almond flour (or almond meal or finely ground almonds)

1 tsp ground cinnamon

½ tsp xanthan gum (Omit if your gluten free flour blend already contains xanthan gum.)

¼ tsp salt

450 g (2 cups, 16oz) full-fat cream cheese, room temperature

60 g (¼ cup) full-fat plain or Greek-style yoghurt, room temperature

100 g (½ cup) caster/superfine or granulated sugar

10 g (1½ tbsp) cornstarch (US)/cornflour (UK)

2 US large/UK medium eggs, room temperature

1 tsp vanilla bean paste (or 2 tsp vanilla extract)

Instrucciones

Spiced apple filling:

In a large skillet or frying pan over medium-high heat, melt the butter.Tip: It’s important to use a large skillet with a large surface area instead of a pot or saucepan, because the larger surface area speeds up the moisture evaporation. This ensures that a lot of the moisture released by the apples will have evaporated by the time the apples have softened, so that the final filling won't be too wet (otherwise, it could make the cheesecake bars too soggy).

Add the chopped apples, light brown sugar, lemon juice, cinnamon and ginger, and stir to combine.

Cook for 5-7 minutes over medium-high heat with occasional stirring, until the apples have softened and become tender, and the juices have thickened into a thick, syrupy consistency.

In a small bowl, mix together the cornstarch (US)/cornflour (UK) and water, and then add the slurry to the cooked apples. Mix well until evenly distributed and then cook over medium-high heat for a further 1 minute with frequent stirring.Tip: Cornstarch achieves maximum thickening power and stability when the mixture comes to a boil and stays at boiling point for a while (about 1 minute in this case).

Allow the apple filling to cool completely to room temperature and set aside until needed.

Gluten free almond shortbread:

Adjust the oven rack to the middle position, pre-heat the oven to 350ºF (180ºC) and line a 9-inch (23cm) square baking pan with parchment/baking paper.Tip: When lining the baking pan, I recommend leaving some parchment/baking paper overhang, as that will help with removing the bars from the pan later on.

In a large bowl, combine the softened butter, light brown sugar and vanilla, and mix well with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula until combined. Tip: Don’t cream or aerate the mixture, as that can make the shortbread too delicate and crumbly (note the absence of any raising agents for the same reason).

In a separate bowl, whisk together the gluten free flour blend, almond flour, cinnamon, xanthan gum and salt.

Add the dry ingredients to the butter-sugar mixture and mix well until it starts clumping together. Then, give it a knead until you get a homogeneous cookie dough.Tip: Because it's gluten free, you don't need to worry about over-working the shortbread dough!

Press about ⅔ of the shortbread cookie dough (about 380g) into the lined baking pan. Smooth it out into an even layer, this is easiest done with a small offset spatula. Set the remaining ⅓ of the cookie dough aside until needed.

Bake the bottom shortbread crust at 350ºF (180ºC) for about 20 minutes or until evenly golden brown. Remove from the oven and allow to cool until warm while you prepare the cheesecake filling. Keep the oven at 350ºF (180ºC).

Cheesecake filling:

In a large bowl using a balloon whisk, mix the cream cheese and yoghurt together until smooth.Tip: Make sure to MIX rather than whisk or aerate – you don't want to incorporate too much air into the mixture. If you don't want to do this by hand, use a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment on the lowest speed setting. (I don't recommend using a hand mixer.)

Mix together sugar and cornstarch (US)/cornflour (UK), and add them to the cream cheese mixture. Mix well until combined.

Add the eggs and vanilla, and mix well until smooth.

Assembling & baking the apple cheesecake bars:

Pour the cheesecake filling over the warm shortbread crust and smooth it out into an even layer.

Spoon the cooled apple filling evenly over the cheesecake layer – both the apples AND the thick, syrupy apple juices (you shouldn't have any left over).

Crumble the remaining ⅓ of the shortbread cookie dough on top, making sure that you get a fairly even coverage with some of the apples peeking through.

Bake at 350ºF (180ºC) for about 35-40 minutes or until the crumble topping is golden brown and the filling is only very slightly wobbly when you shake the baking pan.Tip: If the filling is too jiggly, it won’t set properly and could end up too soft (which will make cutting the bars a rather messy business).

Allow the bars to cool completely to room temperature in the baking pan and then chill them in the fridge for at least 2 hours or ideally overnight. Once chilled, use the overhanging parchment/baking paper to remove them out of the pan, slice and serve. You can also lightly dust them with some powdered/icing sugar, if you wish.

Storage:

The gluten free apple cheesecake bars keep well in a closed container in the fridge for about 3-4 days.