Caramel Apple Cheesecake Bars

October again. One year since Rosa's wedding, which feels both recent and ancient — recent because I can still taste the pernil, still feel the dance floor under my feet, still hear the priest reading Corinthians in English and Spanish; ancient because the world that contained that wedding, the world where eighty people sat at a table and ate my food and danced and touched and breathed the same air without fear, that world is gone, replaced by this one, this masked and distanced and careful world, and the distance between those two worlds is not measured in months but in everything.

Rosa and Carlos's first anniversary. They celebrated in New Haven with a dinner Carlos cooked — he is learning, Rosa tells me, he can make arroz con pollo now that is 'almost acceptable,' which from Rosa is the same compliment scale I use, which means it is probably quite good but no Delgado woman will ever say quite good when almost acceptable is available. I sent them a container of flan because flan is celebration and celebration requires flan and this is a mathematical certainty.

At the hospital, the second wave is beginning. The numbers are climbing again — admissions up, ICU filling, the cafeteria serving more meals, the fear returning with the autumn the way fear returns with cold, cyclical, seasonal, the virus following its own calendar. My team is tired. Not the acute tired of March, which was sharp and new, but the chronic tired, the deep tired, the tired that lives in the bones and does not leave with sleep. I told them: we got through the first wave. We will get through the second. We are essential. The essential does not quit. They did not quit. They put on their masks and their gloves and they served lunch and the lunch was good because the lunch is always good because I trained them and the training holds.

I sent Rosa the flan because that is what our family does—flan is the language of celebration, full stop—but when I needed to bring something sweet to my own team at the hospital, something that said we are still here, we are still good, the work still matters, I reached for these caramel apple cheesecake bars instead. The caramel does the same work flan’s caramel does: it says warmth, it says care, it says someone made this for you on purpose. In an autumn this heavy, that intention is everything.

Prep Time: 25 min | Cook Time: 40 min | Total Time: 1 hr 5 min | Servings: 16

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) cold unsalted butter, cubed
2 (8 oz) packages cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 medium apples, peeled, cored, and finely diced (about 3 cups)
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 cup streusel topping (reserved from crust mixture)
1/3 cup thick caramel sauce, for drizzling

Instructions

Preheat and prep. Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly grease a 9x13-inch baking pan and set aside.
Make the crust. Combine flour and brown sugar in a large bowl. Cut in cold butter using a pastry cutter or two forks until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Reserve 1/2 cup of the mixture for the streusel topping. Press the remaining mixture firmly and evenly into the bottom of the prepared pan. Bake for 15 minutes, until lightly golden.
Prepare the cheesecake layer. Beat softened cream cheese and granulated sugar together until smooth and creamy, about 2 minutes. Add eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Mix in vanilla. Spread the cheesecake mixture evenly over the warm crust.
Season the apples. Toss the diced apples with 2 tablespoons granulated sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg until evenly coated. Spoon the apple mixture evenly over the cheesecake layer.
Add streusel and bake. Sprinkle the reserved 1/2 cup of crumb mixture over the apples. Bake for 35—40 minutes, until the center is just set and the streusel is golden brown.
Cool completely. Remove from the oven and allow to cool to room temperature, then refrigerate for at least 1 hour before slicing into bars.
Finish with caramel. Drizzle generously with caramel sauce just before serving. Cut into 16 bars and serve chilled or at room temperature.

Nutrition (per serving)

Caramel Apple Cheesecake Bars — When Flan Wasn’t Possible, I Made Something Just as Sweet