Apple butter cheesecake is creamy and delicious. It has just a hint of spice, a great apple flavor, and beautiful texture. This recipe is easy to make too, so it is sure to win you over.

Close up of a slice of apple butter cheesecake being lifted out of larger cake showing cream cheese whipped cream garnish and creamy cheesecake texture.

If you are looking for a great new fall dessert, you are in the right place. Apple butter cheesecake has it all in an easy to make recipe.

This easy baked apple cheesecake adds apple butter with cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves to our favorite condensed milk cheesecake recipe. That recipe is so easy, I basically consider it no fail.

The cheesecake is quick to put together, doesn’t require a water bath and it never cracks on me. Plus it tastes amazing, so there is little wonder that we keep going back to it when developing new recipes.

Fork marks left behind where a bite was taken out of the tip of a slice of apple butter cheesecake.

Slice of apple butter cheesecake with stars of whipped cream piped on top.

This version brings in the concentrated flavor of apple butter. You can make your own or buy a jar of already made apple butter from the grocery store.

Just make sure there is a fair amount of spice in the apple butter. If you can’t really taste the cinnamon, you may want to add a little more spice to your cheesecake to make sure it shines through in the end.

The apple butter does more than just bring apple, cinnamon and nutmeg flavor. It makes the texture of the baked cheesecake a little lighter but keeps it super sumptuous.

Lifting out a slice of tan apple butter cheesecake topped with whipped cream stars.

If you really like those warm baking spices, use gingersnap or biscoff cookie crumbs instead of graham crackers. That’s a great way to give an easy flavor boost.

I added a little cream cheese whipped cream around the edge to pretty it up a bit. It is not required, but highly recommended.

To say this cheesecake was a hit with my family is an understatement. They went absolutely crazy over it.

Carlee’s Tip For Getting A Smooth Cheesecake Texture

There are a few tips to help to make sure you get that smooth creamy cheesecake texture. You don’t want lumps of cream cheese in your final product.

Probably the most important step is also the easiest. Make sure your cream cheese is good and softened before you start.

Piping cream cheese whipped cream border on chilled apple butter cheesecake.

Ingredients ready to be made into apple butter condensed milk cheesecake.

Having all of your ingredients are room temperature will help to make sure they incorporate more easily. Plus it helps to make sure that cream cheese stays nice and soft.

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Beat the cream cheese really well before adding anything else. This is your only real chance to get all of the lumps out.

Once you start adding more liquid, it gets harder to smush any remaining chunks of cream cheese. So make sure it’s softened, beat it well and scrape the sides of the bowl a few times before you move on.

Add the remaining ingredients a bit at a time to make sure they incorporate well. It’s worth taking a couple of minutes to do it right.

Slowing pouring sweetened condensed milk into beaten cream cheese.

Pouring apple butter condensed milk cheesecake mixture into springform pan.

Once you start adding the eggs, keep the mixer on low. You don’t want to incorporate too much air at this point.

Too much air in the batter can cause bubbles to form. It can also cause the cheesecake to rise and fall, increasing your chance of a crack in the middle.

Once the batter is in the pan with the crust, give the cheesecake a couple of good taps on the counter before you put it in the oven. That helps get any air bubbles out.

Crack Free Cheesecakes Without a Water Bath

How do you avoid a crack without a water bath? Bake the cheesecake low and slow and let it cool slowly too.

This allows the cheesecake to bake through evenly. It helps give it that amazing texture as well.

Apple butter cheesecake in springform pan ready to go into the oven.

Golden brown apple butter cheesecake in springform pan fresh from the oven.

Cooling it too quickly can also cause a crack. Once it is set, I like to turn off the oven and crack the door open but leave the cheesecake inside.

After about ten or fifteen minutes, I move the cheesecake to the counter to cool to room temperature. Then it goes in the fridge to chill.

Heat slowly, cool slowly

Avoiding any big swings in temperature and not overmixing the batter and both key to getting the perfect cheesecake without messing with a water bath.

4.93 from 54 ratings

Apple Butter Cheesecake

Author: Carlee

Servings: Servings

This easy apple butter cheesecake recipe is easy to put together. The best part is you don't need a water bath! it is a perfect creamy dessert all fall long, or would make a wonderful addition to your Thanksgiving dessert spread.

Prep: 15

Cook: 1 10

Additional Time 2

Total: 3 25

Equipment

Ingredients

Instructions

Preheat oven to 300°F
Place the graham cracker crumbs in the bottom of a 9 inch springform pan, add the butter. Mix together and press into the bottom of the pan. Bake for about 10 minutes.
1½ cups graham cracker crumbs*, 4 Tablespoons butter
Make sure the cream cheese is really softened. Whip the cream cheese until completely smooth, being sure the scrape the sides of your bowl a couple of times.
16 ounces cream cheese
Slowly add the condensed milk, mixing until smooth. Stir in the vanilla.
14 ounces sweetened condensed milk, 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Add the eggs, one at a time mixing until just combined. You don't want to whip air into the mixture at this point.
4 large eggs
Mix in the apple butter until the mixture is uniform.
1 cup apple butter*
Pour onto the crust. Thump it on the counter a couple of times to get out any big air bubbles.
Bake until the middle doesn't jiggle, about an hour.
Let cool to room temperature and then chill at least a couple of hours, preferably over night.

Notes

*Gingersnaps or Biscoff cookies would be tasty alternatives to graham crackers.

If your apple butter doesn't have much spice mixed in, feel free to punch up the flavor with a little bit of extra cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, allspice or whatever baking spices are your favorites with apples.

For a pretty presentation, pipe some cream cheese whipped cream onto the chilled cheesecake.