Apple Bavarian Torte

An amazing torte that is SO GOOD. Even apple dessert haters love it. From thisweekfordinner.com.

Apple Bavarian Torte

Ingredients:

Crust:
½ cup butter, softened at room temperature
¼ teaspoon vanilla
⅓ cup sugar
1 cup flour

Cheese mixture:
1 8-ounce package cream cheese, softened at room temperature
¼ cup sugar
1 egg
½ teaspoon vanilla

Apple mixture:
3 medium GALA or FUJI apples, peeled and sliced thin. (I usually only use 2 apples and just make one layer of apples on the torte. If you like more apples, feel free to do more than one layer.)
⅓ cup sugar
¼ teaspoon cinnamon
¼ cup slivered almonds
1 tablespoon turbinado sugar


Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 450º F.

2. Cream together crust ingredients until well mixed using a hand mixer or stand mixer. Press crust dough flat into the bottom of a springform pan. Set aside.

3. In a medium bowl, blend cheese and sugar well with a hand mixer. Beat in egg and vanilla until smooth.

4. Pour mixture over crust.

5. Mix cinnamon and sugar together in a medium bowl. Toss apples in mixture then layer over the top of the cream cheese mixture in the pan.

6. Bake for 10 minutes at 450º (I only bake for 8 minutes). Reduce heat to 400 and bake 25 minutes more (I bake 15 minutes more). Sprinkle top with almonds and turbinado sugar and continue baking until lightly browned, 5-7 more minutes. (When I follow the original baking times, the torte is cooked a little too long, so I shortened baking times as indicated in the parentheses.)

7. Cool before removing from pan. Run a knife around the edges before removing from opening the sides of the springform pan.