Truly excellent! I made this for a birthday gathering and it was a smashing success. My guests could not stop raving about it, and the cheesecake was gone in short order--despite also having two French Silk pies on the table. The one change I made to this recipe was that I used 1/2 cup more cookie crumbs than called for. I found chocolate graham crackers which worked like a charm. I baked it in a water-bath (which I do any time I make a cheesecake) and then left it in the oven with the door closed for one hour before bringing it out to cool to room temperature. No cracks, and the perfect consistency. Do not substitute seedless raspberry jam for the homemade raspberry sauce! Seedless jam is very sweet (I had some on hand and did a comparison taste test) while the homemade raspberry sauce combines a light sweetness with a fresh, fruity tartness that jam in a jar simply cannot compete with. Take the extra 10 minutes and make the sauce --trust me, it will be well worth it.

Reviewed On: Jan. 4, 2009

This recipe is excellent and easy to make. The caramel is rich, buttery and just plain fantastic! I have been making it strictly for caramel apples (soft ball stage), and it stays on the apple even when loaded with nuts, candies, etc. Everyone who tried it was just raving about it. *Tip: 1 lb of brown sugar = 2 1/2 cups.

Reviewed On: Oct. 23, 2007

I made these a couple of times, and had the same problem with the caramel sliding down to the bottom of the apple. The taste was good, but they looked awful. I wondered if it had something to do with the caramel, so I did a search and found this recipe for homemade caramel: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Chewy-Caramel/Detail.aspx Sure enough, the caramel stayed on fine -no sliding off the apple. The caramel is also unbelievably delicious! My family has not stopped talking about them, and my younger sister keeps asking me to make them again (I've made them 2x now). It's so easy I'm happy to oblige! In terms of time, it doesn't take any longer to make homemade caramel than it does using individually wrapped caramels. I originally made a double recipe, and it must have taken me a good 20 minutes just to unwrap all those caramels.

Reviewed On: Oct. 17, 2007