Apple Pie Bars
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Apple Pie Bars are cross between a classic fresh apple pie and crumb cookie bars, making them a treat that kids will love too. Sweet, cinnamon spiced apples are sandwiched between layers of a tender, buttery crumb crust and oven baked to create these gloriously golden brown beauties.
Looking for an over the top dessert this holiday season? Prepare these irresistible apple pie bars and top them with a fair scoop of rich vanilla ice cream and a drizzle of toasty caramel sauce. They will quickly become the highlight of the dinner celebration!
They are easier to make than apple pie, there’s no pre-chilling and meticulously rolling out dough. Instead a simple crumble is prepared and half is pressed into a baking dish, an apple pie filling is added, then its crowned with the remaining half of the crumble.
The hardest part is just waiting for them to cool so you can cut them into cleaner squares. No judgement though if you’d rather just spoon it out and serve it hot with the chilled ice cream. Yum!
If you want a pretty little garnish just find a few of the most vibrant red apples you can at the grocer, thinly slice them and fan them out as you top the slices over each square. Or another option is a vanilla icing if you’d prefer not to serve with ice cream.
Apple Pie Bars Recipe Ingredients
- All-purpose flour: This builds the structure of the bars.
- Granulated sugar: A key ingredient to sweeten the crust and filling.
- Brown sugar: This is used in addition to the white sugar to add a caramel-like flavor.
- Baking powder: Just a little of this gives the bars a little lift.
- Salt: Added to balance the sweetness and boost overall flavor.
- Egg: I tried the bars with butter only but ended up adding egg, without it bars were too dry and the texture wasn’t as good.
- Vanilla extract: A flavor enhancer to highlight the crust.
- Unsalted Butter: Used for richness, moisture and tenderness. If you only have salted butter that works too just reduce salt in recipe to 1/4 tsp.
- Apples: The star of the dessert. Golden delicious are recommend, see note below for alternatives. Bring them to room temperature before using.
- Cornstarch: A thickening ingredient used for the apple filling to absorb and thicken their juices.
- Spices: Cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger are all used here for the classic apple pie spice trio.
- Lemon: I opted to include both the juice and zest to enhance the apple filling.
How to Make Apple Pie Bars from Scratch
- Prepare oven and pan: Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Butter a 13 by 9-inch baking dish and line with two sheets of parchment paper leaving a 1-inch overhang on all sides. Set aside.
- Mix crusts dry ingredients: In a large mixing bowl whisk together flour, brown sugar, 1/4 cup granulated sugar, the baking powder, and salt until combined.
- Blend liquids: In a small bowl whisk together egg with vanilla extract.
- Cut mixtures together: Add butter and egg mixture to flour mixture and cut into mixture with a pastry cutter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs (a food processor would work for this step as well). Transfer to refrigerator.
- Toss apples with filling dry ingredients: Peel and cut apples as directed. In a mixing bowl toss together apples with 1/4 cup granulated sugar, the cornstarch, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, lemon juice, and lemon zest.
- Press half crumble into pan: Remove crust mixture from fridge and press half the mixture evenly into the bottom of the prepared baking pan.
- Top with apple filling: Add apple mixture in an even layer over the top of the crust layer (evenly pouring out accumulated juices from the bowl if there are some).
- Sprinkle remaining crumble: Crumble remaining crust mixture over the apples, pressing together and breaking it into small crumbles as you sprinkle it over.
- Bake through: Bake in preheated oven until golden brown and apples have softened (you can test with a toothpick), about 40 minutes.
- Cool and cut: Let cool 1 hour on a wire rack before cutting into squares.
Helpful Tips
Apple size: Work to evenly chop apples. For this recipe golden delicious apples were cut into chunks about 1/3-inch thick.
Best pan to use: For the best crisp crust I recommend using a metal baking dish rather than glass or ceramic.
Browned bottom crust: If you want a more browned bottom crust place a baking sheet in the oven to preheat 2 minutes before baking, then add apple pie bars on that preheated baking sheet and bake as directed.
Best texture tip: For the perfect texture (that perfectly crisp crumble) these are at their prime they day they are made, over time the moisture of the apple filling softens the crust. They will keep just fine in the fridge and freezer the texture just becomes softer.
Possible Variations
Apple varieties to use: I made these with several types of apples and golden delicious won in my opinion. They have a very apple-y flavor and they soften through nicely. Other fine options to use here would be:
- Gala apples or Jonagold, if using this variety just slice them thin and chop since they are more crisp than golden delicious.
- Honeycrisp, Granny Smith, or Braeburn. Peel and shred these as they are much more crisp.
Icing drizzle: Another fun way I have made these that also makes them even prettier is to drizzle the top with a simple vanilla icing. Simple mix 1/2 cup powdered sugar with 1 Tbsp milk and 1/4 tsp vanilla. Drizzle over bars using a small resealable bag with a smaller corner snipped.
Caramel sauce finish: We love these with ice cream and salted caramel sauce for a truly decadent treat. Here is my go-to caramel sauce recipe. Of course store-bought is fine too.
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Storing Apple Pie Bars
Room temperature storage: This is not recommended any longer than the same day they are made. The bars will soften faster at room temperature.
Fridge: They will keep in the fridge for about 3 days.
Freezer: To freeze them keep in an airtight container with parchment paper between layers. Freeze up to 3 months.
Follow Cooking Classy
Apple Pie Bars
Ingredients
Crust and Crumb Topping
- 2 3/4 cups (390g) all-purpose flour (scoop and level to measure)
- 1/2 cup (100g) packed light brown sugar (break up any clumps)
- 1/4 cup (50g) granulated sugar
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 1 large egg
- 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup unsalted butter, cold, cut into small cubes
Apple Pie Filling
- 2 lbs. firm golden delicious apples, at room temperature, peeled, cored and chopped (about 6 cups)
- 1/4 cup (50g) granulated sugar
- 1 Tbsp cornstarch
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/8 tsp each ground nutmeg and allspice
- 1 Tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tsp lemon zest (1/2 medium lemon)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Butter a 13 by 9-inch baking dish (preferably metal pan), line with two sheets of parchment paper leaving a 1-inch overhang on all sides. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl whisk together flour, brown sugar, 1/4 cup granulated sugar, the baking powder, and salt until combined.
- In a small bowl whisk together egg with vanilla extract.
- Add butter and egg mixture to flour mixture and cut into mixture with a pastry cutter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs (a food processor would work for this step as well). Transfer to refrigerator.
- Peel and cut apples as directed. In a mixing bowl toss together apples with 1/4 cup granulated sugar, the cornstarch, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, lemon juice, and lemon zest.
- Remove crust mixture from fridge and press half the mixture evenly into the bottom of the prepared baking pan.
- Add apple mixture in an even layer over the top of the crust layer (evenly pouring out accumulated juices from the bowl if there are some).
- Crumble remaining crust mixture over the apples, pressing together and breaking it into small crumbles as you sprinkle it over.
- Bake in preheated oven until golden brown and apples have softened (you can test with a toothpick), about 40 minutes.
- Let cool 1 hour on a wire rack before cutting into squares. Store in the fridge up to 2 days (note that they will soften after the first day but does still taste delicious).
Notes
Recipe completed updated 11/25 to a crumb style pie bar. Please leave a comment below if you are looking for the old recipe.