3 Honeycrisp apples, peeled, cored and thinly sliced
2 tablespoons corn starch
3 tablespoons dark brown sugar
¼ cup apple cider
1 teaspoon cinnamon
Salted caramel sauce:
1 cup granulated sugar
5 tablespoons butter, cut into slices
½ cup heavy 35% cream
1 pinch kosher salt
Takes ,
serves 12.
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 300°F. Line a 9-inch square baking pan with parchment paper.
Make the oat crisp topping: In a medium bowl, stir together the oats, brown sugar, cinnamon, salt and flour. Drop in butter cubes and toss. Using clean hands, rub butter together with oat and flour mixture to create coarse crumbs. Cover and refrigerate.
Make the crust: In a medium bowl, stir together the melted butter, granulated sugar, vanilla, and salt. Add the flour and mix until everything is combined. Press the mixture evenly into the prepared baking pan. Bake for 15 minutes, or until lightly browned around the edges. While the crust bakes, prepare the filling.
Make the filling: Stir corn starch, brown sugar, salt and cinnamon together in a small bowl. Place apples in a large bowl, add cider and stir. Sprinkle sugar mixture over apples and toss again.
Assemble: Remove base from oven. Immediately add apples over top, pushing them down and spreading them out in an even layer. Sprinkle crumble topping over the apples and spread it out to an even layer.
Increase oven temperature to 350°F. Return pan to oven and bake for 35 minutes or until top is a rich golden colour.
Remove from oven and cool completely in pan before cutting into bars.
Prepare caramel sauce: Place sugar in a heavy-bottomed saucepan set over moderate heat, stirring continuously until sugar begins to melt. Continue stirring until sugar darkens to an amber colour. As soon as the sugar starts to smoke remove from the heat. Stir in butter until melted, then add cream and stir thoroughly. Stir in a pinch of salt. Place plastic wrap over the surface of the sauce to prevent a film from forming. Once cool, transfer to a squeeze bottle or jar.
Drizzle sauce over bars right before serving.
Apple Pie Crumble Bars
Ingredients
For the crumb topping:
¾ cup rolled oats
¼ cup unbleached all-purpose flour
½ cup dark brown sugar
½ teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon kosher salt
6 tablespoons butter, cubed
For the shortbread crust:
½ cup butter, melted
¼ cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
¼ teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
For the apple filling:
3 Honeycrisp apples, peeled, cored and thinly sliced
2 tablespoons corn starch
3 tablespoons dark brown sugar
¼ cup apple cider
1 teaspoon cinnamon
Salted caramel sauce:
1 cup granulated sugar
5 tablespoons butter, cut into slices
½ cup heavy 35% cream
1 pinch kosher salt
Directions
Preheat the oven to 300°F. Line a 9-inch square baking pan with parchment paper.
Make the oat crisp topping: In a medium bowl, stir together the oats, brown sugar, cinnamon, salt and flour. Drop in butter cubes and toss. Using clean hands, rub butter together with oat and flour mixture to create coarse crumbs. Cover and refrigerate.
Make the crust: In a medium bowl, stir together the melted butter, granulated sugar, vanilla, and salt. Add the flour and mix until everything is combined. Press the mixture evenly into the prepared baking pan. Bake for 15 minutes, or until lightly browned around the edges. While the crust bakes, prepare the filling.
Make the filling: Stir corn starch, brown sugar, salt and cinnamon together in a small bowl. Place apples in a large bowl, add cider and stir. Sprinkle sugar mixture over apples and toss again.
Assemble: Remove base from oven. Immediately add apples over top, pushing them down and spreading them out in an even layer. Sprinkle crumble topping over the apples and spread it out to an even layer.
Increase oven temperature to 350°F. Return pan to oven and bake for 35 minutes or until top is a rich golden colour.
Remove from oven and cool completely in pan before cutting into bars.
Prepare caramel sauce: Place sugar in a heavy-bottomed saucepan set over moderate heat, stirring continuously until sugar begins to melt. Continue stirring until sugar darkens to an amber colour. As soon as the sugar starts to smoke remove from the heat. Stir in butter until melted, then add cream and stir thoroughly. Stir in a pinch of salt. Place plastic wrap over the surface of the sauce to prevent a film from forming. Once cool, transfer to a squeeze bottle or jar.
Drizzle sauce over bars right before serving.
Apple Pie Crumble Bars
5 / 5. 1
Slices of Ontario apples on a buttery shortbread base with a crispy, crumble topping, drizzled with a salted caramel sauce…
It’s a pie! It’s a crisp! It’s our super scrumptious APPLE PIE CRUMBLE BARS!
Apple season is upon us, and there I was with that autumnal conundrum: which dessert do I make? My MOM’S APPLE PIE, this caramel APPLE CRUMBLE, and our FRUIT CRISP all came to mind, but then I thought, “Why not have all three?” The result is a solid homemade dessert idea that delivers lots of apple and spice flavouring with salted caramel notes. If you’re craving a sweet and simple dessert that’s easy to make, these APPLE PIE CRUMBLE BARS are for you.
Now, on to the delicious details of these APPLE PIE CRUMBLE BARS:
INGREDIENTS
We begin almost every post with an all-important photo of the ingredients, but in this case, we’re giving you three, echoing the 3-in-1 nature of this dessert. This first photo is the apple pie portion, where Ontario apples get tossed with apple cider, cinnamon, dark brown sugar, and cornstarch. Next, you’ll need to prepare our easy shortbread base, then the last step: a simple crumb topping. All in all, the recipe is super straightforward, and the ingredients are readily available at the grocery store. Don’t be surprised when you find yourself making this recipe again and again to rave reviews. Blame us!
ONTARIO APPLES
Truth be told, I’ve never met an apple I didn’t like, and I LOVE apples grown in Ontario. When making these APPLE PIE CRUMBLE BARS, we suggest looking for ONTARIOAPPLES, remembering good things grow in Ontario. For this recipe, I used HONEYCRISPAPPLES, but GALA, GRANNY SMITH, and AMBROSIA apples will work too.
For best results, use a tart apple with juicy sweetness and good crunch. Make sure to watch the VIDEO accompanying this post to see how we prep the apples. Don’t dice them; rather, peel them, cut away the cores, and thinly slice.
SHORTBREAD BASE
Though the thought of using my favourite ALL-BUTTER PIE DOUGH did cross my mind, I opted instead to craft a simple buttery shortbread crust using simple ingredients. Mix unbleached all-purpose flour, granulated sugar, kosher salt, pure vanilla extract, and melted unsalted butter.
Then just flatten it into the square baking pan lined with parchment paper and bake. You can also make the shortbread using oat flour, or even whole wheat. These will add a more nutty taste and texture to the bars. Don’t use almond flour, though, as there’ll be no gluten to hold the crust together.
APPLE FILLING
Making the apple filling for this bar recipe could not be easier. To start, stir the cornstarch, sugar, kosher salt, and cinnamon together in a small bowl. Then place the apple slices in a large bowl, drizzle with apple cider, toss, sprinkle with the sugar and spice mixture, toss again, and you’re all set.
If you’d like to enhance the spice profile, add additional spices such as nutmeg, allspice, cardamom, and ginger into the mix. Expect the flavours of a gooey apple pie filling.
CRUMBLE TOPPING
Similar to the apple filling, the crumble topping is easy to make as well. Stir together the old-fashioned oats, brown sugar, flour, cinnamon, and kosher salt, then add the butter.
Though you can blend the butter into the mix using a pastry cutter or two knives, I like to make it by rubbing it together by hand. If you’re feeling nutty, go ahead and add chopped walnuts, pecans or almond slices in too.
HOW TO ASSEMBLE APPLE PIE BARS
Three steps are all it takes to craft perfect APPLE PIE CRUMBLE BARS. First, bake the shortbread base until it’s brown around the edges, about 15 minutes. Make sure to watch it closely, as you don’t want it overdone.
While the base is baking, prepare the topping and the filling mixtures. For best results, you want to have them standing by so that you can finish assembling the dessert as soon as the shortbread is done.
Remove that base from the oven and pour the apple filling on top straight away, smoothing it out to an even layer.
Finally, sprinkle the crumble topping over the apples, spreading it out evenly across the top.
BAKING
Once the dessert is assembled, return the pan to the oven for the final bake. Fair warning, your kitchen is going to fill with the enticing aromas of a sensational apple and cinnamon-sugar dessert. Please watch the pan for the last five minutes of baking to ensure the crispy crumbs on top don’t burn. A rich golden brown crumble is the goal.
SALTED CARAMEL SAUCE
Once the crumble has cooled, you’ll be able to lift it up and out of the pan and cut 12 rectangular bars. After that, follow the instructions below and make a salted caramel sauce. Drizzling the sauce over the bars takes the flavour of these APPLE PIE CRUMBLE BARS from simple to amazing. The only pro tip for making the sauce is to remove the pan from the heat as soon as the melted, amber-coloured sugar starts smoking.
ENJOY
We crafted this recipe as a simple dessert idea that can be served and enjoyed whenever a casual, relaxed vibe is needed. These bars are great as a chilled weeknight sweet treat or after-school snack. Looking to dress it up? Serve with vanilla ice cream and an extra squeeze of the caramel sauce—amazing!
PIN IT!
Before you go to make this apple recipe, we ask one favour: SHARE! Please PIN it to a favourite weekend baking or dessert board on Pinterest. After that, send some love our way and please subscribe to our monthly newsletter HERE, where we share our top recipes and give a sneak peek at upcoming posts. You’ll also receive Gather, our mid-month missive focused on ideas to entertain family and friends.
APPLE PIE CRUMBLE BARS are the perfect celebration of apple season!
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Ingredients
For the crumb topping:
¾ cup rolled oats
¼ cup unbleached all-purpose flour
½ cup dark brown sugar
½ teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon kosher salt
6 tablespoons butter, cubed
For the shortbread crust:
½ cup butter, melted
¼ cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
¼ teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
For the apple filling:
3 Honeycrisp apples, peeled, cored and thinly sliced
2 tablespoons corn starch
3 tablespoons dark brown sugar
¼ cup apple cider
1 teaspoon cinnamon
Salted caramel sauce:
1 cup granulated sugar
5 tablespoons butter, cut into slices
½ cup heavy 35% cream
1 pinch kosher salt
Directions
Preheat the oven to 300°F. Line a 9-inch square baking pan with parchment paper.
Make the oat crisp topping: In a medium bowl, stir together the oats, brown sugar, cinnamon, salt and flour. Drop in butter cubes and toss. Using clean hands, rub butter together with oat and flour mixture to create coarse crumbs. Cover and refrigerate.
Make the crust: In a medium bowl, stir together the melted butter, granulated sugar, vanilla, and salt. Add the flour and mix until everything is combined. Press the mixture evenly into the prepared baking pan. Bake for 15 minutes, or until lightly browned around the edges. While the crust bakes, prepare the filling.
Make the filling: Stir corn starch, brown sugar, salt and cinnamon together in a small bowl. Place apples in a large bowl, add cider and stir. Sprinkle sugar mixture over apples and toss again.
Assemble: Remove base from oven. Immediately add apples over top, pushing them down and spreading them out in an even layer. Sprinkle crumble topping over the apples and spread it out to an even layer.
Increase oven temperature to 350°F. Return pan to oven and bake for 35 minutes or until top is a rich golden colour.
Remove from oven and cool completely in pan before cutting into bars.
Prepare caramel sauce: Place sugar in a heavy-bottomed saucepan set over moderate heat, stirring continuously until sugar begins to melt. Continue stirring until sugar darkens to an amber colour. As soon as the sugar starts to smoke remove from the heat. Stir in butter until melted, then add cream and stir thoroughly. Stir in a pinch of salt. Place plastic wrap over the surface of the sauce to prevent a film from forming. Once cool, transfer to a squeeze bottle or jar.
Until Thanksgiving
