I’ve always thought the expression “easy as pie” was a little misleading. I’m not saying making pie is rocket science, but I’m not sure I would classify it as easy.
Rolling out cold pie dough and getting those beautiful pie designs you see on Pinterest actually take more kitchen skills than I possess. Ha. But you know what IS easy? These apple pie bars!
Related: Caramel Apples, Rice Pudding, Figgy Pudding, Apple Dumplings, Apple Tart
These easy apple pie bars have a buttery bottom crust, a sticky sweet apple pie filling, and then my favorite part: crumb topping!
An alternative name for these apple pie bars would be “apple cobbler bars” since I often do a crumb topping like this for cobbler. These are delicious, easy to make, and super easy to serve or travel with.
My friend, Mara, has an apple tree in her yard and gifted me a big bag of apples, which was the inspiration because making these apple pie bars. 🙂
You can make the filling in advance–it’s similar to making a thick and chunky applesauce.
The crust and top take only minutes to throw together, so this whole recipe is super simple to make, even if you are making multiple dishes for a bigger meal with family.
The below recipe is perfect for an 8-inch square baking pan (what I like to call a “brownie pan”), but if you are making this for a crowd, double the recipe and use a 9×13-inch baking pan.
I know Thanksgiving and the holiday season this year is looking very different for me and I have a feeling many of you are there too.
Although I do believe in letting ourselves feel all the things we may be feeling (grief, anxiety, etc.), I also plan to practice gratitude and love myself and my family/friends as much as possible and in whatever safe way I can.
Making gratitude a big part of my life has always helped me during up and down times. And one thing I am grateful for is this community where I get to share recipes and crafts and little bits of my life.
I am truly thankful for YOU and I hope you find joy and gratitude no matter what else you may be going through this year. Lots of love, Emma
P.S. If you love easy apple recipes, try 5-minute apple crisp for one and apple dumplings!
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Ingredients
- 4 baking apples
- ¾ cup brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 2 teaspoons corn starch
- ¾ cup butter
- ½ cup granulated white sugar
- 1 ½ cups all purpose flour
- 1-2 tablespoon water
Instructions
- Peel and cube the apples, avoiding the core.
- In a small pot, combine the apple pieces with the brown sugar and cinnamon. Cook over medium heat, stirring often, for 6-8 minutes until the apples begin to break down.
- Stir in the cornstarch and continue to cook another 2-3 minutes until the mixture thickens. You are looking for a texture that is in between applesauce and jam.
- For the crust, mix together the butter, granulated sugar, and flour. Add a tablespoon of water and continue to mix until a very crumbly dough forms. If needed you can add another tablespoon of water.
- Divide the dough in half. In a square baking pan covered with parchment paper, press half of the dough into the bottom. Bake at 350°F for 12 minutes.
- Then spoon the apple pie filling over the partially baked crust. Crumble the remaining dough over the top. Bake for an additional 30 minutes, until the crumb topping begins to brown.
- Allow to cool before cutting into squares.
Nutrition
Notice: Nutrition is auto-calculated, using Spoonacular, for your convenience. Where relevant, we recommend using your own nutrition calculations.
A recipe I’ve made over and over. Also works great as a basic template for other fruit bars, like strawberries or peaches.
can you add cinnamon? how would that taste?
Yes, I think that would taste great if you like cinnamon. Yum!
Sounds yummy! I need to try these ♥️
Great recipe! I just used half of the suggested sugar and it still was sweet enough and tasty. I also did have to convert everything to grams (Europe reader here!) so maybe I made some mistake in the conversion. But I would definitely make this again! 🙂
I made this. I liked how straight forward it was. I used a diary-free butter alternative and royal gala apples. Because the apples weren’t really baking apples, the apple compote part took longer, but it still came together. I think next time I make it, I’ll add some salt to the crumb mixture and maybe lemon juice to the apple compote to make them more flavourful.
My seven and I made these bars last night and they came out really delicious!
Our cubed apples took a lot longer to break down, so next time, we will mince them. We also added salt to the dough to break up the sweet-on-sweet flavor. Definitely worth making again!
Thank you, Emma!
Glad you liked it overall Amanda. And thank you for your notes and additions!
These look and sound heavenly. Love me anything apple pie, but bars are SO much more fun.
xo Jessica
an indigo day
Hi! This looks delicious! Should the butter be room temperature or chilled? Thanks! 🙂
Chilled is best.
Thank you for the recipe and that important message about gratitude Emma! Sending you lots of love from London <3