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These apple pie bars have a crunchy shortbread crust, spiced apple filling, and a crumbly oat topping that will make anyone come back for seconds!
Nothing says autumn quite like a sweet dessert full of cozy oats and spiced apples.
These apple pie bars take everything you love about apple pie–the sweet apples, warm cinnamon, brown sugar–and put it into a bar with a crunchy oat topping. No, messing with fussy crusts here!
Since they set up in the fridge overnight, they’re a great, no-fuss, make-ahead dessert for any get-together.
Trust me, these apple pie bars may become your new apple dessert!
Are you craving a more breakfast-appropriate apple dish? Try these apple spice oatmeal bars!
Ingredients for apple pie bars
Crust ingredients:
- All-purpose flour – A simple baking ingredient that helps hold your crust together.
- Unsalted butter – The fat of choice for our crust, to make it moist and flaky.
- Powdered sugar – A finely milled white sugar that will dissolve easily.
Apple filling ingredients:
- All-purpose flour – This will help thicken the filling.
- Sliced apples – The star of the show! Try to slice them as uniformly as possible so they will cook evenly.
- White sugar – White sugar will give our filling some sweetness.
- Apple pie spice – Apple pie spice can be found in the spice aisle of your local grocery store, or online.
Streusel ingredients:
- All-purpose flour and old-fashioned oats – These two will create the crunchy crumbles of our streusel.
- Brown and white sugars – The brown sugar will add a deep molasses flavor, while the white sugar will add sweetness.
- Cinnamon – Cinnamon is a classic spice that is often paired with apples.
- Unsalted butter – This fat will help our streusel topping form clumps and crunchy crumbles.
Apple varieties
In your local grocery store, there’s usually a huge variety of apples to choose from!
So how do you know which ones will be best for these apple pie bars?
My favorite type of apple to use for this recipe is granny smith, pink lady, or Honeycrisp because they are crispy, crunchy, sweet, and tangy.
They also hold their shape and don’t dissolve when cooked down.
I would stay away from McIntosh, gala, fuji, or red delicious. These are often mealy apples, and not very good to use in this application.
Making your own apple pie spice
Apple pie spice blends can vary by brand, but it’s oh-so-easy to make your own!
My favorite combination is equal parts cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice.
But feel free to throw in some ginger, or cardamom too!
Storage and leftovers
Leftover apple pie bars can be put into an airtight container and stored in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
More apple recipes
- Looking for a morning pick-me-up? Try my Apple Crisp Macchiato.
- Craving something sweet? Try my Caramel Apple Dump Cake.
- Need something savory? Try my Sheet Pan Chicken and Apples.
- Want something for the adults? Try my Apple Cider Moscow Mule.
Apple Pie Bars
Ingredients
For crust:
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
For apple filling:
- 4-5 medium apples, peeled, cored, and sliced thin
- 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons apple pie spice
For streusel topping:
- 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 3/4 cup old-fashioned oats
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 cup unsalted buter, melted
Instructions
For crust:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and line an 8×8 baking pan with parchment paper, set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer add flour, butter, and powdered sugar.
- Mix on medium speed until everything has combined and forms a soft dough. The mixture may look very crumbly at first but will form together as a dough.
- Evenly press the dough into the prepared pan.
- Bake for 20 minutes or until the edges just start to brown.
- While the crust is baking start the filling.
For filling:
- In a medium-sized mixing bowl add sliced apples, flour, granulated sugar, and apple pie spice.
- Toss to combine.
- Add the sliced apples overtop the crust.
For topping:
- In a medium-sized mixing bowl add all the streusel ingredients and mix until combined and crumbly.
- Evenly sprinkle the streusel overtop the apples.
- Add to the oven and bake for 35-40 minutes or until the streusel topping is golden brown.
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool.
- Once cool, cover and add to the fridge for at least 2 hours but overnight is best.
- Cut into squares and serve with ice cream or whipped cream.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
