Apple Pie Bars

These homemade Apple Pie Bars begin with a shortbread crust that’s filled with a generous amount of cinnamon sugar coated apple slices and topped with a buttery streusel crumble topping. After baking them until golden brown, you can serve them as is or drizzled with a warm salted caramel sauce.

Ingredients to Make Apple Pie Bars Recipe

This recipe for Apple Pie Bars is one that bakers of all skill levels can make. They’re made with pantry ingredients and you can use whatever favorite variety of apples that you enjoy most. I find that Gala, Granny Smith or Honeycrisp apples do best, but I wouldn’t be upset if you used Golden Delicious. They feature three layers beginning with a buttery shortbread crust topped with cinnamon apples and an easy crumble topping. I like to drizzle these with my Salted Caramel Sauce recipe, but you can certainly enjoy them straight from the pan with ice cream or chilled with whipped cream. Ingredients to make caramel Apple Pie Bars Recipe: (Scroll down for the full printable recipe card.)

• Crust: Salted butter, all purpose flour and powdered sugar for sweetness.
• Apple Pie Filling: Gala or Granny Smith apples peeled, cored and sliced.
• Flour: All purpose flour stabilizes the juices from the apples in the filling.
• Sugar: Granulated sugar adds sweetness to the apples.
• Lemon Juice: One tablespoon lemon juice adds acidic note to balance the flavor.
• Seasonings: One teaspoon apple pie spice, ground cinnamon and salt.
• Streusel Topping: 3/4 cup all purpose flour.
• Oatmeal: Old fashioned or quick cooking oats (not instant).
• Two Sugars: 1/2 cup granulated sugar and 1/2 cup light brown sugar adds sweetness and makes the crust golden brown.
• Salt: 1/4 tsp salt to balance the flavor of the streusel topping.
• Butter: Unsalted butter for the crumble topping.

How to Make the Best Apple Pie Bars Recipe

• Heat Oven and Prepare Pan: Preheat oven to 350°F. Line an 8×8-inch baking pan with parchment paper.
• Make Crust: In a medium size bowl, whisk together flour and sugar. Use a hand mixer on low to mix in the softened butter until a soft dough forms. Press evenly onto the bottom of the pan. Place into the oven and bake per the recipe.
• Make Apple Pie Filling: Meanwhile, In the same bowl, toss together apple slices with flour, granulated sugar, apple pie spice, ground cinnamon and salt until the apples are evenly coated.
• Make Streusel Topping: In a separate bowl toss together flour, oats, granulated sugar, light brown sugar, and salt with melted butter.
• Assemble the Bars: Remove the crust from oven and arrange apple pie filling evenly over the crust. Sprinkle with the streusel topping.
• Oven: Place pan back into the oven and bake per the cook time inthe recipe until lightly golden brown and the apples are fork tender.
• Cool: Cool in the pan on a cooling wire rack for at least 2 hours or you can chill in the fridge to speed up the process.
• Serve: Cut into squares and serve drizzled with salted caramel sauce, if desired.

Tips for Making Apple Pie Bars

• Kitchen Tools You’ll Need: One 8×8-inch or 9-inch baking pan, large bowl, medium bowl, whisk, a hand mixer or a large rubber spatula, an apple peeler-corer or a vegetable peeler, parchment paper, measuring cups and spoons, a sharp knife and cutting board. You can also use a food processor to make the crust and streusel topping.
• Which Apples Make the Best Apple Pie? Tart apples like Granny Smith apples are the gold standard for making apple pies. This is due to the fact that they hold their shape and the tart flavor balances the sweet. You could use another variety of apples if that’s your preference, just keep in mind the texture will vary depending on the variety used. Both Gala and Honeycrisp apples will also do well in this recipe.
• Don’t Cook the Apples: There’s no need to cook the apples before putting them in apple pie. They’ll cook in the oven.
• Streusel Topping: The streusel topping for these apple bars is generous by design. You can halve the amount of ingredients, if that’s more suited to your taste. I love the streusel topping so for us, I make this just as in the recipe.
• Double the Recipe: This recipe easily doubles if you need a larger batch. Bake it in a 13×9-inch baking dish or pan and adjust the baking time, adding more time as needed, until the bars are fully baked.
• How to Serve Apple Pie Bars: You can enjoy these apple pie bars warm, at room temperature or chilled. When serving them warm add a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Recipe Variations

• Nuts: You can add 1/2 cup chopped pecans or walnuts to the crumb topping mixture.
• Caramel Sauce: You can serve these apple bars as is or drizzled with salted caramel sauce.
• Alternate Glaze: You may like to drizzle these bars with a creamy glaze. Mix together powdered sugar with heavy cream and vanilla extract and drizzle over the cooled bars.
• Apple Substitutions: You can use pink lady, braeburn, gala or honeycrisp apples in place of granny smith apples.
• Apple Pie Spice: If you don’t have apple pie spice on hand, in addition to the cinnamon called for in the recipe add one teaspoon ground cinnamon, 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg, 1/4 teaspoon cardamom and 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger to the pie filling.
• Lemon Juice: If you prefer you can toss the apple slices with vanilla extract in place of lemon juice.

Storage and Leftovers

• Leftovers: Store Apple Pie Bars in an airtight container chilled or covered with plastic wrap in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
• Freezer: Can I freeze Apple Pie Bars? Yes, these apple bars do freeze well. Store them in a freezer safe container for up to 3 months.
• How to Thaw: Thaw them in the refrigerator or allow some stand time on the counter just before serving.

More Southern Style Apple Desserts to Make

There’s no wrong time of year to enjoy apples but they do seem even more special during apple harvest season. More apple dessert recipes you may also like to try:

• Easy Fried Apple Pies dusted with powdered sugar.
• Cinnamon Apple Fritters are a true fall treat served with a cup of warm cider.
• Start your morning with homemade Apple Muffins.
• Apple Butter Pie features a warm and spicy flavored filling.
• Caramel Apple Poke Cake is a fun dessert that any baker can make.
• Apple Cider Glazed Doughnuts are a fun family project.
• Green Apple Salsa from Lemon Tree Dwelling.

Thanks for visiting come back soon!

Disclosure ~ If  a purchase is made using one of the affiliate links on this website we may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you. Thank you!

Helpful Kitchen Items:

• Stand Mixer
• Cooling Racks
• Measuring Set
• Baking Pan