These easy apple pie bars have a shortbread crust, rich apple layer, and a cinnamon pecan streusel topping. Drizzle with caramel for a classic treat!
All the classic flavors of a Dutch caramel apple pie, in an easy bar dessert! These apple pie bars might just be your new favorite dessert this Fall!
Guess what today is? You guys, today is the first day of Fall!! So it’s official… we can start getting those pumpkin spice lattes, cheering on our favorite football teams, and eating a bunch of apples!
I LOVE apple pie, but sometimes, I just realllllly don’t want to mess with making a pie crust (mainly rolling out the dough!). That’s when I had the idea for these apple pie bars.
All the great classic flavors of a Dutch apple pie, but none of the hassle! I use the shortbread crust from my Vanilla Chai Cheesecake Bars (seriously, make those!!), and it gives these bars a nice buttery chewiness.
You can eat these apple pie bars “au naturale” as shown above… and they’re delicious that way… but why not, go for some extra indulgence and drizzle some Browned Butter Salted Caramel Sauce!!
Orrrrr, you can be REALLY decadent and add a scoop of ultra creamy No-Churn Bourbon Vanilla Ice Cream. Go on… you know you want to!
These apple pie bars are a cinch to bake, there’s just 3 separate things to make, then you combine them and bake.
Here’s the breakdown
- Mix up shortbread dough and press into a parchment paper lined baking pan
- Bake for 15 minutes.
- While crust is baking, peel and slice apples.
- Toss sliced apples with butter, sugar, cinnamon and flour. Set aside.
- Make streusel topping (I find the food processor makes it really easy!)
- Top baked crust with sliced apples, drizzle with caramel if desired, then sprinkle with streusel.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes.
Some Helpful Tools For This Recipe:
8″x 8″ baking pan – This pan is sturdy and I use it for SO many desserts!
Cuisinart Food Processor – Forget cutting in butter by hand, try it in the food processor!
Did you make this? Be sure to leave a review below and tag me @the_chunky_chef on Facebook and Instagram!
Ingredients
- SHORTBREAD:
- 1/2 cup butter melted
- 1/4 cup light brown sugar packed
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- APPLE LAYER:
- 2 large Granny Smith apples peeled and sliced into 1/4" thick slices
- 2 1/2 Tbsp melted butter
- 2 Tbsp light brown sugar
- 1 1/2 Tbsp all-purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- CINNAMON PECAN STREUSEL:
- 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup old-fashioned oats divided
- 1/4 cup light brown sugar
- 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 cup cold butter cubed
- 1/2 cup pecans chopped
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.
- Line an 8"x8" baking pan with parchment paper and set aside.
- Melt butter in microwave, then add brown sugar and whisk to combine.
- Add salt and cinnamon, stir, then add flour and stir until well combined.
- Press dough into prepared pan in an even layer.
- Bake 15 minutes, then set aside.
- Increase oven temperature to 350 degrees F.
- While crust is baking, prepare apples and add to medium mixing bowl.
- Toss apple slices with butter, brown sugar, flour and cinnamon.
- Add flour, 1/4 cup oats, brown sugar and cinnamon to a food processor. Add cubes of cold butter and pulse until butter is cut into mixture and pea sized pieces form.
- Add streusel to a small bowl and stir in chopped pecans and remaining 1/4 cup oats.
- Layer apple slices over top of the shortbread crust, then top with streusel topping.
- Bake at 350 degrees F for 20-25 minutes, until streusel is lightly golden brown and apples are cooked through.
- Drizzle with caramel and top with vanilla ice cream if desired.
Want to save this recipe for later? Click the heart in the bottom right corner to save to your own recipe box!
Chef Tips
Video
Nutrition Disclaimer
The Chunky Chef is not a dietician or nutritionist, and any nutritional information shared is an estimate. If calorie count and other nutritional values are important to you, we recommend running the ingredients through whichever online nutritional calculator you prefer. Calories can vary quite a bit depending on which brands were used.
Jackie says
can this recipe be frozen
The Chunky Chef says
I haven’t tested freezing this recipe, so I can’t say for certain. However, I *think* it could be. If you do some experimenting, I’d love to know how it turns out 🙂
Taylor says
I usually don’t leave comments on recipe blogs BUT this recipe has changed my life lol! It is so so so good. One of my favorite desserts now!
Vanessa Fellows says
If I wish to double this recipe, would I use a jelly roll pan or 9×13 cake pan ???
I’m making it for a large gathering
The Chunky Chef says
You’ll want to use a 9×13″ pan 🙂
Lorraine says
Can you use gluten free flour mixture? Have gluten free friends.
The Chunky Chef says
I haven’t tested this recipe using gluten free ingredients, so I can’t say for certain whether any changes would need to be made. If you do some experimenting, I’d love to know how it turns out 🙂
Jamie D Williams says
I made this with all the stuff suggested. The caramel sauce the shortbread the actual construction of it all really good. One suggestion I would make is to cook down the apples a bit first or cut them thinner. I just like the apples a bit softer than the time allotment before the shortbread or the streusel were cooked. As a fix I let them cool in the oven.
Danielle Dionne says
My friends and I loved the caramel apple pie bars so much, that I’m making another batch! It’s in the oven as I write this, and it smells so good.
Thank you for this yummy recipe Amanda! Keep them coming!! 😃
lori says
Hi, i was wondering if i can use the steel cut quick cooking oats instead of old fashioned? I know the steel cut have a different texture but the quick steel cut seems to be more similar to the old fashioned? thank you
The Chunky Chef says
I’ve not tested this recipe with quick steel cut oats, so I can’t say for certain how that would work out. If you try it, I’d love to know how it turns out 🙂
Debbie says
I had Bunko and serve your delicious apple bars with caramel sauce and ice cream and everybody went nuts over it. I am making it again tonight. I have a Granny Smith Apple tree and these apples with your recipe are perfect A very delicious recipe thank you for sharing
Shirley says
This is delicious. Easy to prepare. I used a different apple just because I had them handy.
Kim says
It looks delicious but It says two slices of apples does it mean two apples? Can you clarify thank you!
The Chunky Chef says
Oh dear, looks like there was an error when I transitioned to a new recipe plugin… yes, it’s two apples 🙂 I’ve updated the recipe, and thanks for the heads up!
Hilary says
This recipe turned out great. I left the pecans out. Lots of great texture with these bars. Great with vanilla ice cream.
Heather says
As soon as I saw these pictures I knew I needed to make these ASAP! Yum!!
Evelyn says
I made these and they were delicious. Because I was taking them to a pot luck and the drizzle of caramel sauce would be too messy, before baking, I topped the bars in the pan with Kraft Caramel bits available by the chocolate chips in the grocery store. Worked wonderfully and still had that caramel taste, but no mess.
The Chunky Chef says
Hi Evelyn 🙂 I’m so happy that you loved these bars!
Jessica | Novice Chef says
My girls LOVE apples! I’m totally going to have to make this for them!
Brandy | Nutmeg Nanny says
Seriously, these are mouth watering! They look incredible!
Meg @ With Salt and Wit says
This dessert screams fall! Yummy!
Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says
Oh my goodness, that looks sooooo good and I’m totally craving this big time!!
Michelle | A Latte Food says
Oh my gosh, that caramel drizzle has got me swooning! This looks so, so good!
Cookin Canuck says
Wow, just wow! These bars look absolutely amazing. It’s really all about that caramel drizzle.
Patricia @ Grab a Plate says
Genius and delicious way to celebrate fall! Love that caramel sauce AND the ice cream 🙂 These look delicious!
Sheri says
Recipes look delicious Thank you.