Description
Salted Caramel Apple Pie Bars are cozy apple pie flavors baked into easy-to-slice bars with a buttery shortbread crust, spiced apple filling, crisp oat streusel, and a salted caramel drizzle.
Ingredients
Scale
- 1/2 cup (8 Tbsp; 113g) unsalted butter, melted
- 1/4 cup (50g) granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup (125g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 2 large apples, peeled and thinly sliced (1/4 inch thick)
- 2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 2 Tablespoons granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/2 cup (43g) old-fashioned whole rolled oats
- 1/3 cup (70g) packed light or dark brown sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 cup (31g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 1/4 cup (4 Tbsp; 56g) unsalted butter, cold and cubed
- Homemade salted caramel or store-bought caramel sauce (for drizzling)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 300°F (149°C). Line the bottom and sides of an 8-inch square baking pan with parchment paper, leaving overhang on all sides.
- Make the crust: Stir melted butter, granulated sugar, vanilla, and salt together in a medium bowl. Add flour and stir until combined. Press evenly into the prepared pan.
- Bake the crust for 15 minutes, then remove from the oven.
- Make the apple filling: Toss sliced apples with flour, granulated sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg until evenly coated. Set aside.
- Make the streusel: Whisk oats, brown sugar, cinnamon, and flour together. Cut in cold cubed butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
- Increase oven temperature to 350°F (177°C). Layer the apples tightly over the warm crust, pressing down to fit. Sprinkle streusel over the apples.
- Bake for 30–35 minutes, or until the streusel is golden brown.
- Cool at room temperature for at least 20 minutes, then refrigerate for at least 2 hours (or overnight) to set.
- Lift the bars out using the parchment overhang, cut into 12–16 bars, and drizzle each bar with salted caramel sauce before serving.
Notes
- Chill time matters: Refrigerating for at least 2 hours helps the layers set and makes clean slicing easier.
- Storage: Keep bars in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
- Freezing: Freeze bars for up to 3 months; thaw overnight in the refrigerator before serving and drizzling with caramel.
- Apples: Use 2 different kinds of apples for more complex flavor (1 tart such as Granny Smith + 1 sweet such as Pink Lady). You’ll have about 3–4 cups of slices; a little more or less is fine.
- Larger batch: Double the recipe in a 9×13-inch pan. Pre-bake crust for 18 minutes, then bake assembled bars about 45–55 minutes, until streusel is golden.
- Caramel tip: Drizzle caramel after cutting for the cleanest presentation.
- Prep Time: 25 minutes
- Cook Time: 45 minutes
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 bar (1/16 of batch)
- Calories: 230-300 (estimated)
- Sugar: 16-24g (estimated)
- Sodium: 120-200mg (estimated)
- Fat: 12-16g (estimated)
- Saturated Fat: 7-10g (estimated)
- Unsaturated Fat: 4-6g (estimated)
- Trans Fat: 0g (estimated)
- Carbohydrates: 30-38g (estimated)
- Fiber: 2-3g (estimated)
- Protein: 2-3g (estimated)
- Cholesterol: 35-55mg (estimated)