Soft, sweet, tart, and gooey – these caramel apple bars will make your kitchen smell amazing! One taste and you’ll be making them all season long!
**This recipe was shared before I went gluten-free. I’m working hard on updating these older non gluten-free recipes, so stay tuned!
Fall is in full swing and so is my fall dessert making! I wanted to have a sweet little snack available over the weekend while my family was visiting. Because you know, the ice cream birthday cake we were having just wouldn’t be enough. 😉
Last fall I made Caramel Apple Cupcakes, which I actually recently made to reshoot for you all, and from that stemmed a lot of other caramel apple inspired dessert ideas. First up, these sweet, delicious, sticky, soft caramel apple bars. I’m a huge fan of bar desserts – they are easy to make and easy to transport, so they are perfect for last minute baking. Especially if you’re like me and I always have apples and caramel sauce on hand.
One thing I dislike about a lot of traditional bar desserts is that they can tend to be dry and crunchy. I like some crunch, but I also like soft and melt-in-your-mouth texture. These lovely little gems have it all!
You’ll want to start by making the crust. Which, by the way, is one of the easiest crusts ever. All you do is toss the ingredients together and mix – there’s no special order, just toss it all in a bowl and mix with your stand mixer, hand mixer, or by hand!
You’ll notice the crust will come together easy, but be slightly sticky. Not sticky to the point that you can’t work with it, though. Does that make sense?
Anyway, once it all comes together, you just press it into an 8×8 square pan. I use my hands to do this and just keep pressing until the bottom of the pan is evenly covered.
Bake it in a preheated oven for 10 minutes to set up before adding the filling.
The apple layer is SO delicious and incredibly easy. Slice up 2 granny smith apples and toss them with brown sugar, flour, cinnamon, and a pinch of salt. Easy right?
Layer in the apples and then top those with the crumb topping. I basically use my crumb topping for pie, but add more butter and toss in some oatmeal for more texture.
Now, you’re ready to bake! 30-35 minutes and your house is going to smell AMAZING. Why are the scents of fall so darn wonderful? You’ll need some patience once they come out of the oven – the bars have to cool completely before you cut them. I like to let them cool for a while and then move them into the fridge for about an hour before I cut them. If you try and cut them too early, they will crumble all over the place – so be patient!
Once you’ve got your bars cut and ready to eat, go ahead drizzle away with caramel sauce. Be generous here – it makes the bars! If you aren’t serving them all right away I recommend that you just drizzle the ones that will be eaten. After the bars sit, they will soak up a lot of the caramel sauce. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still delicious, but I prefer the gooey caramel dripping all over the bar when I eat one!
Since there are apples present in these bars it makes them an acceptable choice for breakfast. Well, in my world it does! They also make a great snack throughout the day. Get ready because you won’t be able to eat just one!
I like to store them in the refrigerator (like I do most of my desserts) but I prefer to eat them at room temperature. They are great either way though!
I hope you are enjoying the early days of fall. It’s time to head to the orchard and get apple picking so you can make caramel apple bars! And, while you’re at it, go ahead and make some cupcakes too.
- 1 ¼ Cup All-Purpose Flour
- ¼ Cup Brown Sugar
- ½ Teaspoon Cinnamon
- ½ Teaspoon Salt
- ¼ Teaspoon Baking Powder
- ¼ Teaspoon Baking Soda
- 1 Stick Butter, softened
- 1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- 1 Egg Yolk
- 2 Granny Smith Apples, peeled, cored, and sliced in ¼ inch thick slices
- ¼ Cup Brown Sugar
- 1 Tablespoon Flour
- ½ Teaspoon Cinnamon
- ¼ Teaspoon Salt
- ½ Cup Flour
- ½ Old Fashioned Oats
- ¼ Cup Brown Sugar
- ½ Teaspoon Salt
- ½ Teaspoon Cinnamon
- 6 Tablespoons Butter, melted
- Preheat the oven to 350º.
- Combine all of the ingredients for the crust in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix together until fully combined. Alternatively, you could use a hand mixer, or mix together by hand. The dough will be slightly sticky, but easy to work with. Pat the crust mixture into an 8x8 square baking pan. Bake in the preheated oven for 8 minutes.
- While your crust is baking, make the apple filling. In a medium bowl, combine the sliced apples, brown sugar, flour, cinnamon, and salt. Pour the apple slices over the partially baked crust, making sure to spread them in an even layer.
- In a small bowl, mix together all of the ingredients for the crumb topping. Sprinkle the topping evenly over the apples.
- Bake the bars at 350º for 30-35 minutes, or until the tip of a pairing knife glides easily through the apples. Let cool completely.
- Cut into 16 bars and drizzle each with homemade caramel sauce. *
- I like to drizzle the bars with the caramel sauce right before I’m going to serve – if you drizzle them all and let them sit, the caramel soaks into the bars. Still delicious, but I prefer to have the caramel sauce dripping from the bars when I eat one!
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