Apple Pie Crumble Bars

These were A+++. Kramer even went as far as to say that he loved them multiple times, which is a rare occurrence. I’ll definitely make these again, maybe for Kramer to bring into work (I’ve sent in chocolate chunk cookies and gems so far). These apple crumble bars are deliciously chewy and gooey; the original recipe from Pete Bakes calls them “apple crumble bars”, but I’m going to call them “apple pie crumble bars” because they really do taste like little apple pies. Recipe after the jump!

I had three Granny Smith apples and one Fuji apple, so that’s what I used.

Peel them

Then chop them, squeeze the juice of half a lemon over them, and set aside.

Throw together all of the dry ingredients…

And combine thoroughly.

Now you’re going to cut the butter into the flour because you are trying to make sort of large crumbs, not really a dough or anything like that. I started out using a fork…

And then I used my hands to make sure it was all combined well enough.

Add a cup of the crumb mixture to the apples.

Add a teaspoon of cinnamon, a tablespoon of brown sugar, and half a teaspoon of nutmeg, combine, and set aside.

Press half of the remaining crumb mixture into a 9×13 inch pan lined with tinfoil or greased (using the tinfoil allows for easier cutting because you can just lift the bars out of the pan). Bake this for 10 minutes.

Remove the crust from the oven and top with the apple mixture. Top all of that with the remaining crumb mixture.

Bake for 40-45 minutes or until golden.

Layers of goodness.

These were honestly little bites of heaven.

Apple Pie Crumble Bars
Print this recipe
thanks to Pete Bakes

4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon brown sugar, divided
1 1/2 cups butter, softened
6 cups granny smith (or a variety of your choice) apples, skinned and diced (about 5 apples, but I only had 4 and they still turned out well)
1/2 a lemon
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg

1. Take the butter out of the fridge to soften (do NOT melt) on the counter as you peel and dice up the apples into very small cubes. Squirt with the juice of half a lemon and set aside.

2. Combine the flour, salt, white sugar and 1/2 cup brown sugar in a bowl.

3. Cut the butter into the dry ingredients. The butter should not be melted. What we’re going for here are crumbs (but moist crumbs). You can use a fork or your hands to do this.

4. Take 1 cup of the crumb mixture and mix it with the apples. Add the cinnamon, 1 tablespoon brown sugar, and nutmeg and set aside.

5. Preheat the oven to 350 F and grease and flour a 9×13 baking pan, or line it with tinfoil. Take 1/2 of your remaining crumb mixture and press it into the bottom of the pan. Bake for 10 minutes.

6. Remove the crust from the oven, pour in the apple mixture and top with last of the crumbs. Put it back in the oven for another 45 minutes, or until the top is a beautiful golden brown. Cut into bars after they’ve completely cooled. I put mine in the fridge and they firmed up very nicely, but you can eat them warm as well (maybe with some ice cream).

Tagged as: apple, bars, pie