This past fall, my team at work went apple picking. We went on a perfect day – it was a nice, cool autumn day with a slight breeze. Definitely an apple-picking kind of day.
Since we went so late in the season, there were only two kinds of apples that were available for us to pick – Fuji and Pink Lady. I think I harvested about 8 pounds of apples to take home, and the Fuji apples got eaten very quickly. I had never had a Pink Lady before and thought that the tartness in the fruit would be better suited for baking rather than eating.
For this recipe, I opted to use the Pink Lady apples for this recipe that I found on Chocolate-Covered Katie. Katie subs a lot of the ingredients to make it dairy- or gluten-free, but I opted for the full fat regular version.
These yummy appie-pie-like bars are best served while they are still warm, but I wouldn’t complain about eating some of these if they were chilled in the fridge or at room temperature. You can always heat a piece up in the microwave and top with a scoop of vanilla ice cream if you want. You may consider making a double batch since these will be gobbled up quickly!
Hot apple crumble bars
Ingredients
- 1 and 1/2 cups whole-wheat pastry flour or white flour, spelt, or oat flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup plus 1 Tablespoon brown sugar
- 1 and 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 cup plus 3 Tablespoons butter
- 2 Tablespoons milk
- 2 cups peeled, chopped apples (8oz - I used two medium Pink Lady apples)
- 2 teaspoons cornstarch
- 3 Tablespoons maple syrup or agave
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 F. Butter or grease a 4x7 pan or glass dish (or any small pan).
- Stir together the first eight ingredients, making sure to break the butter up really well so that little crumbs form.
- Scoop 2/3 of the dough into the buttered dish, and press down firmly.
- In a separate bowl, stir together the other ingredients. Layer them into the pan, then top with the rest of the dough from the first pan and press down a bit.
- Bake for 45 minutes at 350 F, then cool at least 30 minutes before cutting into bars.
Notes
These look great! I love anything with apples in a dessert.