Apple Pie Streusel Bars

My brother is a really good cook and baker and lately he’s been experimenting with all sorts of desserts so for Christmas I purchased this baking book for him:  Sally’s Baking Addiction.

I’m more of a “just add water” type of girl when it comes to baking so I’m glad my older brother inherited the baking gene from our mom! I’m a really good eater so it works out well 😉

The first recipe he attempted is pretty much the same as Sally’s Salted Caramel Apple Pie Bars minus the caramel. It didn’t take him very long to make this either – from start to finish including baking and cooling time they were done by the time we had finished eating our lunch!

Here’s the final result of the Apple Pie Streusel Bars:

I can tell you these were DELICIOUS! After all the heavy desserts we had over the holidays these were actually a nice change. There was both tartness and sweetness from the apples and the streusel topping added a nice buttery crunch. The only thing we didn’t do was to let them cool in the fridge for 2 hours – they probably would have been easier to cut and we would have been able to eat them with our hands had we done that. But we were too impatient and I prefer warm desserts anyway!

Here is a summary of the recipe below but be sure to check out Sally’s blog and cookbook for the full recipe!

Ingredients: 

Crust:

• 1/2 cup of melted, unsalted butter
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 cup all purpose flour

Filling:

• 2 large apples, peeled and thinly sliced
• 2 tbsp all purpose flour
• 2 tbsp granulated sugar
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp ground nutmeg

Streusel Topping:

• 1/2 cup old fashioned oats
• 1/3 cup light or dark brown sugar
• 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 all purpose flour
• 1/4 unsalted butter (cold and cubed)

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 300 F
• Line 8 inch baking pan with foil leaving overhang on all the sides
• Make the crust – stir melted butter, sugar, vanilla and salt together in a bowl. Add the flour and stir until all the ingredients are combined. Press the mixture evenly into the foil lined pan and bake for 15 minutes
• Meanwhile prepare filling and topping
• Make the filling – combined apples, flour, sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg together in a large bowl until the apples are evenly coated.
• Make the topping: Whisk the oats, brown sugar, cinnamon and flour in a medium bowl. Cut the chilled butter with  your hands until the mixture looks like coarse crumbs.
• Remove the crust from the oven and turn the oven up to 350F. Layer the apples evenly on to the warm crust – layer tightly and press them down so they fit. Sprinkle with topping and bake for 30 – 35 minutes or until the streusel topping is golden brown
• Once done remove from the oven and let cool for 20 minutes at room temperature
• Chill in fridge for at least 2 hours (we skipped this part!)
• Cut into bars and eat!

What is your favourite dessert of the moment?