For the perfect fall dessert, make these salted caramel apple pie bars. Serve as snack size bars or elegant bite size pieces for easy stylish entertaining.
If you love apple pie but want a simpler, bite-sized version, these salted caramel apple pie bars are your answer. Think of them as a handheld apple pie.
They're snack sized squares layered with buttery shortbread crust, tender, cinnamon spiced apples, and crunchy oat streusel topping. Add a drizzle of salted caramel sauce, and you've got one spectacular dessert.
These bars are perfect for make-ahead baking. Slice them into bite-sized pieces for parties. They even freeze beautifully so you can enjoy apple pie anytime without the hassle of making a whole pie.
Don't they look so cute all lined up on a serving tray? Who knew apple pie could look so elegant?
Why You'll Love These Apple Pie Bars
- Easy and elegant: No rolling out pie dough. Just make a simple shortbread crust.
- Handheld convenience: Perfect for parties, potlucks, or grab and go fall treats.
- Make-ahead friendly: Freeze the bars and pull them out as needed.
- All the flavors of fall: Apples, cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom, and caramel.
If you enjoy seasonal desserts like mini classic apple pies or apple spice cake, these bars are a must try.
Ingredients for Salted Caramel Apple Pie Bars
For the shortbread crust
You'll only need four ingredients here, and the star is melted butter, which makes it so easy to mix together. Combine it with a little sugar, flour and salt and you've got a buttery base that bakes up sturdy enough to hold the filling but still tender when you bite into it.
For the apple filling
You'll cook thinly sliced apples with butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cardamom until they're soft and caramelized. After cooling slightly, stir in vanilla for warmth and lemon zest for just a hint of brightness to balance the sweetness. Gala, Honeycrisp, or Pink Lady apples are great choices but you can mix in a Granny Smith if you like a tart bite.
For the streusel topping
The crumbly oat topping is like the best part of an apple crisp layered right on top. It's made with oats, flour, brown sugar, butter, and a touch of cinnamon and salt.
How to Make Mini Salted Caramel Apple Pie Bars
These bars come together in three easy layers. First, simply mix the dough ingredients in a bowl and stir with a spatula or your hands until it comes together. Press it into the bottom of an 8x8 parchment lined buttered pan. Bake the buttery shortbread crust until lightly golden.
While it bakes, prepare the apple filling by cooking the fruit. Melt the butter in a large pan over medium high heat and then toss in all the other filling ingredients except the vanilla and zest. Cook it down until the apples are soft and you no longer have liquid in the pan. Then mix in the vanilla and zest.
Finally, you need to make the top streusel layer. Prepare it while your apples are cooking or cooling. Mix the oats, flour and sugar together in a medium bowl and work the butter in with a fork until you have a crumbly mixture.
Once all the parts are made just layer the apples over the crust, and then sprinkle the streusel over the apples. I like to use my offset spatula to get everything nice and smooth.
Smooth down the apples first and once you sprinkle over the streusel, move the spatula around gently to make sure everything is nice and flat. Return the pan to the oven and bake it again to get everything nicely browned and set.
Don't make these while you are hungry! The smell coming from the oven will drive you insane.
Once the pan has cooled and been chilled, you can cut them into whatever size pieces you want.
Drizzle the pieces with either store bought or homemade salted caramel sauce just before serving. They taste great without it, but a little salted caramel sauce just gives them that extra wow!
Freezing Salted Caramel Apple Pie Bars
You can make these ahead of time and freeze them . Be sure to wrap the whole slab tightly in plastic. If you cut them up in squares first, then place a piece of parchment paper between layers in an airtight container.
Cut them while still cold if you had not already cut it but bring it to room temperature before serving.
I don't recommend adding the salted caramel sauce until it's time to serve. This is only because it makes layering them in your freezer container difficult from the stickiness.
Serving Suggestions
These bars are incredibly versatile. Serve them warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream for dessert, or enjoy them chilled straight from the fridge for a firmer texture.
For gatherings, cut the bars into small squares and arrange them on a platter with other fall favorites like pumpkin spice cookies or mini chocolate pecan pies.
They're also great for holidays. Bring them to Thanksgiving as an alternative to pie, or bake a batch for the Fourth of July and decorate with a drizzle of red and blue candy melts alongside the caramel. However you serve them, they'll disappear quickly.
These salted caramel apple pie bars are the ultimate handheld apple pie: easy, make-ahead, and full of fall flavor. With a buttery crust, tender apple filling, oat streusel topping, and a drizzle of caramel, they're a crowd-pleaser for any occasion.
Bake a pan, slice them up, freeze extras, and enjoy the comforting taste of apple pie anytime!
Salted Caramel Apple Pie Bars
For the perfect falldessert, make these salted caramel apple pie bars. Serve as snack size bars or elegantbite size pieces for easy stylish entertaining.
Ingredients
For the crust:
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- ¼ cup sugar
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup butter, melted
For the apple layer:
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, cubed
- 2 Tablespoons brown sugar
- 4 apples, peeled, cored thinly sliced
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon ground cardamom
- 1 Tablespoon vanilla
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest
For the topping:
- ½ cup oats
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- ¼ cup flour
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- pinch of salt
- ¼ cup unsalted butter, cubed
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350F.
- Grease an 8x8 pan with butter and line it with parchment paper or foil, leaving an overhang on two opposite sides.
- Combine the all purpose flour, sugar, and salt in a large bowl. Stir in the melted butter to form a soft dough. You may need to use your hands to bring it together.
- Press the dough in the the bottom of the pan and smooth it out with the back of an offset spatula.
- Bake the crust for 15 minutes until lightly browned and set.
- In a large skillet, melt the butter over medium high heat. Add the sugar, apples, cinnamon, nutmeg and cardamom and stir to coat the apples. Cook the apples until they are soft and there is no longer any liquid. If you need to add a bit of water to prevent sticking, then do so. Let the apples cool. Stir in the vanilla and lemon zest.
- In a large bowl, mix the oats, brown sugar, flour, cinnamon and salt. Add the butter cubes and work it in using a fork until the ingredients are blended and crumbly.
- Spread the apple filling over the crust.
- Spread the streusel topping over the apples, pressing them down slightly.
- Bake for 30-35 minutes or until the topping is golden.
- Cool completely. Chill in the refrigerator for 1 hour or overnight.
- Carefully lift the entire apple pie out of the pan and on to a cutting board.
- Cut out small bite size squares or larger squares if you want with a sharp knife.
- Drizzle the bars with salted caramel sauce.
Notes
Time Saver Tip: If you want to skip the chill time, you can but it will make cutting the squares neatly more difficult.
Food Prep: To cut your apples, cut them in half first and remove the
core. Then place each half flat side down and cut ¼ inch slices the long way and then one more cut perpendicular through the middle.
Variations: You can substitute oats for crushed nuts or use
a combination of both.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 25 Serving Size: 2 mini barsAmount Per Serving: Calories: 125Total Fat: 7gSaturated Fat: 4gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 2gCholesterol: 18mgSodium: 57mgCarbohydrates: 15gFiber: 1gSugar: 8gProtein: 1g
This nutrition information is only an approximate provided for convenience and as a courtesy only. Information comes from Nutritionix, an automated nutrition calculator.
Courtney Clemmons says
Looks delicious! Do these need to be stored in the refrigerator?