Caramel Apple Crisp Bars

Caramel Apple Bar sprinkled with powdered sugar and drizzled with caramel.

5 from 3 votes

Perfect for fall, these apple pie bars are easy to make and taste like mom's apple pie. A caramel drizzle puts these cookies in the over the top delicious column!

Prep Time30

Cook Time45

Total Time1 15

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Servings: bars

Calories: 163kcal

Author: Linda Warren

Ingredients

Cookie Base & Crumb Layer

1 cup all purpose flour
½ cup rolled oats
⅓ cup light brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
½ cup + 2 Tablespoons butter, cold
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
½ cup pecans, chopped

Apple Layer

2 apples, peeled, cored & cubed (one tart & one sweet)
2 Tablespoons all purpose flour
2 Tablespoons granulated sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
⅛ teaspoon nutmeg

Powdered Sugar & Caramel Drizzle

powdered sugar
½ cup Kraft caramel bits or caramel squares, melted
2 teaspoons water

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line an 8x8-inch square baking dish with parchment paper and spray with non-stick spray. The parchment paper should come up and over the sides. This will allow you to lift the cooked bars out of the dish so they can be cut.
In a medium bowl, combine flour, oats, sugar and cinnamon. Cut in butter with pastry cutter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
Take ¾ cup of crumb mixture and place in a smaller bowl. Add pecans, stir, and set aside. This is your crumb topping.
To the original crumb mixture, add vanilla extract and mix well. Place into the prepared square baking dish and pat evenly into bottom. Bake in oven for 15 minutes.
While cookie base is baking make the apple layer. Mix all apple layer ingredients together. As soon as cookie base is done, remove from oven and cover with apple mixture. Pat gently into place.
Sprinkle crumb topping over apples and return to oven. Bake 30 minutes.
Cool on wire rack for 30-45 minutes then place in refrigerator for at least 2 hours.
Melt caramel bits and water in microwave in 30 second increments, stirring after each increment. Usually takes about 1 minute.
Remove bars from refrigerator. Lift carefully from pan and place on wooden cutting board. Cut into 16 small squares. Sprinkle with powdered sugar then drizzle with melted caramel. Place in airtight container and store in refrigerator.

Notes

BEST APPLES TO USE

You want to use both sweet and tart apples for the most flavor. For sweet, choose from Honeycrisp, Fuji, Jazz, and Pink Lady, and for tart, opt for Granny Smith, Jonathan, or Braeburn.

Opt to use a 9x13-inch pan for a larger batch, just double the quantities and bake for the same amount of time.

Nutrition