After making the Chocolate Peppermint Cookie Bars....I immediately thought about all of the other bar recipes I could create. These Apple Pie Cookie Bars are perfect for this time of year! I originally wanted to make a dairy free caramel sauce to drizzle over these, but I haven't perfected it yet and wanted to get this recipe out to you! These are the perfect addition to your Holiday breakfast menu or dessert menu!!!
Apples can shrivel up when used in baking, such as in pies. The type of apple can contribute to this, that is why I included Granny Smiths since they hold up well when baked. They also add a bit of tartness paired with a sweeter apple like the Fuji. Feel free to use whatever variety you want or have on hand.
To help retain the apple's structure, I have pre-cooked the apples before placing them in the oven. This allows the pectin to go to work and hold the apple's structure. Pectin is like the mortar that holds the bricks (cellulose) together. If either one of them is destroyed, the apple collapses, loses volume, and releases liquid. The lemon juice is added to the apples to keep them from turning brown.
Apple Pie Cookie Bars
Ingredients
Crust
- 1 1/4 cups Honeyville Almond Flour
- 1/2 cup grass-fed butter or coconut oil, melted (I used a mix of both)
- 1/2 cup granulated sweetener (I used Swerve for a sugar free option)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- dash of sea salt
Topping
- 3 small apples, peeled and diced (I used a mixture of Granny Smith for tart and Fuji for sweet)
- 2 tsp sweetener (I used 1 tsp palm sugar and 1 tsp Swerve)
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp lemon juice
Instructions
- Place the diced apples in a saucepan with the cinnamon and the two teaspoons of sweetener, stir until apples are coated
- Cover the pan and cook over medium heat for about 8 minutes until apples are soft
- Remove from heat and place in a single layer on a piece of parchment paper to cool
- While the apples are cooling, combine the flour, sweetener, cinnamon and salt in a mixing bowl
- Mix the melted butter/oil with the vanilla and pour into the flour mixture, combine
- Pour the batter into a greased 8×8 pan and bake at 350 for 20 minutes
- While crust is baking, place apples in a bowl and mix in the lemon juice
- Once the crust is done, spread the apples on top of the crust and return it to the oven, bake for an additional 10 minutes
- Serve hot and store in the refrigerator
If I can perfect the caramel sauce, I will certainly share it! In the meantime, these are fantastic just the way they are!!!
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