Apple Crisp Pie Bars

 

A couple of weeks ago I had a lot of apples to use up and made a couple of apple desserts.   One of them was this recipe I put together by combining a couple of different recipes.

Regular readers may have noticed I have a tendency to do this.  I'll see a recipe I like the look of but on closer inspection it looks too complicated.  I'll streamline it if I can, but sometimes I'll see a similar recipe I can borrow from to create a whole new recipe.  Sadly, I also have the regrettable tendency to forget what I've done if I don't write it down.

That's what happened with these bars.  I had seen an apple bar recipe on Instagram that looked absolutely scrumptious, but when I looked the recipe up on Taste of Home (where it was from), it didn't have very good reviews and looked like a lot of work.  So I combined it with a dutch apple pie recipe, adjusted the quantity of crust to work with a 13x9 pan, and it all turned out quite well.  So ...

APPLE CRISP PIE BARS

For the crust:
3 cups flour
1 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
3/4 cup quick-cooking oats
1 cup butter, melted
Mix all crust ingredients until crumblly and set aside 2 cups or so of the crust mixture for the topping.  Press the rest of the mixture evenly onto the bottom and partway up the sides of a 13X9 baking pan.

For the filling:
1 cup sugar
2 Tablespoons flour
2 teaspoons apple pie spice (or 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon)
8 cups peeled, sliced, tart apples
Combine the sugar, flour and spices in a large bowl.  Add the sliced apples and toss well to combine.  Arrange the apples evenly over the crust in the pan.  Crumble the remaining topping over the apples. 

Bake in a preheated 375º oven for 45 minutes or a little more, or until the apple filling is bubbly and the crust is golden brown.  Cool in pan on wire rack before cutting into bars.  Makes at least 24 bars, depending on the size you cut them.

These bars are best served with a fork rather than eating out of hand.  They're a bit crumbly and the filling is a bit juicy.  They'd be great with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on the side -- and a couple of times my husband and I had one for breakfast with vanilla Greek yogurt on top.  Hope you enjoy these bars if you try the recipe!  I've made them twice now and they went over very well with everyone who tasted them.