Apple Crumble Bars with Caramel Drizzle
These apple crumble bars are the perfect autumn treat! They’re filled with cinnamon apples then topped with oatmeal crumble and a drizzle of caramel. They’re sturdy enough to eat with your hands or on a plate with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 50 minutes
- Total Time: 2 hours
- Yield: 16 bars 1x
- Category: dessert
Ingredients
Scale
Crust
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
- 3 tablespoons brown sugar, packed
- 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
- 1 cup flour
Apple filling
- 2 large apples, peeled, cored and chopped
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 2 tablespoon brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Topping
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold, cubed
- 3 tablespoons flour
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 1/3 cup old fashioned oats
- Caramel for drizzling
Instructions
- Pre heat oven to 350F. Line an 8×8 baking pan with aluminum foil. Making sure that the aluminum foil extends over the edges.
- Make the crust: Melt the butter. Add granulated sugar, brown sugar and flour. Mix until combined. The dough should be slightly wet and crumbly. If the dough is greasy, add a bit more flour, 1 tablespoon at a time.
- Bake the crust 10 minutes, until lightly golden brown. Set aside.
- Make the apple filling: Stir the chopped apples, brown sugar, ground cinnamon and cornstarch. Spread apple filling over baked crust. Set aside.
- Make the crumble topping: Combine flour, brown sugar and old fashioned oats. Cut the butter into the mixture using a fork, knife or pastry cutter. The mixture should resemble medium sized crumbs. Sprinkle crumble topping over apples.
- Bake for 30-40 minutes or until crumble topping is golden brown.
- Cool completely before removing from pan and cutting into bars.
- Drizzle with caramel.
Notes
- The crust should look a little wet and crumbly. If the crust looks really wet and greasy, add a little bit more flour, 1 tablespoon at a time. The flour should not exceed 2 tablespoons.
- I would recommend using an apple that is crisp so it doesn’t become mushy when baking. I enjoy using granny smith or honey crisp apples. Feel free to use an apple of your choice here.
- Be sure to line the baking pan with aluminum foil. The aluminum foil should extend over the edges of the pan. This makes it so easy to remove the bars once they are cool.
- The apple crumble bars should be cooled completely before cutting them. If you cut them too soon, they can break apart. I’d recommend letting them sit in the fridge for a few hours before cutting them into slices.