Brown Butter Crumble Apple Pie Bars

These brown butter crumble apple pie bars are simply the perfect fall treat. The fragrant brown butter in the crust and crumble topping adds nutty richness, the filling is a little tart and spiced with cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and vanilla. If you want an extra sweet touch, a drizzle of sweet maple icing on top is just delicious. And instead of the homemade apple filling, you can also use prepared apple butter for an easy apple dessert.

Looking for more apple recipes? Don’t miss these apple butter cinnamon rolls, apple cider pancakes, and apple pie cake.

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Why You’ll Love This Recipe

Perfect for Apple Season. I love the variety of apples available in the fall for baking, and these apple crumb bars are the perfect way to celebrate apple season.

Easier than Apple Pie. It’s hard to beat a deep-dish apple crumb pie with a flaky buttery pastry. But if you don’t feel like making and rolling out pie dough, then apple pie bars are a simpler option. The dough for the crust is the same dough you’ll use for the crumble topping, and you simply press it into the pan before adding the apples and baking. You also don’t have to wait as long for the bars to cool. If you want to enjoy them while they’re warm, just scoop up a serving into a bowl, and serve it with ice cream.

Brown Butter. Brown butter truly makes everything better! You’ll love the nutty richness it adds to complement the apples and spices.

High Altitude Tested. I develop all the recipes on my site for Denver’s altitude of 5,280 feet. If you’re at a lower or higher elevation, please see my FAQs for guidance on adjusting recipes for your altitude.

Best Apples for Baking, Cooking & Eating

With hundreds of varieties of apples to choose from, it can be hard to decide what you should use when baking an apple pie or tart. And the best pies for baking are not necessarily the best ones for eating plain, and vice-versa. You don’t want an apple that will turn to mush in your pies and tarts, so a good baking apple is one that’s firm and holds its shape well after it’s been cooked.

Granny Smith. These are one of my favorites for baking pies, crisps, crumbles and bars. They are very tart, which creates a nice balance with the sugar, so that your finished dessert isn’t too sweet. The skin is thick, and the apples need to be peeled before cooking. Actually, no matter the type of apple, I would always recommend peeling the apples before cooking with them, unless you’re making apple butter, and the peel will be strained out later.

Honey Crisp. With their sweet, crisp flesh and thin skin, these are a fantastic eating apple, but they’re also great for baking. It’s always a happy day when Honey Crisp apples are on sale, since they can be more expensive than other varieties.

Fuji & Gala. These apples are less expensive, and on the softer side, so I don’t really enjoy eating them fresh, but they are my go-to apple for cooking in recipes like homemade applesauce, since they break down quickly and make a great applesauce with a few spices for more flavor. I don’t recommend these for apple pie bars, though.

Other Good Baking Apples: Jonathan or Jonagold, Cortland, Braeburn

Ingredients

Apple Filling

• Apples. You’ll need three pounds of apples (about large apples), preferably Honey Crisp or Granny Smith.
• Lemon Juice. Adds moisture and tartness to balance the sugar.
• Sugar. A combination of granulated sugar and brown sugar sweetens the apples and adds moisture.
• Flour. A little all-purpose flour thickens the filling.
• Spices. Cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and cardamom add wonderful flavor and complement the tartness of the apples.

Crust & Topping

• Butter. Unsalted butter adds delicious flavor to the crust and crumb topping.
• Flour. Gives the crust and topping structure and strength.
• Sugar. Dark brown sugar adds sweetness and moisture.
• Salt. Balances the sweetness.
• Baking Powder. Gives the crust a little lift.

Maple Icing

• Powdered Sugar. Sweetens and thickens the icing.
• Maple Extract. Flavor.
• Cream. Thins the icing to a drizzling consistency.

Instructions

Apple Filling

• Peel and core the apples, then chop into 1/2 inch pieces. Place in a saucepan.
• Add the lemon juice, sugar, brown sugar, flour and spices, and toss the apples to coat in the mixture.
• Bring the apples to a simmer over medium heat, stirring frequently. Reduce to medium low, and simmer, stirring frequently, for about 15 minutes, until the liquid is thick and syrupy and the apples have begun to soften.
• Set aside to cool slightly.

Crust & Topping

• Preheat the oven to 350. Line a 9 inch square baking pan with parchment paper, or spray with non-stick baking spray.
• In a small saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Continue to cook the butter, swirling the pan occasionally, until nutty brown solids form on the bottom of the pan. This should take about 5 minutes.

• Meanwhile, in a bowl, combine 2 cups of the flour (reserving 1/4 cup of flour for later) with the brown sugar, salt and baking powder.
• As soon as the butter is browned, use a spatula to scrape the bottom of the pan to scrape up all the browned bits. Pour the hot butter over the flour mixture. Stir with a spoon to form it into a soft dough.

• Scoop 3/4 of the dough (reserving 1/4 of the dough for the crumb topping) into the prepared baking pan, and use your hands to press the dough evenly into the bottom of the pan.
• Bake for 15 minutes.

• Take the reserved 1/4 cup of flour and add it to the remaining 1/4 dough. Use a fork or pastry cutter to work the flour into the dough until you have a crumbly topping. Set aside.

• After the crust bakes for 15 minutes, take the pan out of the oven. Pour the apple filling over the hot crust, then sprinkle the apples with the crumb topping.
• Bake for another 30 minutes, until the filling is bubbling and the topping is golden brown.

• Cool completely before cutting into squares.
• Just like with apple pie, the apple filling in these bars will take a while (4-6 hours) to set and cool, before you can cut squares. If you don’t mind them warm and messy, there’s no need to wait that long, and you can just use a spoon to scoop up a serving to serve warm with ice cream.

Maple Icing (optional)

• Before serving, combine the icing ingredients in a bowl and stir vigorously with a spoon until smooth, adding more or less milk depending on how thick you want your icing to be.
• Immediately drizzle the icing over the bars. It will set in about 10 minutes.

Recipe Variations

Apple Butter Bars

Apple butter bars with crumb topping are a little quicker and easier to make, since you can use prepared apple butter instead of making the apple filling. With apple butter, you’ll get a wonderful spiced apple flavor, but without the chunky texture of the homemade apple filling.

• Make the recipe as instructed, and spread 1 1/2 cups of apple butter over the hot crust in place of the apple filling.
• Then sprinkle with the crumb topping and finish baking.

Be sure to read all of my BAKING FAQs where I discuss ingredients, substitutions and common baking questions, so that you can be successful in your own baking!

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I have to precook the apple filling?

You really do need to. This ensures the apples are well-cooked, so that you don’t have any hard, crunchy apples in your apple pie bars.

Can I skip the step of browning the butter?

You can, but the browned butter adds the BEST flavor. If you don’t brown the butter first, reduce the butter by 1 tablespoon.

How can I make these in a 9×13 pan?

For a 9×13 pan, you should double the crust/topping, but just increase the filling by 1 1/2 times.

Can I use an 8 inch pan instead of 9 inch?

There’s too much filling for an 8 inch pan. So to use an 8 inch pan, keep the crust/topping ingredients the same. For the filling, adjust to the following:

• 2 lbs apples (4 large Honey Crisp)
• 1 1/2 tbsp lemon juice
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup light brown sugar
• 2 tbsp flour
• spices (keep the same, or just measure slightly less)

Do leftover apple bars need to be refrigerated?

After cooling the bars completely, store them in an airtight container. They’ll be fine at room temperature for one day, then refrigerated for up to 3 days.

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