Apple Crumble Bars

Spiced apples topped with a buttery crumble topping~apple crumble bars are the perfect Fall treat. 

Apple Crumble Bars

Good morning friends, I hope you had a lovely weekend. Sunday I baked, it’s my favorite way to relax. It is my self-care as well as my “love language.” Today I wanted to share an easy and delicious apple crumble bar recipe. In case you missed it I shared 7 Fall Self Care Ideas last week and baking is one of them.

The best part is that you can customize it to your taste. You can brown the butter for a nuttier taste, you can add cranberries or pears or other fruits that you think compliment the apples. If you don’t like walnuts add pecans.

Seemingly overnight Fall has arrived, the mornings are cool enough that we need jackets for our walks and soon I might need gloves and a scarf! I love this time of the year, it allows me to slow down and savor the weather, fall activities, road trips, leaf peeping and other things on my bucket list before I am off and running on my Christmas preparation, admittedly I like to start decorating the house November 1st so that I and my Thanksgiving guests can savor it all.

The next few months are all about family and food; cookies, cupcakes and cakes for Halloween and pies, bars and more for Thanksgiving. 

How to Make Apple Crumble Bars

• make a shortbread crust,
• add the cinnamon sugar apples
• top with a homemade crumble
• bake
• enjoy

Apple Crumble Bars

Recipe adapted from Savoring Italy

Ingredients

Crust

1 stick unsalted butter, softened

1 cup all-purpose flour

4 tablespoons of sugar

dash of sea salt

Filling

5 large Granny Smith apples, or the apple of your choice, cut into 1/2″ pieces

juice of one lemon

11/2 teaspoon cinnamon

2 tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1/8 teaspoon nutmeg

2 teaspoons cornstarch

1/4 cup orange juice

1/8 teaspoon sea salt

Crumb Topping

1 cup crushed salted pretzels

1/2 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cup light brown sugar

1/3 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup quick cooking oats

1 stick chilled butter, cut into pieces

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line an 8×8 inch baking pan with tin foil and then spray with cooking spray, set aside. In a medium sized bowl, add the apples, cinnamon, ginger, sugar, nutmeg and lemon juice, stir well and set aside while you make the crust.

In a medium bowl, beat the butter and the sugar until fluffy. Beat in the flour until a soft dough is formed. Place the dough into your prepared pan and press firmly onto the bottom and sides of the pan. Bake the crust for about 15 minutes or until golden brown.

Mix the cornstarch and the orange juice together. Pour the apple mixture into a pan and let it cook for a few minutes, then add the orange juice/cornstarch mixture. Let the mixture thicken, set aside while you make the crumble crust.

Pour the apples into the baked crust, them add the crumble topping. Bake about 35-40 minutes, until the topping is golden brown. Let the bars cool in the pan, then cut and enjoy.

Crumble Crust

In a medium bowl stir together the crushed pretzels, oats, brown sugar, white sugar, add the cubed butter and using your fingers or a pastry blender cut the butter into the mixture to form small crumbs.

I love these apple crumble bars! When I made them Sunday I thought I would eat one and then give the rest to my neighbors, I am embarrassed to say I ate so many that there wasn’t much left to share. I guess I will have to make another pan and this time I will not even cut one piece to taste.

I don’t know about you but the cool air has me thinking of Thanksgiving and Christmas! Even though the house will still be a mess we are having family for both holidays, I cannot wait. Thankfully my brother’s construction projects are finished and we can all go over to his house. Because I will be so busy with guests I am already buying Christmas gifts and byHalloween I will have them all wrapped as well.

Here are a few pieces of  horn jewelry from Banana Republic
that you might like to gift for Christmas. I have a similar necklace and cuff and I love them.

 Earrings, this beautiful cuff bracelet and this chain link necklace, you could buy one piece or all of them for friends and family or for yourself.

 The new winter collection from Banana Republic is classic and beautiful this year, I am going to share a few of my favorite piece later this week but I think almost all of them would make wonderful gifts for the holidays or to update your wardrobe.

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I hope that you have a great day and I thank you for reading the blog, I realize that you have a lot of options on how to spend your time and I am thrilled that you spend a small part of it here.

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