Made with a shortbread crust, spiced apple filling, streusel topping, and homemade salted caramel, apple pie bars are just as delicious as apple pie, but much simpler to make. You’ll love this fun twist on a classic dessert!
Without a doubt, apple pie is my favorite dessert. I love the combination of sweet and tart spiced apples with the buttery, flaky pie crust. It’s cozy, comforting, and simply irresistible. I have the recipe memorized and make it year-round, not just at Thanksgiving. Today’s recipe is the bar version of my salted caramel apple pie (the first apple pie recipe I ever shared on my website!). While I love the pie making process, sometimes we don’t have hours to prepare a dessert, which is where apple pie BARS come in. No traditional pie crust, but same delicious flavors.
It’s why I’ve created bar versions of some of the most popular pies on my site, such as pumpkin pie bars, cherry pie bars, and blueberry pie bars.
3 Layers to Love
- Shortbread Crust: The buttery shortbread crust is just like my favorite pie crust recipe, only easier. It’s simply perfect as the base layer for all your favorite bar desserts. I actually use the same shortbread crust in my recipe for raspberry streusel bars and double the recipe for my lemon bars. It comes together quickly—no waiting for pie dough to chill.
- Apple Pie Filling: No canned filling here. You only need 5 ingredients to make your own apple pie filling and it tastes incredible!
- Streusel Topping: Instead of a top layer of pie crust like you see on traditional apple pies, we’re topping these apple pie bars with streusel. It’s a scaled up version of the topping on our caramel apple cheesecake pie. Lots of streusel because the more streusel the better. 🙂
Best Apples for Apple Pie Bars
Whenever I make apple pie bars, apple pie, or even apple cake, I always use 2 different kinds of apples for more depth of flavor. (One sweet variety, one tart variety.)
Here are some I suggest:
- Sweet apples I love: Jazz, Honeycrisp, Pink Lady, Gala, Fuji, and Cortland
- Tart apples I love: Granny Smith, Braeburn, Jonathan, and Pacific Rose
For a detailed list of my favorite apple varieties and when to use each, you can visit my post The Best Apples for Baking.
Overview: How to Make Salted Caramel Apple Pie Bars
Homemade apple pie bars are incredibly simple to make. There’s just a few steps before you have a delicious fall dessert on your hands!
- Make the shortbread crust. Press the mixture into the bottom of an 8×8 inch pan.
- Bake the shortbread crust for 15 minutes.
- Make the apple pie filling.
- Make the streusel topping. The mixture should resemble coarse crumbs.
- Layer the apple pie filling evenly on top of the crust. It will look like there are too many apple slices, so layer them tightly and press them down to fit.
- Sprinkle on the streusel topping.
- Bake. These bars take about 30-35 minutes, or until the streusel is golden brown.
- Chill the bars. Allow them to cool for at least 20 minutes at room temperature, then chill in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours (or overnight).
- Cut into bars and drizzle with salted caramel.
Salted Caramel Topping
A generous drizzle of salted caramel takes these incredible apple pie bars to a whole new level. Have you ever made salted caramel before? You must. My recipe for homemade salted caramel is liquid gold and dangerously good. Besides these apple pie bars, it’s delicious on ice cream, pancakes, with apple slices, and more—find 50 ways to eat salted caramel here.
Be warned: Once you start, you won’t be able to stop. I make a batch of salted caramel almost every week and see no problem with this!
One bite of these sweet and salty apple pie bars and you’ll wonder why you haven’t made them sooner!
More Apple Desserts
- Caramel Apple Upside Down Cake
- Apple Bundt Cake
- Caramel Apples
- Apple Cupcakes with Salted Caramel Frosting
- Brown Butter Apple Blondies
- Apple Turnovers
- Apple Pie
And honeycrisp apple sangria for a fun fall drink!
Print
Salted Caramel Apple Pie Bars
- Prep Time: 25 minutes
- Cook Time: 45 minutes
- Total Time: 3 hours, 20 minutes
- Yield: 12-16 bars
- Category: Bars
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
Baking apple pie as bars is so much easier!
Ingredients
Shortbread Crust
- 1/2 cup (8 Tbsp; 113g) unsalted butter, melted
- 1/4 cup (50g) granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup (125g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
Apple Filling
- 2 large apples, peeled and thinly sliced (1/4 inch thick)*
- 2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 2 Tablespoons granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Streusel
- 1/2 cup (43g) old-fashioned whole rolled oats
- 1/3 cup (70g) packed light or dark brown sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 cup (31g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 1/4 cup (4 Tbsp; 56g) unsalted butter, cold and cubed
- homemade salted caramel or store-bought caramel sauce
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 300°F (149°C). Line the bottom and sides of an 8-inch square baking pan with parchment paper leaving enough overhang on all sides. Set aside.
- Make the crust: Stir the melted butter, granulated sugar, vanilla, and salt together in a medium bowl. Add the flour and stir until everything is combined. Press the mixture evenly into the prepared baking pan. Bake for 15 minutes and then remove from the oven. (As the crust bakes, you can prepare the filling and streusel.)
- Make the apple filling: Combine the sliced apples, flour, granulated sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg together in a large bowl until all of the apples are evenly coated. Set aside.
- Make the streusel: Whisk the oats, brown sugar, cinnamon, and flour together in a medium bowl. Cut in the chilled butter with a pastry blender or two forks (or even with your hands) until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Set aside.
- Turn the oven up to 350°F (177°C). Evenly layer the apples on top of the warm crust. It will look like there are too many apple slices, so layer them tightly and press them down to fit. Sprinkle the apple layer with streusel and bake for 30–35 minutes or until the streusel is golden brown.
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool for at least 20 minutes at room temperature, then chill in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours (or overnight). Lift the foil or parchment out of the pan using the overhang on the sides and cut into bars. I usually cut them into 16 smaller bars, but you can cut them into 12 larger bars. Once cut, drizzle some salted caramel sauce on top of each. These apple pie bars can be enjoyed warm, at room temperature, or even cold.
Notes
- Make Ahead & Freezing Instructions: The bars will stay fresh in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 3 days. You can freeze the bars for up to 3 months. Then, thaw overnight in the refrigerator before serving and drizzling with caramel.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): 8-inch Square Baking Pan | Glass Mixing Bowls | Whisk | Silicone Spatula or Wooden Spoon | Pastry Blender
- Apples: I like to use two different kinds of apples for a more complex flavor. I typically use 1 tart apple variety such as Granny Smith, and 1 sweeter apple variety such as Pink Lady. You’ll end up with about 3-4 cups. A little more or less is OK, based on your preference of filling.
- Larger Batch: Recipe can easily be doubled and baked in a 9×13-inch pan. Pre-bake the crust for 18 minutes, then extend the bake time in step 5 to about 45-55 minutes.
Reader Comments and Reviews
Delicious! I will definitely make again in the near futute. Thanks for sharing.
I doubled these and added in an extra apple. They were delicious and a great way to get the apple pie flavor without all the work of making a full apple pie. I’ve always been intimidated by making caramel but this salted caramel is totally do-able and so delicious. Way better than store bought! Totally recommend these and would definitely make them again. Thanks Sally! I can always come to your site and be guaranteed delicious results.
Oh my goodness were these good. Double the recipe and baked in 9×13 in pan. Took them for the church pot luck and had many recipe requests. The only thing I would do different is prebake the crust a big longer since my apples were juicy. The caramel sauce was amazing. So worth it to make homemade. Recipe was simple and easy to follow. Since I baked them the morning of the pot luck they were still slightly warm when we ate them.
i made these for a friends fall wedding and everyone loved them!
These are simply amazing!
Making these this weekend. My whole being responded to the photo and the recipe.
I am a caramel crazed human being. And anything caramel-apple sings to me.
Oh wow, these are good. We picked apples last week and have tons, so I was on the hunt for new recipes. This is IT! Thank you. I drizzled with Trader Joe’s Salted Caramel from a jar because it’s just my favorite thing and was one less step to make. Yum!
I made these apple bars today to take to my sons home.. they absolutely loved them!!!
I made the caramel, so easy and definitely addictive..
i doubled the batch, gave some to my good friends and have a few left over for moi
I made these bars for a staff meeting and as an icebreaker we all had to say what our favorite food was. Two of my coworkers said their favorite food was these bars. Enough said 😉
Decided to make these this afternoon since I had some apples that needed to be used up. These bars are really good even without the caramel. I LOVE salted caramel but heavy cream not something I normally keep in the house at all times. I can only imagine how addictive these are WITH the caramel! Next time I will plan ahead and buy the heavy cream and try this the way its supposed to be lol
Absolutely AMAZING! I used half Granny Smith and half gala apples… Have never made homemade caramel before and the salted caramel is to die for. And the apple pie bars are delicious! Keeping this recipe for sure 🙂 thank you so much for sharing and for making the instructions easy to follow. This stuff should be illegal it’s THAT GOOD!
Hi,
I’m very excited to try this recipe in a few days for a fundraising bake sale. I’m trying to plan out my baking schedule and was curious if you knew if I could make these the night before? I don’t want them to get soggy. Any help on timing would be much appreciated.
You can make them the night before. I would pour the caramel on top before bringing to the sale.
Those are fantastic! I just made them and taste tested! I didn’t have cream, so I melted some Kraft Caramels for on top. Will definitely make again!
LOVE this recipe!!!! Just won the work “bake-off”…..I feel kind of guilty, like I should ship my prize to you! Such a great go-to recipe. Thanks again!!
Still my all time favorite recipe from your website. So few ingredients and turns out amazing every single time. Thanks again, Sally! 🙂
These bars are DELICIOUS!!! A nice alternative to apple pie and my family gobbled them up. Highly recommend!
I made some salted caramel sauce a while back with plans of making these bars the next day. The sauce was amazing!! I put off making the bars for a while and the sauce mysteriously “vanished”! Now that summer is here, I’d like to try this. I’m not clear on how to drizzle the sauce? Sorry, total amateur here. Should I dip a fork in the sauce and drip it across the bars? Or use a spoon and just dribble some on?
It’s ok! I just use a spoon or fork– pick up a little caramel– and drizzle it all over the top. Very easy!
Made these and they are amazing ! Thanks, didn’t need to change anything in it, I did add extra apples just because I love them and did take your advise and used two types as I like tart & sweet tart crispy types both & did double the recipe. definitely a hit and so easy!
These are really delicious! They were a big hit at the church potluck and I told everyone where to find the recipe. Also, the recipe was written well and very easy to follow. Thank you so much for sharing it, I’m going to check out more of your recipes. Thanks again!
I made these today instead of my usual apple pie and they were a huge hit with my boys and husband! I loved the caramel sauce! Yum! Glad I have found another yummy apple recipe!
Just made these with your Salted Caramel recipe, they turned out absolutely amazing! I will definitely be making a larger batch soon!! xx
This is an absolute winner. I made them, brought a pan over to my ex husband’s and he asked me to make himself, mother and brother another pan…one for each!
Hi Sally, I’m planning to make these for Thanksgiving this week! One question – can I skip the parchment paper and just serve them out of the pan? Thanks for the recipe!
They’re tricky to cut neatly right out of the pan. Best to use parchment to lift the entire pan of bars out all together and then simply slice into bars.
These are absolutely incredible. I made these last thanksgiving and the whole tray disappeared within several minutes of them being brought out. I’ve decided to make them for thanksgiving again this year since they were a huge hit last year; a total keeper!
These look amazing! I just told my husband I’m making these for Thanksgiving instead of apple pie.
These bars are fantastic! I doubled the recipe and they turned out great. The drizzle of salted caramel really put them over the top. Perfect fall dessert 🙂
I made these last night as a “test batch” for next week’s office holiday bakeoff. I’m TOTALLY going to win. They were a HUGE hit with my friends. I followed the recipe for both the bars and the caramel almost exactly. I used 2 fuji apples because they were the freshest at the market, but when I make my “official” batch next week,I’ll follow one of the suggestions to do 1 sweet + 1 tart apple (like granny smith).
Literally one of the best desserts I’ve ever had. I made these for a Royals World Series watch party in KC and everyone is still talking about them and how delicious they were! These will be my go-to holiday party treat for sure!! Thank you for the recipe!!
This is ridiculously good! I made them for my husband to take into bible study but that will not be happening. 🙂 they are too good!
These are awesome! Made a double batch last week, making another double batch today and expect that they will be devoured very quickly . . . Thank you!