Julie Clark
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Apple Pie Bars
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These apple pie bars in a 9×13″ pan start with homemade danish pastry with loads of apples baked inside. The almond glaze is a must on these apple pie bars. This is one of the best apple recipes to make for a weekend brunch or dessert.
One thing we always look forward to in the fall is apple picking. Thankfully, we never had to go far to pick apples, since my mom and dad have several apple trees in their yard.
This year, my parents had a bumper crop of apples. They picked as many as they wanted and still had 8 bushels to pass on to us.
We made apple butter and Upside Down Apple Pie, and lots of applesauce. One of our favorite recipes to make with apples are these Danish Pastry Apple Pie Bars. We found the recipe on Allrecipes and family and friends have been requesting them since.
Why you’ll love this apple pie bar recipe:
- An apple slab pie, which is all the fun of apple pie in a rectangular, 9×13 baking pan.
- Great to take to a potluck or family dinner when you need more than just 8 slices of a pie.
- Homemade pastry crust and loaded full of fresh apples.
- A simple almond glaze that takes the flavor over the top.
What are the best apples for baking?
You’ll see that these apple pie bars are stuffed full of apples.
Granny Smith apples, Honeycrisp, Pink Lady and Jonathan, all great apples for baking are commonly found in grocery stores. Braeburn and Winesap are delicious too.
We used 10 large apples to pile in the homemade crust. If your apples are smaller, the apple pie bars will still be good, but they’ll be thinner. More apples = thicker bars. The weight of the apples after I peeled and cored them was about 2 ½ pounds.
Do you have to peel the apples for pie bars?
You don’t have to, but I highly recommend it. I don’t like the texture of baked apple skins in my pies, cakes and breads, so I always peel the apples.
Here’s a little tip: The best invention ever is an Apple Pie Peeler/Corer. It makes working with apples a breeze.
How to Make Apple Pie Bars
- In a stand mixer bowl, combine flour and salt. Using a pastry cutter, cut in the cold butter until the mixture becomes coarse crumbs. Snap the butter between your fingers if needed to combine the flour and butter. It’s ok if there are little chunks of butter. That’s what will make your pastry flaky.
- In a separate cup, beat the egg yolk, reserving the egg white until later. Stir the cold water into the yolk. Gradually add the egg mixture to the flour mixture until dough comes together to form a ball.
- On a floured pastry mat, roll out half of the dough large enough to cover the bottom and sides of an ungreased 9×13 inch pan. Place the dough in the pan.
- Sprinkle the crushed cornflakes over the bottom of the dough in the pan.
- Arrange apple slices over the top of the cornflakes. Sprinkle the sugar and cinnamon over the apples.
- Roll out the second half of the dough to cover the entire pan with a little dough hanging over the edge. Lay the dough over the filling and pinch the edges of the two crusts together.
- Whisk the reserved egg white until foamy and brush onto the top crust with a pastry brush.
- Bake the bars for 45 to 50 minutes or until golden brown on top.
- And definitely don’t skip the almond glaze over the top. It’s a traditional powdered sugar glaze with milk and almond extract. You can use vanilla extract if you’d like. Whisk it together and drizzle it over the homemade apple pie bars.
How to Thicken Apple Pie Bars
These bars have the unique addition of crushed cornflakes (you can also use oatmeal) over the bottom crusts. This helps some of the juices from the apple filling to be soaked up, making the bars easier to slice and stay in a square.
I was a little leery of doing this at first, but trust me…you won’t taste the cornflakes and it really helps the pie bars serve nicely. And you can use leftover cornflakes in our cornflake chicken!
Other Apple Recipes
Apple Pie Bars
Homemade danish pastry with loads of apples baked inside. The almond glaze is a must on these apple pie bars.
Servings 15
Prep Time 25 minutes
Cook Time 50 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 15 minutes
Ingredients
For the pastry:
- 3 3/4 cups all purpose flour 488 grams
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt 8 grams
- 1 1/2 cups cold unsalted butter cubed
- 1 large egg separated
- 3/4 cup cold water 6 ounces
For the filling:
- 1 cup crushed cornflakes 70 grams
- 10 apples peeled, cored and sliced (2 ½ pounds after peeled and cored)
- 3/4 cups granulated sugar 150 grams
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon 5 grams
For the glaze:
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar 65 grams
- 1 tablespoon 2% milk 15 grams
- 1/2 teaspoon almond extract 2 grams
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375º Fahrenheit.
- In a stand mixer bowl, combine flour and salt. Using a pastry cutter, cut in the cold butter until the mixture becomes coarse crumbs. Snap the butter between your fingers if needed to combine the flour and butter. It's ok if there are little chunks of butter. That's what will make your pastry flaky. 3 ¾ cups all purpose flour, 1 ½ teaspoons salt, 1 ½ cups cold unsalted butter
- In a separate cup, beat the egg yolk, reserving the egg white until later. Stir the cold water into the yolk. Gradually add the egg mixture to the flour mixture until dough comes together to form a ball. 1 large egg, ¾ cup cold water
- On a floured pastry mat, roll out half of the dough large enough to cover the bottom and sides of an ungreased 9×13 inch baking dish. Place the dough in the pan.
- Sprinkle the crushed cornflakes over the bottom of the dough in the pan. 1 cup crushed cornflakes
- Arrange apple slices over the top of the cornflakes. Sprinkle the sugar and cinnamon over the apples. 10 apples, ¾ cups granulated sugar, 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- Roll out the second half of the dough to cover the entire pan with a little dough hanging over the edge. Lay the dough over the filling and pinch the edges of the two crusts together.
- Whisk the reserved egg white until foamy and brush onto the top crust with a pastry brush.
- Bake the bars for 45 to 50 minutes or until golden brown on top.
- To make the almond glaze, whisk the powdered sugar, milk and almond extract until smooth. Drizzle the glaze over the warm apple pie bars. ½ cup powdered sugar, 1 tablespoon 2% milk, ½ teaspoon almond extract
- Serve with ice cream and caramel sauce if desired.
Video
Notes
Cover the pan with plastic wrap, and store any leftovers in an airtight container at room temperature.
The calories shown are based on the recipe being cut into 15 bars, with 1 serving being 1 bar. Since different brands of ingredients have different nutritional information, the calories shown are just an estimate. **We are not dietitians and recommend you seek a nutritionist for exact nutritional information. The information in the nutrition box are calculated through a program and there is room for error. If you need an accurate count, I recommend running the ingredients through your favorite nutrition calculator.**
Recipe from Allrecipes.com
Nutrition
Calories: 406kcal | Carbohydrates: 56g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 19g | Saturated Fat: 11g | Cholesterol: 61mg | Sodium: 415mg | Potassium: 176mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 26g | Vitamin A: 685IU | Vitamin C: 5.9mg | Calcium: 23mg | Iron: 2.2mg
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Do you think crushed Frosted Flakes will work instead of corn flakes? I’m guessing it will be a little sweeter, but will it otherwise work the same as the cornflakes?
I made this today after a day of apple picking! I added a tablespoon of brown sugar. I did like this recipe but I think I’m more of a fan of a traditional apple pie.
Made the bars today. Such an easy, luscious recipe, like the corn flake addition. I did use my apple slicer/corer (which I absolutely adore) which makes preparing the apples so easy. Made a couple of changes though from my family favorite apple pie recipe: Used 1 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg and 1 teaspoon grated California lemon peel (all very rounded) premixed with the sugar, made three layers of apples (each layer sprinkled with 1/3 of the sugar mixture, also, didn’t have vanilla or almond extract, so made the glaze with lemon extract instead. Like the lemon because it counter-balances… Read more »
What can I use if I don’t have cornflaked
Can you convert this recipe to make it sugar free n keto?
These bars look amazing and the pics are stunning! Yum.
The bars are just beautiful!
These bars sound so good. Thank you.
These bars look super delicious….and so do all your other baked goods!
I never would have thought to add crushed cornflakes – what a nifty idea! 🙂
I wish I had an apple tree, you are so lucky!! Those bars look delicious. 🙂