Apple Pie Bars
These multilayered dessert bars feature a brown sugar vanilla bean blondie base, caramelized apples, pecan streusel, and penuche frosting.
Ingredients
Caramelized Apples:
- 2 each Honeycrisp or other baking apple, peeled, cored and thinly sliced
- 35 grams light brown sugar (3 tablespoons)
- 28 grams unsalted butter (2 tablespoons)
- 3 grams ground cinnamon (1 teaspoon)
- 60 grams apple juice, apple cider or water (1/4 cup)
Pecan Streusel:
- 100 grams whole pecans (1 cup)
- 25 grams light brown sugar (2 tablespoons)
- 2 grams ground cinnamon (1/2 teaspoon)
- 1 gram ground nutmeg (1/4 teaspoon)
- 42 grams unsalted butter (3 tablespoons), cold + cubed
Blondie Base:
- 160 grams all-purpose flour (1-1/4 cups)
- 4 grams baking powder (3/4 teaspoon)
- 1 gram ground cinnamon (1/4 teaspoon)
- 2 grams fine sea salt (1/2 teaspoon)
- 140 grams unsalted butter (1-1/4 sticks OR 10 tablespoons), melted
- 150 grams granulated sugar (3/4 cup)
- 100 grams granulated sugar (3/4 cup)
- 100 grams egg (2 large)
- 10 grams vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract (2 teaspoons)
Penuche Frosting:
- 113 grams unsalted butter (1/2 cup)
- 60 grams whole milk (1/4 cup)
- 200 grams light brown sugar (1 cup)
- 220 grams powdered sugar (1-3/4 cups)
Instructions
Caramelized Apples:
- Add sliced apples, light brown sugar, unsalted butter, and ground cinnamon to large skillet. Sauté apples over low heat for about 5 minutes stirring and flipping the apple slices every few minutes.
- Add apple cider to skillet. Simmer apple pieces until apples are soft and liquid has evaporated, about 10 minutes. Remove skillet from heat and cool. Set aside.
Pecan Streusel:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Arrange pecans in single layer on baking sheet. Toast pecans for 5 to 6 minutes. Remove from oven. Cool completely.
- Add light brown sugar, ground cinnamon, ground nutmeg, and cold cubed unsalted butter to small bowl. Cut the butter in using a fork or pastry cutter.
- Add the cooled pecans to the bowl and stir to coat pecans with streusel mixture.
- Refrigerate until ready to use.
Blondie Base:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line the bottom and two opposite sides of an 8-inch square pan with parchment paper, leaving enough parchment on the two opposite ends to create handles for lifting the dessert bars out of the pan. Set aside.
- Add all-purpose flour, baking powder, ground cinnamon, and fine sea salt to small mixing bowl. Whisk to combine. Set aside.
- Add melted butter, granulated sugar, light brown sugar, egg, and vanilla bean paste to stand mixer. Beat on low until smooth.
- Remove the mixing bowl from the stand mixer and fold the flour mixture into the batter. Pour the batter into the prepared baking pan. Smooth with offset spatula, if necessary.
- Sprinkle the diced apples in a single layer over the blondie batter.
- Sprinkle the chilled streusel over the diced apples in a single layer.
- Bake blondies in preheated oven for 30 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center of dessert bars comes out clean.
- Remove baking pan from oven and cool bars completely in pan on wire rack.
Penuche Frosting:
- Add unsalted butter to small saucepan. Melt over low heat.
- Add light brown sugar to saucepan and cook for 2 minutes, stirring frequently.
- Raise the heat to medium. Add the milk to the saucepan and stirring constantly, bring the mixture to a boil.
- Remove the saucepan from the heat and cool until the mixture is slightly warm, about 15 minutes.
- Add the brown sugar mixture to a stand mixer. Add the powdered sugar. Start on low to combine, and then beat on medium for 5 minutes.
- Spread frosting evenly over completely cooled dessert bars. Allow frosting to set for at least an hour.
- Remove bars from baking pan by running paring knife along edges, tilting pan slightly and using parchment paper handle to lift the bars up and slide out of pan.