We went on our annual apple-picking adventure and came home with several bushels of apples. Harper and I got right to work with preparing some Egg Free Apple Pie Bars. Oh my goodness, these are SOOO good!!
To avoid eating them all right away, I sliced them up and placed them in the freezer to keep on hand.
Egg-Free Apple Pie Bars
Ingredients - Apple pie filling: ½ stick unsalted butter
7-8 medium, cored, peeled and diced into ½-inch pieces
½ cup light brown soft sugar
2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
2 tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp salt
Ingredients - Shortbread cookie dough: 1½ sticks + 1 tbsp unsalted butter, softened
¾ cup light brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 cups flour
½ tsp salt
You will also need:
⅔ cup ground walnuts
Directions
Apple pie filling:
In a large skillet over medium-high heat, melt the butter.
Add the diced apples, sugar, lemon juice, cinnamon, and salt, and stir to combine.
Cook for 5-7 minutes over medium-high heat with occasional stirring, until the apples are softened and the juices have thickened into a thick, syrupy consistency.
Make sure that the apple pie filling has cooled completely to room temperature before you assemble the apple pie bars.
Shortbread cookie dough:
Adjust the oven rack to the middle position, pre-heat the oven to 350ºF, and line a 9-inch square baking tin with parchment/baking paper.
In a large bowl, mix the softened butter, light brown sugar, and vanilla together with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula until combined.
Sift in the flour and salt.
Mix it all together until the dough starts clumping together, then give it a thorough kneading to bring it together into a smooth ball with no patches of dry flour. The dough might crack in places, but it should hold together well without being too crumbly.
Assembling and baking the apple pie bars:
Press just over half of the shortbread cookie dough into the lined 9-inch square baking dish. Smooth it out into an even layer. The thickness of this bottom cookie dough layer should be about ¼-inch.
Sprinkle the ground walnuts evenly across the cookie dough crust, all the way to the edges.
Arrange the apple pie filling in an even layer on top of the ground walnuts, and drizzle over all the syrupy juices that the apples have released.
Crumble over the remaining shortbread cookie dough. Try to get even coverage, but it’s okay if a few apple pieces peak through.
Bake at 350ºF for about 40-45 minutes or until the crumb topping is evenly golden brown.
Allow the bars to cool *completely* to room temperature before removing them from the baking tin and slicing them into individual portions. Tip: It’s VERY important that the apple pie bars are cooled completely before you remove them from the baking dish. While they’re still warm or hot, they will be much crumblier and more delicate, so they will be more difficult to handle
Storage: The apple pie bars keep well in a closed container at room temperature (or in a cool, dry place) for about 3-4 days. We have frozen ours to keep on hand for a nice treat.
