Caramel Apple Pie Bars

With a melt-in-your-mouth texture, these Caramel Apple Pie Bars will have you coming back for more. A crumbly base is layered with sweet cinnamon apples covered in a decadent vegan caramel and topped with streusel for the ultimate layered flavor. Consider these the cooler older sibling of traditional apple pie with an elevated flavor and much easier!

Plus these are the perfect excuse to go apple picking, stock up then plan a day to make a batch of these and thank me later 😉

And since it’s officially apple season, you could also give this Apple Cinnamon Streusel Bread a try. Or if pumpkin is your fall flavor of choice, I highly recommend these Gluten Free Pumpkin Oat Muffins!

Ingredients

Walnuts – Not only are walnuts amazing for our health, they also give the best crumbly texture to the base and topping of these apple bars.

Oat Flour – A great gluten free flour option for any sort of crumble or base as the texture is slightly chewy. Make your own by processing or blending oats until a fine flour forms!

Vegan Butter – Use cold vegan butter as it helps hold the crumble base and topping together. You could also use traditional butter if not vegan.

Maple Syrup – Gives a delicious sweetness to this apple pie bars recipe while remaining 100% refined-sugar free.

Coconut Sugar – Another sweetener that is refined-sugar free and pairs well with the maple syrup to give the perfect touch of sweetness.

Coconut Cream – The thick texture of full fat coconut cream is crucial to creating the texture of traditional caramel. My go-to brand for this is Trader’s Joes Organic Coconut Cream.

Vanilla Extract – Enhances and adds depth to the flavor of these apple pie bars.

Salt – Balances out the sweetness and gives the caramel that sweet and salty flavor.

Honey Crisp Apples – I love Honey Crisp apples for their sweet yet tart flavor but any variety will do!

Cinnamon – No caramel apple pie creation would be complete without cinnamon!

How to Make Caramel Apple Pie Bars

1. Preheat oven to 350F and line a 8”x8” pan with parchment paper
2. Add all ingredients for the crust / crumble topping to a food processor and pulse for 30 seconds, or until only small pieces of walnuts remain and mixture sticks together easily between your fingers. 
3. Set aside ⅓ of the mixture. Press the remaining ⅔ of the dough into the parchment lined 8”x8” pan in an even layer. Move to the oven and bake for 20 minutes, or until edges have started to brown.
4. While the crust is baking, start on your caramel. Add all ingredients to a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Once boiling, turn heat down to low / medium low and simmer for 15 minutes, whisking frequently to ensure caramel doesn’t burn. After 15 minutes, the vegan caramel should be thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. 
5. To a large bowl, add honey crisp slices, ground cinnamon, and salt and stir. Pour warm vegan caramel on top of apple slices and stir until evenly coated.
6. Add caramel apple slices on top of baked crust in the 8”x8” pan and spread in an even layer. Top with remaining ⅓ of crumble, pressing down lightly with fingers to help stick to the apples. 
7. Move to the oven and bake at 350F for 30 – 35 minutes or until topping has started to brown and the edges are bubbling. Let cool for 30 minutes before moving to the fridge to cool completely for 3 – 4 hours before cutting into slices. Enjoy!

Best Apples for Apple Pie Bars

With apples being so abundant this time of year there’s no excuse to skip out on making these bars! You can truly use any variety you prefer and use this as an opportunity to shop local from neighbors, farmers markets, or go apple picking at an orchard. And if you get your apples from the good old store? That works too!

Now I personally prefer Honey Crisp apples for these easy apple pie bars because of their sweet yet tart flavor and the crisp texture they have. I think it gives these bars the perfect bite because even though they soften while baking, they don’t get mushy. That’s something to keep in mind when choosing which variety to use.

A few other varieties you may want to lean towards include Granny Smith, Golden Delicious, and Pink Lady … but once more, use what you have!

Vegan Caramel Apple Filling

Who doesn’t love a good caramel? It took me some time to perfect my vegan caramel sauce but once I did … it was game on! The key to getting that thick and luscious caramel texture is in the full fat coconut cream combined with maple syrup + coconut sugar over heat. Truly *caramelizes* everything together all while staying 100% vegan.

I just love how it coats the apples and softens the slices just right while baking. Truly takes these Caramel Apple Pie Bars to the next level!

Gluten Free Apple Pie Streusel

What’s great about these apple pie bars is that the crumble base and streusel topping is 10x easier than making a traditional apple pie crust yet tastes just as delicious (if not more!) It’s just sweet enough and has great texture from processing the walnuts and oats with chilled vegan butter, maple syrup, and the coconut sugar. It’s easy, has minimal ingredients, and is full of healthy fats and fiber giving you all the more reason to enjoy an extra bar or two!

How to Store

Once the fresh apple pie bars have cooled and set, store in a container with sheets of parchment paper to separate layers. Keep at room temperature or refrigerate for five days then freeze anything that’s leftover! These would be a great treat to have stashed in the freezer to warm up after a long, busy day.

Why I love these bars

• Perfect for when you want to make apple pie for a group!
• Uses the same dough for the crust + streusel topping making these so easy to whip up.
• Walnut-oat combo is absolutely delicious and makes for seriously tasty apple pie bar.

But let’s be real … what’s not to love about these scrumptious Caramel Apple Pie Bars?!

I’m embracing all things apple right now but if you’re looking for something a little different, check out these other equally delicious bar recipes perfect for any season. Caramel S’mores Bars bring summer flavor year round by baking in the oven and these Flourless Peanut Butter Bars are the perfect after dinner dessert!

If you try this recipe, please let me know by leaving a comment and rating in the boxes below! I always love to hear from you, and it also helps other people find this recipe when they search online for the BEST Caramel Apple Pie Bars 🙂

Caramel Apple Pie Bars

Author Casey Colodny

Prep: 15 minutes minutes

Cook: 50 minutes minutes

Servings: 16 bars

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With a melt-in-your-mouth texture, these Caramel Apple Pie Bars will have you coming back for more. A crumbly base is layered with sweet cinnamon apples covered in a decadent vegan caramel and topped with streusel for the ultimate layered flavor.

Ingredients

Crust & Crumble Topping

• 1 ¾ cup raw walnuts
• 1 cup oat flour
• ⅓ cup vegan butter cubed
• 3 tbsp maple syrup
• ¼ cup coconut sugar
• ⅛ tsp salt

Vegan Caramel

• ¾ cup coconut cream
• ¼ cup maple syrup
• 2 tbsp coconut sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• ¼ tsp salt

Filling

• 3 ½ cups honey crisp apples peeled & cut into ¼” slices (~3-4 medium apples)
• 1 ½ tsp ground cinnamon
• ¼ tsp salt

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 350F and line a 8”x8” pan with parchment paper
• Add all ingredients for the crust / crumble topping to a food processor and pulse for 30 seconds, or until only small pieces of walnuts remain and mixture sticks together easily between your fingers.
  
• Set aside ⅓ of the mixture. Press the remaining ⅔ of the dough into the parchment lined 8”x8” pan in an even layer. Move to the oven and bake for 20 minutes, or until edges have started to brown.
  
• While the crust is baking, start on your caramel. Add all ingredients to a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Once boiling, turn heat down to low / medium low and simmer for 15 minutes, whisking frequently to ensure caramel doesn’t burn. After 15 minutes, the vegan caramel should be thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.
• To a large bowl, add honey crisp slices, ground cinnamon, and salt and stir. Pour warm vegan caramel on top of apple slices and stir until evenly coated.
  
• Add caramel apple slices on top of baked crust in the 8”x8” pan and spread in an even layer. Top with remaining ⅓ of crumble, pressing down lightly with fingers to help stick to the apples.
  
• Move to the oven and bake at 350F for 30 – 35 minutes or until topping has started to brown and the edges are bubbling. Let cool for 30 minutes before moving to the fridge to cool completely for 3 – 4 hours before cutting into slices. Enjoy!
  

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