Delicious Apple Crumble Pie Bars. These are absolutely out of this world! Chunks of apple pie filling on a lovely shortbread base and topped off with a delicious crumble. Really easy recipe too! Serve chilled with freshly whipped cream on the top!

The base is made up of a very simple shortbread cookie recipe I have used since I was at school, the filling is juicy chunks of granny smith apples mixed with a sprinkle of cinnamon and cream cheese, and the topping is actually my grandmother's apple crumble topping recipe.

Well, with these three layers combined, when you bite into one of these Apple Crumble Pie Bars, it is just delicious!

The cream cheese adds a lovely extra dimension to the bars, with a little creaminess and also helps to hold the filling together, and the crispy cookie base together with the crumbly topping is just perfect.

Now, as a variation, you could also add a small handful of raisins or cranberries, blueberries etc. I think so long as the fruits you use are not too watery, it will still stay firm for slicing.

The trick is to really allow the Apple Crumble Pie Bars to chill. That way, the filling will firm up nicely and hold shape when you come to slice and remove from the pan.

I've also tried to freeze a couple of slices to test, and yes, they freeze nicely. All you need to do is bring them to room temperature and they're ready to eat. This would, of course, come in handy if you needed to make ahead, say for a Christmas or Thanksgiving menu, or if there is 1 or 2 of you at home, then, by all means, freeze in portions and eat when you like!

So please enjoy our Delicious Apple Crumble Bars and please make sure you check out our other delicious bar recipes. Great for snacks, parties and most are freezer friendly too!

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F / 180 C and grease an 8 × 8-inch pan all over, including the sides.

Make the base and topping:

2. Add the flour, salt, butter and sugar in a mixer and pulse until ROUGH LARGE crumbs.

Remove HALF of the mixture and set that aside, then pulse the remaining half until FINE crumbs.

NB: You want to have large crumbs for the topping so it will have a nice crumbly texture.

3. Add the FINE crumb mixture to the pan and press down, make it firm 

and then place in the oven for 30 minutes.

Make the filling

4. Peel and cube the apples into chunks and squeeze the lemon juice over and sprinkle 1 Tablespoon of sugar and the ground cinnamon. Coat the chunks well.

5. In a separate bowl, add the cream cheese and using a fork, give it a little whisk to loosen it, then add it to the apple chunks and coat. Set aside.

6. When the base is ready from the oven, remove and spread the apple mixture all over, 

and then roughly spread the remaining crumb topping over the apples. Try and leave the topping so it is a bit uneven and bumpy so you get nice crispy bits!

Return to the oven and bake for 40 minutes.

7. Once ready, remove from the oven and allow to completely cool. Then cover with plastic wrap and chill for at least 4 hours. Overnight is even better. This will make slicing very easy and the filling will firm up nicely.

Slice and serve with a dollop of whipped cream, ice cream or simply on its own with a nice cup of coffee.

Note: These bars will freeze very well after baking. Just ensure you wrap with plastic wrap and freeze only when completely cooled. Simply allow to defrost in the fridge when you wish to serve them.

We'd love to hear from you and what you thought of our Delicious Apple Crumble Bars recipe. Did you make any changes or add some other goodies? Let us know in the comments below. Thanks for reading and happy cooking!

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