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These Apple Butter Bars are just an easier way to make apple pie! These have a thick shortbread crust and topping and are sandwiched with apple butter – they’re like jam bars but even better!
Have you ever had apple butter? If you don’t know, it’s basically a thick applesauce. The smell and taste of it is incredible! If you’re a fan of pie, but are looking for something slightly different–this is the recipe for you. These are like jam bars or crumble bars and they’re SO good – every single bite you take will be like a bite into fall heaven!
Ingredients Needed
- Unsalted butter – softened, but you can also use salted butter.
- All purpose flour – be sure to measure it correctly
- Granulated sugar
- Cinnamon: Makes your kitchen smell great and the recipe taste amazing.
- Apple Butter: Use my homemade apple butter recipe or a jar from the store.
- Walnuts: Chopped; they taste great with this recipe, but pecans would be fantastic too.
How to make Apple Butter Bars
- Make the crust & crumble: add butter, flour, sugar, salt, and cinnamon to a large bowl.
- Mix with a hand mixer until it becomes crumbly. (You may need to use your fingers to break up any larger chunks of butter.)
- Press into half into the bottom of the prepared pan. Bake for 10 minutes.
- Spread the apple butter over the shortbread crust in an even layer. Sprinkle with walnuts. Sprinkle the topping evenly over the filling and press gently to compact. Bake until topping starts to turn golden.
- Cool completely before removing from pan. Cut into squares.
Expert Tips
- Pre-baking the crust will help the bars be crunchy.
- When you’re mixing the crust it will be very crumbly and not seem like it’s coming together.
- Be sure to press the crust firmly into the bottom of the pan.
FAQs
Can I freeze these bars?
Yes you can! In an airtight container!
Do I have to refrigerate apple butter bars?
Yes I recommend refrigerating them to keep them good!
Apple Butter Pie Bars Recipe
Apple Butter Pie Bars – an easy way to make an apple pie! Slab pie or pie bars are so much easier to serve and these are full of rich apple butter with a crumble topping.
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 35 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 5 minutes
Ingredients
For the Crust & Crumble:
- 1 cup (226g) unsalted butter softened
- 3 cups (372g) all purpose flour
- ¾ cup (150g) granulated sugar
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
For the Filling:
- 1 ½ cups Apple Butter about 12 ounces
- ½ cup walnuts chopped
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°. Line a 9×13” pan with foil and spray with cooking spray.
- Make the crust & crumble: add butter, flour, sugar, salt, and cinnamon to a large bowl. Mix with a hand mixer until it becomes crumbly. (You may need to use your fingers to break up any larger chunks of butter.) Press into half into the bottom of the prepared pan. Bake for 10 minutes.
- After 10 minutes, remove crust from the oven. Spread the apple butter over the crust in an even layer. Sprinkle with walnuts. Sprinkle the topping evenly over the filling and press gently to compact. Bake for an additional 20-25 minutes, until topping starts to turn golden.
- Cool completely before removing from pan. Cut into squares.
Recipe Nutrition
Serving: 1serving | Calories: 293kcal | Carbohydrates: 39g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 14g | Saturated Fat: 8g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 3g | Trans Fat: 0.5g | Cholesterol: 31mg | Sodium: 79mg | Potassium: 70mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 19g | Vitamin A: 362IU | Vitamin C: 0.2mg | Calcium: 17mg | Iron: 1mg
Nutritional information not guaranteed to be accurate
Other Bar Recipes
If you think apple butter is good, you should try pear butter. Oh my my my. It is outstanding. Far surpasses apple butter. Try pear butter instead of apple butter with your bars and see what you think.
hey girl- these bars look so yummy! ya’ll have a great week!
So I made this yesterday. Very good as not too sweet. I thought it could use just a little salt in both the crust and maybe half of the topping sugar as brown sugar. I will definitely make again.
I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
Boy these sound and look great …can’t wait to make them. I’m thinking these would be great with my moms Fig butter… need to put that on my to do list for sure.
Oh yes, I bet that would be amazing!!
I followed your recipe exactly and it turned out horribly! I could not serve them as dessert that evening! I believe you need much more butter in both the crust and the filling. And maybe some type of cinnamon/brown sugar mix on top. It was a disappointment all around.
I’m so sorry Amber. I’m not sure what happened. I’ve used that same crust and topping recipe for several bars, and it always works out great. Can you elaborate a little bit? I’d love to try and troubleshoot with you.
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