These easy caramel apple bars are packed with sweet cinnamon apples and gooey caramel in each irresistible bite!
Caramel apple pie bars
With a shortbread crust, caramel apple filling, and buttery streusel topping, this is the perfect recipe for Fall.
They are surprisingly easy to make at home. And at under 200 calories each, these soft and gooey treats are any caramel apple lover’s dream come true.
I brought the caramel apple bars to a Halloween party, but they would be just as welcome at Thanksgiving, Christmas, or pretty much any holiday gathering.
Use leftover apples for Baked Apple Cider Donuts
Ingredients for the dessert
Apples – Choose tart, crisp varieties of apples when baking.
Honeycrisp, Granny Smith, Jonagold, Braeburn, Fuji, Golden Delicious, Gala, and Pink Lady apples are all great choices.
You want to avoid apples that turn mushy when cooked, like Red Delicious.
Caramel – Feel free to go with store bought caramels to save time. Or make your own homemade caramels from scratch.
For salted caramel apple bars, buy salted caramels. And for vegan caramel apple bars, look for plant based caramels.
Flour – I recommend either white all purpose flour, spelt flour, or all purpose gluten free flour. Or for caramel apple oatmeal bars, go with oat flour.
If you experiment with whole wheat flour, almond flour, or pastry flour, please let me know how it goes.
For the best results, do not use coconut flour because it will yield dry results.
Sugar – This can be regular white sugar, brown sugar, or unrefined coconut sugar. For added sugar free bars, choose granulated xylitol or an erythritol monk fruit blend.
I have never tried to swap out the sugar for pure maple syrup or honey so cannot recommend these substitutions.
Spices – Ground cinnamon imparts spicy sweetness and Fall flavor, and a pinch of salt adds depth. You can also add a fourth teaspoon of ginger or a pinch of nutmeg.
Thickener – The recipe is naturally egg free. Cornstarch thickens the apple filling, while baking powder helps give the pastry crust and streusel topping a light, tender crumb.
Fat source – Choose butter or dairy free butter, coconut oil, or vegetable oil.
Using coconut oil yields a slightly more crunchy texture, while caramel crumble bars made with butter or vegan butter are softer.
Healthy caramel apple bars
Looking for a healthy option with added calcium and fiber?
Substitute chopped and pitted dried dates in an equal amount for the caramels.
While they of course do not taste exactly the same as traditional caramel, naturally sweetened dates do have a flavor profile and sweetness similar to caramel.
Some readers like to bake oil free and replace the butter with applesauce. Feel free to try this low fat variation for yourself. If you are used to the taste of healthy desserts, you may not mind the dense muffin texture.
Readers also love these Vegan Cranberry Bliss Bars
Caramel apple bars recipe video
Watch the step by step video, above.
Recipe tips and troubleshooting
You may catch in the video that I completely forget to add cornstarch. Thanks to the high pectin in apples, the bars still held together surprisingly well and were not crumbly like I’d expected.
So if you make the same mistake that I did, bake the pan anyway and the results will probably be just fine!
If it happens to be a humid day or you accidentally added too much water and your dough is a bit gummy, use a spoon to drop small pieces of dough as evenly as possible over everything.
This issue has happened to me before and it still turns out great in the end.
When made with coconut oil instead of butter, the bars are a bit more crumbly. I recommend chilling the pan after cooling for a few minutes, because it will make slicing the bars much easier and less messy.
Want more bars? Make Peach Bars or Blueberry Bars
How to make caramel apple bars
Begin by preheating your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
Line the bottom of an eight inch square baking pan with parchment paper. Alternatively, grease the pan well with oil or fat free oil spray. Set the pan aside.
In a large mixing bowl, stir the flour, sugar, cinnamon, salt, and baking powder very well. If you are using unsalted butter or oil, add an additional fourth teaspoon of salt.
Using a pastry cutter, wire whisk, or a fork, cut in the butter or oil until small pea sized crumbles form. If the dough is too dry, slowly add a little water.
*Quick and easy recipe tip: You can cut the butter or oil in by pulsing the ingredients in a food processor if you prefer. Pulse just around ten times, making sure to not over process the dough.
Press about two thirds of the pastry dough very firmly into the bottom of the prepared eight inch baking pan. You may use a second sheet of parchment paper or a large spoon to smooth it down.
Peel the apples if you wish, or skip this step like I did.
Apple skin provides vitamins A, C, K, and multiple other health benefits like fiber, calcium, and potassium.
Dice or thinly slice the apples. Then toss them in a bowl with cornstarch or arrowroot.
Spread this apple filling over the crust in the pan. Finely chop the caramels, and spread them evenly over the apples.
Sprinkle the reserved dough evenly over top. As a fun variation, you can also sprinkle a layer of oats or granola on top of everything for some crunch.
Baking and storing instructions
Once the oven reaches 350 degrees, bake the pan on the center rack for fifty minutes.
After this time, the apples should look bubbly and nicely caramelized. Your kitchen will smell deliciously like cinnamon sugar.
Carefully remove the pan of bars and let them sit on the counter.
It is important to let them cool before slicing into bars, because they will firm up as they cool off.
Slice into twelve large bars or sixteen smaller caramel apple squares.
If I am going to a party where I know there will be a lot of dessert options, I will sometimes slice them into twenty or even twenty five mini apple caramel bars. People love bite sized desserts!
Store leftovers in an airtight covered container in the refrigerator for up to five days.
Or freeze with a layer of parchment paper in between each layer of bars. The recipe should stay good in the freezer for about three months. Thaw in the microwave or toaster oven, on the stove top, or overnight in the refrigerator before enjoying.
Next on my baking list is to try adding cream cheese to the filling to create DIY caramel apple cheesecake bars.
Extra caramels? Add them to 3 ingredient Cereal Bars
Converting the recipe to grams
I love using a food scale instead of cups and tablespoons, because I believe it yields the most consistent results when baking.
Food scales also mean less clean up, which is always a win in my book.
If you wish to use a kitchen scale for this recipe, measure 200 grams flour, 130 grams sugar, 7 grams cinnamon, 8 grams cornstarch, 150 grams caramels, 150 grams butter or oil, and 320 grams apple, measured after dicing.
Also remember to add the baking powder and salt.
The recipe was adapted from this Apple Crisp and my Apple Crumble Bars.
- 1 2/3 cups flour (spelt, white, or oat)
- 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 3/4 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 2/3 cup sugar or unrefined sugar
- 3/4 cup butter or coconut oil
- 1 tbsp water if needed
- 3 cups diced apple (320g)
- 1 tbsp cornstarch or arrowroot
- 5 oz caramels or dried dates
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Preheat the oven to 350 F. Grease an 8 inch pan or line the bottom with parchment paper. In a large mixing bowl, stir the flour, sugar, cinnamon, salt, and baking powder well. If using unsalted butter or oil, add an additional 1/4 tsp salt. With a pastry cutter, fork, or in a food processor, cut in the softened butter or oil until small pea sized crumbles form. If too dry, very slowly add a little water. Press about 2/3 of the dough firmly into the pan. Toss apples with cornstarch in a bowl, then spread them evenly over the crust in the pan. Finely chop the caramels and spread them out on top. Sprinkle reserved dough over everything. Bake 50 minutes. Let cool fully before slicing into bars. The coconut oil version is more crumbly, so you can chill the bars to make slicing easier. Once cooled, refrigerate leftovers in a covered container for up to 5 days.View Nutrition Facts
Easy Apple Desserts
