Apple Pie Bars

One of my favorite autumn pastimes is to go apple picking at orchards with my family/friends. Depending upon the place you visit, you can usually get a very generous portion and wide variety of apples (most of which aren’t typically sold in grocery stores), and they also almost always have an undeniably superior taste to store-bought. (No offense)

Of course, with us that also tends to result in our having an inordinate amount of apples sitting in the house that we can’t possibly eat all of before they begin to spoil.

That’s where having a person who loves to bake comes in very handy. Because as it turns out, I love to go to apple orchards almost as much as I love to bake with the apples that we bring home. When it comes to apples, the possibilities truly are endless.

Over the years, I’ve explored/made many of those possibilities here on the blog. If you like/want to like baking with apples, needless to say, Cooking is My Sport has you covered.

We’ve got apple cake(s), apple cookies, tarts, even apple condiments and apples in savory dishes.

Then of course, there’s the obvious choice: pie.

Apple Pie (in some form or other) is one of the most classic desserts there is, even when spread across multiple parts of the world. Americans have their way of making it, as do the Dutch, the German and others. I’ve experimented with classic recipes and not-so-classic ones myself.

But sometimes when it comes to making apple pie, I feel like finding a middle ground between the two.

As classic as apple pie is, I’ll be honest in saying that I don’t think it’s done correctly very often. The errors mostly come down to two things for me: the handling/preparing of the crust, and the handling/preparing of the filling. Both have to be treated with care, and in tandem with each other. Far too often, the filling isn’t cooked enough so that they apples are too watery/crunchy, which results in a soggy pie crust, which results in a very sad apple pie.

There are, of course sure-fire ways/tips/tricks to avoid all of these unfortunate errors. I’ve used several them myself.

And sometimes, one of the ways to avoid them is to just find a shortcut–which is what I like to think of today’s recipe. These are Apple Pie Bars, otherwise known as a ‘shortcut’ to Apple Pie

This recipe doesn’t require any fiddling around with pie crust. Instead, the ‘crust’ is a buttery crumbly shortcrust that I would describe as being a cross between a pie crust and a cookie crust.

Whereas most pie crusts require some fiddling around and resting time, this cookie crust comes together in minutes. After pressing it into a pan, it gets pre-baked immediately, which eliminates the risk of the dreaded soggy bottom that haunts all pie-makers.

While the cookie shortcrust is baking, you also give a relatively quick cook over the stove to the apples themselves, which I particularly appreciate, because the only thing worse to me than an apple pie with an undercooked and soggy bottom, is a pie with an undercooked filling. By pre-cooking the apples over the stove, you’re not solely relying on the heat from the oven to cook them through enough to release their pectin enough to make them tender while also cooking long enough to make sure the juices aren’t too thin and runny.

Following that, these take a page out of the Dutch Apple Pie book and receive a crumble topping that requires even less fiddling around than the shortcrust and the apple filling.

I’m sure I don’t have to say it, but I will anyway: these are delicious.

They’re Apple Pie gift wrapped in a quicker/easier handheld package that hit the exact spot of my craving for the classic fall dessert. Because they’re in bar form, they’re also a lot easier to share, bring for say, a Thanksgiving bash for a crowd.

Bookmark this one, you’ll be using it quite a lot 😉

Sharing at Fiesta Friday #614.