So Mother’s Day is coming up and I’m betting that there are a bunch of you (or your dearest, darlingest husbands) who are looking for a special treat to make for breakfast for all the moms in your lives. I can’t imagine waking up to the smell of anything better than apples and cinnamon baked with sweet pastry, plus who doesn’t want an excuse to eat pie-like creations for breakfast? If sweets for breakfast isn’t your thing, these Apple Streusel Bars are a fabulous finger pastry for a late brunch or even a perfectly portioned dessert after dinner.
Spray a 9×13″ pan with non-stick cooking spray and set aside.
Cut it in with a pastry blender or two knives until you have pea-sized crumbles.
Spread apples out on prepared crust.
Sprinkle reserved crust mixture evenly over apples
and bake in preheated oven for 40 minutes or until golden brown on top. Allow to cool completely.
To prepare glaze, whisk together 2 cups of powdered sugar, some almond extract,
and enough milk to achieve desired consistency (about 3-4 tablespoons).
Place glaze in a Ziploc bag and cut off a very small portion of one of the corners (or just use a fork) to drizzle glaze over cooled pastry and allow to harden (you can place it in the freezer to hurry things along). Cut into bars and serve.
In an attempt to keep yourself from eating the whole pan, you, like me, will probably have to send half of them to a nice home…
Apple Streusel Bars
Description
Easier (and tastier!) than pie, these apple streusel bars will find a permanent place on your dessert or brunch table!
Ingredients
SWEET PASTRY
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup real butter, softened (no substitutions!)
- 1 egg, beaten
APPLE FILLING
- 1/2 cup white sugar
- 1/4 cup flour
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 4 cups (about 3 medium or 2 large) sliced, peeled baking apples like Granny Smith
GLAZE
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- About 3 tablespoons milk (whole milk is best)
- 1 teaspoon almond extract
Instructions
- To prepare crust, mix flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder in a medium bowl. Cut in butter with a pastry blender or two knives until you have pea-sized crumbles. Gently mix in beaten egg.
- Spray a 9×13 baking dish with non-stick cooking spray. Gently pat about 2/3 of the crumb mixture onto the bottom of the dish. Preheat oven to 350 and set aside.
- To prepare apple filling, combine flour, sugar, and cinnamon and toss with apples.
- Spread apples out on prepared crust. Sprinkle reserved crust mixture over apples evenly and bake in preheated oven for 40 minutes.
- When finished, allow to cool completely.
- To prepare glaze, whisk together powdered sugar, almond extract, and enough milk to achieve desired consistency.
- Place glaze in a Ziploc bag and cut off a very small portion of one of the corners (or just use a fork) to drizzle glaze over cooled pastry and allow to harden (you can place it in the freezer to hurry things along). Cut into bars and serve.
Questions & Reviews
Ok these are FABULOUS! Easy to make hard to resist! Love them.
Tina and Jason–Yeah, just regular, all-purspose flour. You COULD use self-rising flour and leave out the salt and baking powder, but I would just get the all-purpose flour. Hope that helps! 🙂
When you say "flour" you mean all-purpose, right? If I use self rising, do I omit the baking powder and salt? Why must I always overthink things? lol
I made these last night for my sisters and I–OMG they were amazing! I made them gluten free/dairy free using Domata Living Flour all-purpose flour blend in place of the regular flour, Earth Balance non-dairy butter substitute, and coconut milk. They were very good and I will DEFINITELY be making them again!
So far everything I have tried from your blog has been great!! I really liked this recipe, was delicious!! I made it in a slightly smaller dish so the bars were thicker and added some extra cinnamon. Yum!
This past weekend, I went to an apple orchard and thought this recipe would be great to make. These turned out delicious!
P.S I love your blog!
I have a bunch of company coming in May. Would these turn out if I made them early and froze them? Would I just cook them part-way before freezing? thanks – I LOVE your site!
Just made these tonight for a family dinner and everyone loved them! My dad requested them for Father's Day. I know I never have to worry about a new recipe failing if I get it from here, you guys are the best!
Emily just made these for a baby shower the other day and they were amazing. I don't usually like apple deserts but this was awesome, the almond glaze made the desert for me. I convinced Emily that she would not want to just bring the pan to the shower as it would be much better to cut them and plate them. About half made it to the plate, and I made it to my bed with a stomach ache, but it was worth it…
LOVED these – they were the perfect fall treat. THANKS!
Hey, I tried these today and they were delicious! Thanks. I posted them on my blog with a link to your for the recipe. I hope you don't mind. Thanks again for the inspiration.
mindikamoments.blogspot.com
This is by far the best thing I've ever baked. I saw this recipe and couldn't wait to try it. I took a whole pan to my daughter's school last night for teacher conferences and this morning when I dropped her off they were all raving about them. Thank you for sharing.
I have a huge bag of apples I'm totally making some!! My mother in law made these and of course I ate like 5 bars. Whoa SOOOOO yummy!! I think theses are going to be my new tradition to make every fall!!
THanks so much for the yummy recipes!! I love desserts!
I made these yesterday and there were only about 2 left after only 15 mins. I could only hold them off for 20 mins to let them cool so they were still a little warm but soo good. GREAT RECIPE and easy.
Loved these! Apple desserts usually are not my favorite, but I had to try these because the picture looked too good to pass up! AMAZING!
I made these today! Very yummy! Could be dangerous with some ice cream!
Thanks! The crust was such a great texture!
Ah, bless you, Elesa! It’s comments like that that make my day! 🙂 I’m so glad you’re having fun in the kitchen (and that your hubby is having fun eating!)
Oh, this looks delicious. I think this will be the next thing I try. Right after the BBQ chicken legs for dinner tonight. Seriously, I have never cooked so much. My husband thinks he is living the high life. I eventually just had to your site on my google bar because I come here so often. And I am having a great time. Thank you for making cooking fun for me!
I am totally making these this weekend!
I made these this morning and I had to call my mom to come get some so I wouldn't eat them all! My kids (1 & 3) loved them too! 🙂 thanks for the recipe.
Looks beyond delicious! Thanks for sharing =)
I’ll just make these for myself and eat the whole thing! Sounds great!!
Looks delicious! Cute flower dish too!
Oh yum, these look fabulous! I love my hubby, but pastry may be a little beyond him. I think I’ll make this for later in the day and let him stick to making waffles, eggs and bacon for breakfast. 😉
– Jennifer
Those look simply divine. Maybe if I hint really hard, I can get my hubbie to make them with his amazing scrambled eggs. Yum!
Yeah, Sara, the crust is like a slightly-crumbly pastry, not cakey at all.
Oh yum. This is right up my alley. So the crust is more of a pastry as opposed to cakey, right? These sound sooo yummy.
Those look so nummy! Perfect for mother’s day, but I think I might just have to make them for myself sooner! Your recipies are so great. Thanks
Wow, that looks amazing! =) Thank you for all the wonderful recipes!
This is pretty much what I want for Mother’s Day:) I am not a chocolate person (I know…that is almost unfemale or something) but apple…now, we’re talking. This reminds me of a recipe my mom made called “Apple Pastry Squares.” Glaze, apples… only difference, is that it had a butter pie crust on top and on bottom. It was super hard to roll out a large rectangular pie crust… this looks awesome.