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
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 9x13 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
Has anyone tried making these at a high altitude? I’m at 9,400 feet and was wondering what adjustments worked for anyone else out there. Thank you! And thank you for the recipe, Kate! Can’t wait to try these.
These are fantastic! I’ve tried them with apples and also with peaches!
The first time I used all the almond extract and it was very overpowering, so I did 1/2 next time and it was still overpowering (and I love almond extract!!) so I think I’m going to 1/4 it next time.
These bars are delicious!! And so easy to make, they were a hit with the hubs and myself. I didn’t have almond flavoring so went with vanilla for the glaze and was great. Thanks ladies!!
I agree with you regarding the necessity of the apple/peeler/corer. I’m actually on my second one, as my oldest grandson managed to ‘kill’ my first one. It did last 15 years, though. Had to get another one. I keep it on my counter during apple season so the kids can just peel/core/slice their own apples and not bug me to do it for them, or risk maiming themselves using a paring knife.
I’m totally going to make these for my apple pie snob husband. His most favorite pie on earth is made with his grandma’s recipe….and it’s legit the most bland pie evvvverrrrrr. I’m set on changing his apple pie ways.
Sitting and anxiously waiting for these to come out of the oven. It’s smelling divine! I’m sure it will taste amazing, too, because I don’t think I’ve ever tried a recipe here that hasn’t tasted amazing 🙂
Yeah… These are amazing. Sweeter than slab apple pie ; )
I just made these and they were delicious! I did replace 1 c. all purpose flour with 1 c. whole wheat flour in the crust and cut the butter to 3/4 c. It worked great and everyone loved them! Thanks for the recipe:)
This recipe is one of my husband’s favorites. I make it when he requests apple pie and I don’t feel waiting for dough to chill. I also blend the leftovers into vanilla ice cream for an amazing treat.
These were wonderful, and so easy to make. I have always made apple pie for my family, but the crust and the frosting took it over the top. Thank you for the recipe.
I know you say no substitutions for butter, but I can’t have dairy right now. Is there a reason that shortening wouldn’t work?
I’ve never tried it…I would probably try a high-quality margarine like Smart Balance.
Hope that helps!
Just made these. Wow. Amazing. Delicious.
Thank you for ALWAYS posting the best recipes. I have never made a recipe from this site that I did not love!
I made these but used gluten free flour. They were delicious and my friends who require gf food were thrilled! Thank you for sharing!
This is the best apple dessert ever! It’s my husbands favorite and my whole family loves it. I do only use half the glaze – gotta cut calories where I can. Ha. Divine!
Was flipping through your cookbook this weekend since I felt like baking, and couldn’t look at anything else once I looked at this recipe, and just had to make them again… perfect choice, they’re amazing every time! Thanks for the recipe!
I made these and they were amazing! Thank you so much for the recipe! I made a few changes — I used a combo of apples and pears, diced and sauteed in butter, 1/3 c brown sugar and 2 tbl maple syrup and cinnamon. I added the flour and let it cook off for about 5 minutes. After cooling, I prepared the recipe as printed (but I did add a little more cinnamon to the top streusel). I brought them to work and they were devoured!
These are my go-to recipe for basically everything now and everybody goes crazy for them.
AMAZING! Truly! Made these for my husband to take to work and his coworker said: “No wonder you married your wife- these rocked my world!” Thank you for sharing!
Served these up for company the other night and everyone raved about them! So easy too!!
So yummy!! Made these tonight.. although my hubby doesn’t like anything with cooked apples..I sure did love them!!! As well as our dinner guests!!
Made these today and my family loved them!!! We are Canadians living in South America and while we love where we live, we miss the change of seasons – This was a perfect taste of Fall for us! Thank you!
Just made these and got through sampling a piece (or two) and they are AMAZING! I think the best apple recipe I’ve ever made 🙂 Husband enjoyed them as well. Thank you!! I did add about a cup of extra apples but other than that followed your recipe exactly.
For this recipe could I substitute vanilla extract in the glaze, I have several people with nut allergies and can’t use the almond? Also, since I have several rheumatoid arthritis, could I use the presliced apples that the stores sell and have my daughter remove the skin from these? I have a very difficult time cutting up apples so any other suggestions are welcome. THe recipe looks amazing. I can’t wait to try it.
Sue, yes and yes! Enjoy!
Wonder how well this recipe would work with the dried apples from the LDS Cannery? I might have to give that a try. 🙂
These are on my brunch menu for this weekend – and I’m trying to pick out things I can make ahead – is this one of them? (do these keep well for a day?)
Yep, I think you could make these the day before! How fun (and yummy!)
So, I've made these a couple of times in the last little while and they were a total hit. Soooo yummy! I definitely had to feed them to other people, though, or I for sure would have eaten the whole pan.
I made them again last weekend and realized after I'd made the dough that I didn't have a single apple in the house. (What?) Instead of the apples, I used 3 cups of frozen raspberries and 1 cup of frozen cranberries (tossed in a little sugar/flour, but skipped the cinnamon). Then, I thought to myself, what goes great with raspberries? Why, chocolate! So I used some melted chocolate on top instead of the glaze and they were AWESOME. Just the right mixture of sour and sweet. I don't know if I like them better than the original, because they're so different, but man, sooooo good! I was the hit of the office this week!
Nikki–I would probably just bake them the night before. I'm afraid that if you didn't bake the apples right away, they'd turn brown (and also that the moisture from the apples would mushify the crust). Hope that helps! 🙂
can these be prepared the night before and then just cooked in the morning? I'm not a big fan of taking all morning to make breakfast but we are getting sick of the same old stuff….
Thanks so much for the yummy recipes! I was too lazy to cut up apples, so I used a can of cherry pie filling instead, with a little bit of cinnamon and it was delish!!
Thanks Kate! Makes sense. Now I can make them w/o getting sweaty hands. LOL