The Little Vintage Baking Company

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apple pie

Apple Pie Bars

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It’s November and I am still obsessing over apples. I love baking with apples, and while I like baking with pumpkin too, apples are my fall baking favorite. Today I’m sharing with you my apple pie bars. Granny Smith and Honeycrisp apples caramelized in butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and apple cider are piled onto a buttery, crisp shortbread-like crust and topped with a crunchy walnut and oatmeal streusel topping.

Apple Pie Bars

This recipe makes a full 13×9 pan and can feed quite a few people (12-16) – perfect for any fall parties or get togethers. And let me tell, you these are most definitely a crowd pleaser. They will go fast. However, you can half the recipe for an 8×8 or 9×9 pan if you want less servings.

Apple Pie Bars

The walnut crumble topping

I really wanted this topping to highlight walnuts and oats. Both go so well with the apples and the topping provides a crunchy and chewy textural contrast to the crust and softened apples. Toast the walnuts before using, as toasting will deepen and enhance the flavor. Don’t like walnuts? You can replace the walnuts with the nut of your choice though I would recommend almonds or pecans. Make the topping after making the crust (in the same food processor bowl) then pop the topping into the fridge to keep cold until baking.

Apple Pie Bars

The crust

The crust is similar to a shortbread crust. This buttery, crisp, lightly sweetened crust is the perfect vehicle to pile on loads of caramelized apples. Sugar, flour and salt are combined in the bowl of a food processor, followed by room temperature butter and processed until large clumps form. Press the dough into the lined pan, using the bottom of a measuring cup to pack and even out the crust. I like to use an offset spatula to even and smooth out the top crust.

Apple Pie Bars

Apple Pie Filling

My apple pie filling has multiple uses so this is a good filling to make on repeat. It makes for fantastic cake filling or ice cream topping. The apples are cooked, reduced and caramelized with butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and apple cider. Your kitchen will smell amazing. Let the filling cool completely before using.

Apple Pie Bars

If you make these apple pie bars, let me know! Drop a comment or tag me on Instagram. I love seeing your bakes and creations.

Enjoy!

Ash xx

For more fall baking recipes, check out these posts:

Mulled Apple Cider Cake Donuts

Brown Butter Maple Pecan Cookies

Brown Butter Pumpkin Spice Snickerdoodles

Chai Spiced Apple Cranberry Pie

Apple Pie Bars
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Apple Pie Bars

Caramelized apples made with butter, brown sugar, cinnamon and apple cider on a crisp shortbread crust and topped with a walnut cinnamon oat streusel
Prep Time30 mins
Cook Time1 hr 20 mins
Course: Dessert
Servings: 12 – 16 bars

Ingredients

Crust

  • 1 cup (226g) unsalted butter, room temperature
  • ½ cup (100g) granulated sugar
  • 2 ½ cups (420g) all purpose flour
  • ½ teaspoon fine sea salt

Walnut Oatmeal Topping

  • 1/4 cup (38g) walnuts, chopped and toasted
  • ¾ cup (90g) all purpose flour
  • ⅓ cup (142g) light brown sugar, packed
  • ½ teaspoon cinnamon
  • ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
  • 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold and cubed
  • 1/3 cup (59g) old fashioned oats

Apple Pie Filling

  • ¼ cup (57g) unsalted butter
  • 1/3 cup (142g) light brown sugar, packed
  • 8 medium baking apples, peeled, cored and thinly sliced I used Granny Smith and Honeycrisp
  • ¾ teaspoon cinnamon
  • ⅛ teaspoon nutmeg
  • ⅓ cup (151g) apple cider

Instructions

Crust

  • Preheat the oven to 350F and line an 12×9 pan with two pieces of parchment paper which extend over the sides to give you a ‘"handles" (this helps with removing the bars easily once it is set).
  • In the bowl of a food processor, place the flour, sugar, and salt, and pulse to combine.
  • Add the butter and pulse until the mixture begins to form large clumps.
  • Press the dough into the prepared pan, then level and smooth it with a bench press or measuring cup. Chill the crust for 10 minutes.
  • Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until the crust begins to brown. Let cool completely.

Walnut Oatmeal Topping

  • While the crust bakes, prepare the walnut oatmeal topping.
  • In the bowl of the same food processor used to make the crust, place the flour, brown sugar, cinnamon and salt. Pulse to mix.
  • Add the butter cubes and pulse until mixture begins to stick together and form small clumps. 
  • Add the oats and pulse to incorporate.
  • Remove the bowl from the food processor and remove the center blade. Stir in the walnuts. Cover with plastic wrap and store in the refrigerator until ready to use. 

Apple Pie Filling

  • In a large skillet with deep sides, melt the butter with the brown sugar over medium high heat.
  • Add the apples to the skillet and cook, stirring occasionally, until the apples have softened, about 10 minutes.
  • Stir in the cinnamon and nutmeg along with apple cider.
  • Cook until the apples have caramelized, softened and the liquid has evaporated, about 15 minutes.
  • If there is any sticking, add a tad more apple cider to the skillet to scrape off the bits to the pan. Let cool.

Assemble Bars

  • Once cooled, spread the apple pie filling evenly over the crust.
  • Evenly scatter the walnut oat topping over the apples.
  • Bake for 50-60 minutes until the topping has turned golden brown. Rotate the pan halfway through baking.
  • Let the bars cool completely on the rack before slicing and serving.

Notes

Bars can be frozen for a month.
Bars can be stored at room temperature in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

Chai Spiced Apple Cranberry Pie

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I love, love, love apple pie.  There’s never a Thanksgiving when I don’t make an apple pie. It’s a Thanksgiving dessert staple. I’m always experimenting and creating new variations on the classic apple pie and this chai spiced apple cranberry pie does not disappoint. It is just SO GOOD.

Chai Spice Apple Cranberry Pie

If you’ve read any of my posts, you know that I love my coffee. But, in the fall and winter, I love a good chai tea or chai tea latte. So comforting on a chilly day. This chai spiced apple cranberry pie is perfect chilly weather comfort food, with the perfectly spiced flavors of chai and orange, with sweet and tart apples, and a tart pop of cranberry. I used a variety of warm spices that can be found in chai tea blends – cardamom, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and nutmeg. Cardamom, to me, is so quintessentially chai and a must-have in this recipe, so definitely don’t skip out on it.

Chai Spice Apple Cranberry Pie

My favorite apple to bake with is granny smith apples, so in this recipe, I used a mixture of granny smith and honey crisp apples. Honey crisps taste amazing – they’re a bit sweeter than granny smith apples and they are great to bake with as they retain their texture well. I used fresh cranberries since they are popping up in stores this time of year, but you can use frozen if you can’t find fresh. The cranberries add a juiciness and tartness to the pie, and they just go so well with apples and the chai spices.

My chai spiced apple cranberry pie starts with a foundation of an amazing tender, flaky and flavorful crust. I used my all butter pie dough for this pie, so for all things pie dough, check out my recipe here. Not up to making your own, or trying to save some time? Store bought works just fine here too.

Chai Spice Apple Cranberry Pie

To optimize the flavor for this pie, I mix the apples with the orange juice, zest, spices, sugars and salt and leave them in a colander over a large bowl to macerate, or drain off the juices for about 40 minutes. This drains the apples of excess liquid, which helps keep the apples from getting too soft and mushy when baking. The reserved liquid gets boiled down to thicken slightly and become more concentrated in flavor. The apples are then mixed together with the concentrated liquid, cornstarch and cranberries before being layered into the pie crust.

Apples tend to shrink a bit when baking, which can leave a gap between the crust and the apples when the pie is cooling. Macerating the apples helps shrink them and reduce their water content which helps with reducing the gap. Layering in the apples with the cranberries also help reduce any excess space. Mounding the apples and overfilling keeps the pie more full once baked.

Chai Spiced Apple Cranberry Pie

Brushing the pie with a mixture of egg and water helps the crust bake up to be perfectly golden brown. I sprinkle demerara sugar over the crust for extra crunch and sweetness. The best way to tell when a fruit pie is done baking, is to bake until the juices are bubbling. This ensures that the pie is fully cooked and also has activated and cooked the thickening agent.

I like to start baking my fruit pies at a higher temperature first to help “set” the crust. This allows for the pie dough to bake a bit faster, and not become soggy from just stewing in the fruit juices. It also allows for the crust to start to brown as well, so when the pie is finished baking, it’s a deep golden brown. The temperature is then reduced to allow the pie bake the pie fully, without the potential for the crust to burn.

Chai Spiced Apple Cranberry Pie

When the pie comes out of the oven, the filling will be bubbling and your kitchen will smell incredible. As difficult as it may be, it’s important to let the pie cool for a few hours in order to thicken up and set the filling. The chai spiced apple cranberry pie is best served slightly warm, and as Matt prefers it, with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Chai Spiced Apple Cranberry Pie
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Chai Spiced Apple Cranberry Pie

This chai spiced apple cranberry pie is layered with sweet spiced, orange scented apples and tart, juicy cranberries inside a tender and flakey all butter pie crust. 
Prep Time30 mins
Cook Time1 hr
Resting Time40 mins
Total Time2 hrs 10 mins
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Keyword: apple pie, blueberry pie, Chai Spiced Apple Cranberry Pie, cranberry pie
Servings: 6 servings

Ingredients

  • 1 recipe, All Butter Pie Dough
  • 8 apples (about 3 lbs), peeled and sliced to 1/4" I used half granny smith and half honeycrisp apples.
  • 1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed
  • 1/4 cup granulated sugar
  • Zest of a orange
  • 2 tablespoons orange juice
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
  • 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
  • 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
  • 1 cup fresh cranberries
  • 1 tablespoon cornstarch
  • 1 egg yolk
  • 1 tablespoon water
  • demerara sugar, for sprinkling

Instructions

Prepare the pie crust:

  • On a floured work surface, roll out one of the discs of chilled dough, keeping the other disk refrigerated. Turn the dough about a quarter turn after every few rolls until you have a circle 12 inches in diameter.
  • Place the dough onto the pie dish. Ease the dough, without stretching, into the pie dish. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Prepare the lattice:

  • On a floured work surface, roll out the second disk of dough, also to a 12" diameter.
  • Cut 10-12 evenly sized strips using a pizza cutter or a knife. Lay the strips on a cookie sheet lined with parchment and place in the refrigerator until ready to use.

Prepare the filling:

  • Position the baking rack in the middle of the oven. Heat the oven to 425F and place a large baking sheet on the center of the rack.
  • In a large bowl, combine the apples, orange zest, orange juice, brown sugar, sugar, cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, cloves, nutmeg and salt and mix to combine.
  • Transfer the apples to a large colander and place over a bowl. Let the apples macerate and release their juices for at least 40 minutes or for as long as two hours. 
  • Pour the drained liquid into a small saucepan along with the butter over medium low heat. Place the apples back into the bowl.
  • Cook the liquid until slightly thickened and reduced to about 1/2 cup. Set aside to cool slightly.
  • Add the cranberries, cornstarch and liquid to the apples and mix to combine. 

Compile the pie:

  • Remove the pie crust from the refrigerator. Layer the apples and cranberries into the pie crust, creating a mound in the center.
  • Remove the lattice strips from the refrigerator. Lay 5 to 6 strips, evenly spaced over the pie. 
  • Weave the remaining strips over and under, perpendicular to the first set of strips  to create a lattice. Adjust the strips to ensure they are evenly spaced.
  • Trim any excess dough over 2". Fold and tuck the dough on the edges to create an outer ridge and to ensure the lattice and bottom crusts are adhered.
  • Flute the edge, or crimp with a fork.
  • Whisk together the egg and the water. With a pastry brush, brush the lattice top and the edges with a thin layer of the egg wash.
  • Lightly sprinkle demerara sugar over the lattice crust.
  • Place the pie on the baking sheet in the center of the oven. Bake for 30 minutes.
  • Reduce the oven temperature to 350 and bake for an additional 35-45 minutes, or until the filling is bubbling and the crust is golden brown.
  • Let the pie cool for 3 hours to allow the filling to set,  or until just warm. 

Notes

Pie can be made in advance and left at room temperature for a day. To keep the pie longer, cover the pie tightly with plastic wrap and store in the refrigerator for up to 3-4 days.