Gluten-Free Apple Pie Bars
These gluten-free apple pie bars (can also be made as dairy-free) are too good!! Simple ingredients and easy to make! See recipe below! Prep time takes about an hour as you need the apple filling to cool down and then you bake for 40-45 mins.
Apple Pie Filling:
1/4 cup of unsalted butter (I used vegan butter to make it dairy-free)
5-6 apples diced (I’d go for more of a tart apple like granny smith, pink lady etc)
1/2 cup of light brown sugar
2 tsp of ground cinnaamon
1/2 tsp of salt
Shortbread Cookie Dough:
3/4 cup of unsalted softened butter (or vegan butter)
3/4 cup of light brown sugar
1/2 tsp of vanilla extract
3 cups of gluten-free flour (I like Only Goodness)
3/4 tsp of xanthan gum
1/2 tsp of salt
You will also need 2/3 cups of ground walnuts or pecans (I like pecans) I buy halves ones and then crush them so they’re ground.
Instructions:
Apple Pie Filling:
1) In a large skillet or pot melt butter on medium-high heat.
2) Add diced apples, brown sugar, vanilla extract and salt, and stir to combine. Cook for 5-8 minutes over medium-high heat until apples have softened and juices thicken to a syrupy consistency.
*Make sure to let apple filling cool down to room temperature before adding them to apple pie bars.*
Shortbread Cookie Dough:
1) In a large bowl, mix the softened butter, brown sugar and vanilla extract together with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula to combine.
2) Sift in the gluten free flour blend, xanthan gum and salt.
3) Mix it all together until the dough starts clumping together. Give it a thorough knead to bring it together into a ball with no patches of dry flour showing.
Assembling & Baking of Apple Pie Bars:
1) Preheat oven to 350ºF
2) Line a 9” square baking pan with parchment paper.
3) Press over half of the cookie dough with your fingers into the bottom of the pan. Thickness should be about 1/4 inch.
4) Sprinkle the ground pecans or walnuts evenly all over the cookie dough base.
5) Add the apple pie filling in an even layer over the ground pecans or walnuts. Drizzle over any leftover juices in the bowl.
6) Crumble over the remaining cookie dough in little balls over the apple pie filling.
7) Bake at 350ºF for 40-45 minutes. (I do 45 minutes as I want the crumb topping to be slightly golden brown.)
8) Let bars cool down completely before removing them from baking pan and cutting them into small squares. Bars are more likely to crumble and break if you remove them from pan when still warm/hot.
