Yield: 8″ pan apple pie bars // Total Time: 1 hr. 30 min. // Disclaimer: This post includes affiliate links. // Recipe updated 09/25/23

Brown butter shortbread, cinnamon spiced apples, and a brown butter streusel.

apple pie bars

Hello hello! We have here today a super delicious and super easy apple pie recipe that doesn’t deal with rolling out pie crust. So if you are also not the biggest fan of pie crust, these are perfect for you. These apple pie bars are super easy to make and perfect for sharing. They’re made with a brown butter cinnamon shortbread that doesn’t require a mixer, and doubles as the streusel on top. And then of course they’re stuffed with a very generous layer of spiced sliced apples that are mixed with apple butter for even more delicious apple flavor.

what is brown butter?

Brown butter is super simple to make so don’t worry! It’s just regular butter that is cooked on the stove until some of the moisture evaporates, allowing the milk solids in the butter to be toasted. The result is this butter with an amber hue and little speckles that has a toasted and slightly nutty aroma.

Because the butter gets cooked for a while, you do lose most of the moisture present in butter – just another reason I highly recommend weighing your ingredients! You should have 180g of butter left from the 226g at the start. Any less and you’ll want to add some water to the butter to bring it to 180g (prior to adding in the additional water), or you’ll end up with some dry and crumbly shortbread.

recipe tips

weigh your ingredients

Weighing your ingredients is important for getting the recipe perfect and getting consistent results. Not weighing your ingredients can lead to adding too much or too little of an ingredient which can give you some undesirable results. This kitchen scale is super cheap and worked well for me when I was starting out! If you don’t have access to a scale, here is the best way to measure flour: fluff up the flour with a fork, then use a spoon to scoop it into your measuring cup. Use a knife to level off the top of the cup, then use as directed.

mix the dough carefully

When you’re mixing in your flour, you’ll want to make sure you only mix just until that last streak of flour disappears in the dough. Otherwise, you run the risk of overmixing the dough which will make the cookies more tough and chewy.

pre-bake the shortbread

Similar to most pie recipes, you’re going to need to “pre-bake” the shortbread. This just means the shortbread will bake for a short time prior to the apples and streusel being added on to it. This is to ensure that the shortbread cooks throughout, and that you don’t end up with a raw crust on the bottom of your apple pie bars. Bake the shortbread for 15-20 minutes, or until the edges turn golden brown.

ingredients and substitutions

For the shortbread & streusel:

Unsalted butter: for tenderizing the shortbread and for flavor. You can use salted in place of unsalted butter here, just be sure to omit the extra salt from the shortbread. If you’re looking for a good vegan brand, Miyoko’s Creamery makes vegan butter that browns just like regular butter!

Water: we’ll add a little bit of water to add some moisture back into the dough.

Dark brown sugar: for sweetness and helps to lock in moisture. In a pinch light brown sugar will work perfectly.

All purpose flour: for structure.

Salt: to balance and bring out the sweetness and flavor of the shortbread.

Ground cinnamon: for flavor

For the apple pie filling:

Apples: use your favorite baking apple here! My favorite are honeycrisp and I used them here since they just so happened to be on sale at the time! You can also use fuji, gala, pink lady, jonathan, granny smith, or braeburn!

Dark brown sugar: to lightly sweeten the apples and add some flavor. In a pinch light brown sugar will work perfectly.

Ground cinnamon: for flavor.

Lemon juice: we’ll use a tiny bit of lemon juice to bring out the flavor of the apples. Fresh or bottled works great here, you can even use lime if that’s what you have on hand!

All purpose flour: we’ll use a tiny bit of flour to thicken up any juice that comes out of the apples as it bakes.

Apple butter: for extra apple and apple spice flavor. If you’ve never heard of apple butter, it doesn’t *actually* contain any butter, it’s essentially applesauce that’s spiced and even more concentrated. I found mine at my local Walmart!

how to make apple pie bars

Here’s a little step-by-step with pictures on how to make brown butter apple pie bars. You can find the full recipe at the end of the blog post!

apple pie bars q&a

can I double this recipe?

Of course! Simply double the ingredients and bake everything in a 9×13″ pan, or divide them into two 8″ square pans. Keep a close eye on them if you do end up baking in a 9×13″ pan, as the baking time may change. Similarly, you can cut the recipe in half and bake it in an 8×4″ loaf pan for a smaller batch.

how to store apple pie bars

Like most baked goods, these apple pie bars will definitely taste the best on the day that they are baked, but will keep well in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 7 days. I prefer to eat these warm so I highly recommend heating the slices up for 10-15 seconds before eating!

a note on oven temperature

Ovens vary and fluctuate in temperature and aren’t always at the temperature they claim to be at. I highly recommend getting an oven thermometer. They are super helpful for letting you know when your oven might be lying to you! I use this one.

tools and ingredients

You can find all my favorite tools and ingredients that I use on my Amazon Storefront page, here!