Zesty Apple Crumble Bars

Zesty Apple Crumble Bars

10/01 By Zerrin Leave a Comment

Zesty Apple Crumble Bars are loaded with chocolate chips and topped with caramel sauce. Can you think of a better dessert to take you to heaven? These bars are like the combination of all yummy things on earth. Lemon, apple, pumpkin spice, chocolate chips and caramel sauce. Nothing can go wrong with these. Oh an butter for sure! You will feel the amazing flavor of butter on the crispy golden top.

I wonder if I can make similar bars using my Homemade Fresh Pumpkin Puree instead of apple. Must try it next time. The dough of this Zesty Apple Crumble Bars has lemon zest while the filling has lemon juice, so the they have a lovely scent of lemon. A little freshness coming from lemon and its zest make a great twist on apple crumble bars. I used pumpkin spice both in the crust and the filling, so you will have the smell of fall with your deepest feelings.

I slightly adapted the recipe from Christina’s fantastic looking Apple Crumble Bars on her blog Sweet Pea’s Kitchen. I wanted my Zesty Apple Crumble Bars to have a special look, so I added chocolate chips in the filling and on the top. Also I drizzled a little caramel sauce over the bars. Now I’m pleased with their look! Caramel helps anything look even more special as in Pumpkin Pancakes. And it goes perfect with apple and pumpkin.

I reduced the amount of sugar in the original recipe as I thought it would be too sweet. I’m not a fan of too sweet desserts, so I think it would be even better if I hadn’t added any sugar in the filling. Maybe because the apples I used were quite sweet on their own. Other than these, the recipe was great and I will be making this often through this fall as it is really easy. The hardest part of the recipe could be peeling and dicing the apples because the pieces shoudln’t be very large.

I love that these Zesty Apple Crumble Bars are packed with apple chunks, which helps them to be really moist. I must warn you that these are so moist that you shouldn’t cut them into squares when they are still warm. Let them get to room temperature and then refrigerate at least for half an hour so that they set.

• More apple bars I’d love to try:
• Caramel Apple Crumble Bars on Mom On Time Out
• Caramel Apple Shortbread Crumble Bars on The Kitchen McCabe
• Caramel Apple Cheesecake Bars on Cooking with Jax
• Blackberry Apple Crumble Bars on Veggie on a Penny
• Apple Caramel Pie Bars on Leelalicious

Zesty Apple Crumble Bars Total time 1 hour 5 mins Apple bars with zesty flavor, loaded with chocolate chips and drizzled with caramel. Ingredients For the crumble:

3 cups all-purpose flour 1 cup granulated sugar 1 teaspoon baking powder ¼ teaspoon salt 1 tablespoon grated lemon zest 1 teaspoon pumpkin spice 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cold 1 large egg, lightly beaten For the Apple Filling:

5 cups apples peeled, cored and diced 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice ½ cup all-purpose flour 3 tablespoons granulated sugar ¼ teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon pumpkin spice 3 tablespoons chocolate chips 2 tablespoons extra chocolate chips for topping Instructions

Preheat the oven to 375F (190C). Butter a 9x13 inches baking pan and place parchment paper in the bottom. In a large bowl combine flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, lemon zest and pumpkin spice. Chop the cold butter in small pices and mix with your hand until you have a crumbly texture. You can do this with a stand mixer too. Pat half of the dough into the pan and place the other half and the pan in the refrigerator while you prepare the filling. In a medium bowl, gently toss diced apples and lemon juice. In another bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, salt and pumpkin spice. Puro ver the apples and mix gently just until the apples are coated with this mixture. Spread the apple mixture evenly over the crust. Sprinkle 3 tablespoons chocolate chips over apples. Crumble the other half of the dough over the apple layer. Bake for 45 minutes until the top is slightly brown. Sprinkle 2 tablespoons chocolate chips right after you take it from oven and cool completely on wire rack. When it comes to room temperature, put it into refrigerator and chill for at least half an hour before slicing. Serve with caramel drizzle over the squares. Keep in an airtight container in the refrigerator. 3.2.2807