An elevated apple pie bars recipe with the perfectly flaky shortbread crust and a fabulous walnut crumb topping. It’s vegan, super delicious, easy to make and the perfect addition to the holiday table. (+ VIDEO)

Why fuss over the complexities of a pie when you can make easy, perfect and foolproof flaky apple pie bars everyone is sure to love?! Shortbread crust, a cinnamony apple layer and a thick walnutty crumb topping baked into the apples, who can resist?! The hardest part is waiting for them to cool off.

The Shortbread Crust

Simple but fabulous made with only 3 sinful ingredients: vegan butter, sugar and flour! The dough comes together in the food processor in a few pulses, then spread in the bottom of a 9×9 inch baking pan. It will be a little like working with play dough, press on it and stretch until full coverage of the bottom of the pan is achieved. If it tears in places just pinch the dough with your fingers to seal and pop it in the fridge or the freezer to harden back up while your oven is preheating. No fuss like an actual pie!

Pre-baking the crust – This is a very important step to make sure we will have a nice flaky crumbly end result. If this step is skipped the moisture from the apples will cause the bars to have a soggy bottom so please don’t skip it!

Apple Pie Filling

Choose tart green Granny Smith apples here to balance out the sweetness of the dessert. If you don’t have green apples just use any variety available and up the lemon juice to add more acidity. Make sure to peel them first then slice or dice small to your preference before tossing them with a little squeeze of lemon, vanilla, nutmeg, cinnamon and flour. No need to pre-cook the filling! I hear some people don’t like cinnamon in which case of course skip it as the bars are still fantastic even without this classic apple pie spice.

The Walnut Crumb Topping

This is just soooo good you guys! I use it on my vegan coffee cake and it’s the base in my nutty cookies (a Christmas favorite you should try btw). In a nutshell (no pun intended) you have tons of walnuts chopped up with a touch of brown sugar and lemon zest all bound together with a little apricot jam. The real magic happens as they bake into the apples and get extra nutty and crispy and your whole house will smell like Christmas. As far as I’m concerned, there’s no better crumb topping than a walnut topping! If you’d like to go wild serve them with a drizzle of vegan salted caramel sauce and a scoop of vanilla icecream. I really wouldn’t do any frosting or icing here at all. It’s simply perfect!

Cooling + Storage

Cooling – This is a very important step, please don’t skip it! Allow your bars to cool off completely in the pan for at least an hour before slicing. This will ensure that the layers are set properly and won’t fall apart. Waiting for them to cool is going to be the hardest part of this recipe but I promise: it’s absolutely worth it!
Storage – For the first day keep the bars on a cooling rack at room temperature. Any leftovers can be refrigerated in a lidded container up to a week if they last that long. They can also be frozen up to 3 months and thawed out at room temperature a couple of hours before serving.

Vegan Desserts

how to make apple pie bars recipe

Vegan Apple Pie Bars Recipe with walnut crumb topping

5 from 1 vote

Apple Pie Bars with Shortbread Crust & Walnut Crumb Topping

An elevated apple pie bars recipe with the perfectly flaky shortbread crust and a fabulous walnut crumb topping. It's vegan, super delicious, easy to make and the perfect addition to the holiday table.

Print Recipe

Prep Time:20

Cook Time:55

chill time:15

Total Time:1 30

Ingredients

The Crust

1/2 cup cold vegan butter diced+ salted
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 cup all purpose flour or whole wheat pastry flour

Filling

2 large green apples
1.5 Tbsp four all purpose or whole wheat pastry flour
3 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp lemon juice to prevent oxidation
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp cinnamon (optional but recommended)

Walnut Topping

1.5 cups raw walnut pieces
4 Tbsp light brown sugar
2 Tbsp apricot jam
zest from 1 lemon
1 pinch sea salt

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 300”F.
Line a 9 x9 inch square baking pan with parchment paper levain a couple of inches of overhang on each side for easy transfer.
Add the shortbread crust ingredients to the bowl of a food processor and process until a dough comes together.
1/2 cup cold vegan butter, 1/4 cup granulated sugar, 1 cup all purpose flour
Dump the dough into the prepared pan. Gather any loose pieces and knead them into the ball of dough. Using your hand press on the dough until it lines the bottom of the pan in a thin layer. (This will feel like workin with play-dough, trust the process and keep pressing on the dough until a good coverage is achieved. Pinch the dough with your fingertips to seal in case of any tears).
Place the pan in the fridge or the freezer to set for 15 to 20 minutes until your oven is ready.
After 20 minutes place the pan with the crust straight into the oven. Bake for 18 minutes then carefully transfer the pan to a cooling rack.
Turn up the oven heat to 350”F.
Filling - Meanwhile peel and dice or slice the apples (discard core) and toss with the spices and flour. Set aside.
2 large green apples, 1.5 Tbsp four, 3 tsp vanilla extract, 1 tsp lemon juice, 1/4 tsp nutmeg, 1 tsp cinnamon
Walnut Crumb Topping - Add all the topping ingredients to a food process and using the Pulse button process 5 to 7 times just until a rough chop is achieved.
1.5 cups raw walnut pieces, 4 Tbsp light brown sugar, 2 Tbsp apricot jam, zest from 1 lemon, 1 pinch sea salt
Using a slotted spoon scoop the apple mixture and spoon it over the shortbread crust. Leave behind as much as the moisture as possible to prevent sogginess. Gently press and level the apples into the crust using the back of the spoon.
Sprinkle the apples with the walnut crumb topping and using the palm of your hand this time gently press it into the apples.
Bake at 350”F for 35 minutes until golden brown on top.
Transfer to a cooling rack and allow to cool for 1 hour in the pan. Using the parchment paper as handles remove from the pan and transfer to the cooling rack then allow to cool another 45 minutes or more before slicing. Use a sharp serrated knife for best results when slicing into squares of your desired size (I made 16 but you could make more by cutting them smaller).

Video

Notes

Cooling - This is a very important step, please don't skip it! Allow your bars to cool off completely in the pan for at least an hour before slicing. This will ensure that the layers are set properly and won't fall apart. Waiting for them to cool is going to be the hardest part of this recipe but I promise: it's absolutely worth it!
Storage - For the first day keep the bars on a cooling rack at room temperature. Any leftovers can be refrigerated in a lidded container up to a week if they last that long. They can also be frozen up to 3 months and thawed out at room temperature a couple of hours before serving.
Serving - To take these apple pie bars over the top you can serve them with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and a drizzle of some salted caramel.

Nutrition

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Keyword: apple pie bars

Servings: bars

Calories: 194kcal

Author: Florentina

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