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These Apple Butter Bars are just an easier way to make apple pie! These bars are basically a slab pie and represent an apple pie so well. They have a crumble topping and are great for fall!

brown layered bars stacked on a white plate.


Best Apple Butter Bars

Have you ever had apple butter? If you don’t know, it’s basically a thick applesauce. The smell and taste of it is incredible! I cannot stress to you enough how incredible it is and it makes this recipe even better!

If you’re a fan of pie, but are looking for something slightly different–this is the recipe for you. Every single bite you take will be like a bite into fall heaven!

Ingredients Needed

  • Unsalted butter softened
  • All purpose flour
  • Granulated sugar
  • Salt
  • Cinnamon: Makes your kitchen smell great and the recipe taste amazing.
  • Apple Butter: The best part of this recipe!
  • Walnuts: Chopped; they taste great with this recipe!

How to make Apple Butter Bars

  • Preheat oven to 350°. Line a 9×13” pan with foil and spray with cooking spray.
  • Make the crust & crumble: add butter, flour, sugar, salt, and cinnamon to a large bowl. Mix with a hand mixer until it becomes crumbly. (You may need to use your fingers to break up any larger chunks of butter.) Press into half into the bottom of the prepared pan. Bake for 10 minutes.
  • After 10 minutes, remove crust from the oven. Spread the apple butter over the crust in an even layer. Sprinkle with walnuts. Sprinkle the topping evenly over the filling and press gently to compact. Bake for an additional 20-25 minutes, until topping starts to turn golden.
  • Cool completely before removing from pan. Cut into squares.
brown layered bars stacked on a white plate.

Expert Tips

  • Pre-baking the crust will help the bars be crunchy.
  • Use a good quality apple butter; the better it tastes from the jar the better it will taste in the bars!

FAQs

Can I freeze these bars?

Yes you can! In an airtight container!

Do I have to refrigerate apple butter bars?

Yes I recommend refrigerating them to keep them good! 

brown layered bars stacked on a white plate.

Apple Butter Pie Bars

4.08 from 25 votes
Apple Butter Pie Bars – an easy way to make an apple pie! Slab pie or pie bars are so much easier to serve and these are full of rich apple butter with a crumble topping.
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 35 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 5 minutes
Yield 16 bars
Serving Size 1 serving

Ingredients
 

For the Crust & Crumble:

  • 1 cup (226g) unsalted butter softened
  • 3 cups (372g) all purpose flour
  • ¾ cup (150g) granulated sugar
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 2 teaspoons cinnamon

For the Filling:

  • 1 ½ cups Apple Butter about 12 ounces
  • ½ cup walnuts chopped

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 350°. Line a 9×13” pan with foil and spray with cooking spray.
  • Make the crust & crumble: add butter, flour, sugar, salt, and cinnamon to a large bowl. Mix with a hand mixer until it becomes crumbly. (You may need to use your fingers to break up any larger chunks of butter.) Press into half into the bottom of the prepared pan. Bake for 10 minutes.
  • After 10 minutes, remove crust from the oven. Spread the apple butter over the crust in an even layer. Sprinkle with walnuts. Sprinkle the topping evenly over the filling and press gently to compact. Bake for an additional 20-25 minutes, until topping starts to turn golden.
  • Cool completely before removing from pan. Cut into squares.

Recipe Nutrition

Serving: 1serving | Calories: 293kcal | Carbohydrates: 39g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 14g | Saturated Fat: 8g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 3g | Trans Fat: 0.5g | Cholesterol: 31mg | Sodium: 79mg | Potassium: 70mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 19g | Vitamin A: 362IU | Vitamin C: 0.2mg | Calcium: 17mg | Iron: 1mg
Nutritional information not guaranteed to be accurate
Course Dessert
Cuisine American

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Last Updated on September 28, 2023



Dorothy Kern

Welcome to Crazy for Crust, where I share recipes that are sometimes crazy, often with a crust, and always served with a slice of life.

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66 Comments

  1. These bars are so delicious !! The apple butter make this a winner . As for me , these taste so much like the old fashion apple stack cake that my grandmother always made. She would dry the apples, then cook them down, basically apple butter. They were delicious, it would take her all day to make this 13 layer apple stack cake and these bars taste so much like her cake. Thank you for a delicious desert that will now be my Go To. ….

  2. Thank you Dorothy! These apple butter bars were a great way to use some of the extra jars I made but didn’t can. This one stood out from the rest because of that fantastic crust layer and I am so glad I found your recipe. I did add a little brown sugar to the topping just because I like the flavor but I had no problems with the crumble.I do think it was important you mentioned “mix by hand” because it definitely gives you control over the topping , squeezing different sized crumble for texture where a mixer would likely grind it to dust. Completely cool they had a great snap. Definitely will be making them again

  3. It seems to have way to much flour, it’s still dusty. I just want to verify it is 3 cups of flour and 1 cup of butter?

  4. If you think apple butter is good, you should try pear butter. Oh my my my. It is outstanding. Far surpasses apple butter. Try pear butter instead of apple butter with your bars and see what you think.

  5. So I made this yesterday. Very good as not too sweet. I thought it could use just a little salt in both the crust and maybe half of the topping sugar as brown sugar. I will definitely make again.

  6. Boy these sound and look great …can’t wait to make them. I’m thinking these would be great with my moms Fig butter… need to put that on my to do list for sure.

  7. I followed your recipe exactly and it turned out horribly! I could not serve them as dessert that evening! I believe you need much more butter in both the crust and the filling. And maybe some type of cinnamon/brown sugar mix on top. It was a disappointment all around.

    1. I’m so sorry Amber. I’m not sure what happened. I’ve used that same crust and topping recipe for several bars, and it always works out great. Can you elaborate a little bit? I’d love to try and troubleshoot with you.