Apple Cinnamon Streusel Squares

There’s little I love in the world more than apple desserts. Fall brings all of these apple recipes to you and I just can’t wait to indulge. I have had this recipe marked in the magazine for a very long time, and I’m so glad that I finally got a chance to make them. They are extraordinary! All the flavors of fall in one cookie.

This recipe can be made with either apples or pears. I had some random apples at home, so I decided to go that route rather than using pears. Don’t you always have a few apples around? Between boxed lunches and sides and the sandwich shop, I usually have them on hand. (As well as little bags of potato chips, which go stale before I remember to eat them.) This calls for 2 cups of chopped apples, which was what I got with the one big and one little apple that I had.

I made the streusel in the food processor, which makes quick work of it. I wasn’t sure how big or small to cut the apples, so I opted to cut them fairly small. In the end, the apples bake down so I think it would have been ok to cut them a little larger. These you cut before icing, which was nice since I didn’t have to worry about messing up the icing. My icing was too thin, so be careful that you don’t make it too runny. These kind of taste like apple crumble pie in bar form, which to me is just great.

Apple Cinnamon Streusel Squares

2 cups flour

1-1/4 cups oats

¾ cup packed brown sugar

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 cup butter

2 eggs

1 cup sugar

2 tablespoons flour

¼ teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon salt

2 cups chopped, peeled apples

¾ cup cinnamon chips

1 cup powdered sugar

¼ teaspoon vanilla

1-2 tablespoons milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9” x 13” baking pan.

In the bowl of a food processor, combine the flour, oats, brown sugar, and cinnamon. Pulse to combine. Cut the butter into pieces and add to the mixture. Pulse until the mixture looks like coarse crumbs. Set aside 1-1/2 cups of the mixture. Press the remaining mixture into the bottom of the prepared pan. Bake for 15 minutes.

While the crust is baking, prepare the filling. In a medium bowl, whisk the eggs and sugar until smooth. Whisk in the flour, baking powder, and salt. Stir in apples and cinnamon chips.

Spread the mixture over the hot crust and top with the reserved crumb mixture. Bake for 30-35 minutes, until golden brown. Allow to cool completely and cut into bars before icing.

Make the icing: In a small bowl whisk together the powdered sugar, vanilla, and 1 tablespoon milk. Stir in additional milk, if required, to make of drizzling consistency. Drizzle over the bars.

Recipe from Ultimate Cookies and Bars