Cinnamon Apple Pecan Crumb Bars
We’re eating cinnamon apple pecan crumb bars made with local fuji apples and drizzled with cream cheese cinnamon icing.
Every year apple season (aka fall) brings with it a wave of nostalgia, and I can’t help but reminisce about the autumns of my youth. Growing up in Virginia fall meant the leaves turned from green to lovely shades of vibrant orange, red, yellow and deep purple. Along with the cool air, fall also brought with it loads of glorious apples. The house I grew up in had 2 apple trees, 2 peach trees, 2 cherry trees and 2 seckel pear tree in the front yard, thus we never had a shortage of fresh fruit to feast on throughout the growing season. While my family never made these particular cinnamon apple pecan crumb bars, they certainly have the flavors that I associate with fall. There’s just something so comforting about the combination of cinnamon and apples. Between Tyler, our neighbor and Nicole & Justin these bars were gone almost as soon as they were made! They’re super simple and sure to be a great fall crowd pleaser.
For the apples:
3 medium fuji apples, peeled, cored and cut into a 1/2" dice
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp kosher salt
For the crumb:
2 sticks (1 cup) butter, soften
2 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 egg
For the icing:
2 oz cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup powdered sugar, sifted
2 tbsp milk
1/4 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease an 8x11.5" glass or ceramic baking dish.
Place all ingredients for the apples into a mixing bowl. Toss to coat and evenly distribute all ingredients.
Place first 5 ingredients for the crumb into a mixing bowl. Blend the ingredients together using a pastry blender or a fork until the butter has been incorporated and there are crumbs the size of peas. Add the egg to the crumb mixture and lightly stir just until the egg has been incorporated. Try not to over work the mixture. You want for there to still be pea-sized crumbs after incorporating the egg.
Reserve 1 heaping cup of the crumb mixture. Pour the rest of the crumb into the prepared baking dish. Using your hands or the back of a spoon, gently press the crumb mixture into the dish to form a level crust.
Next evenly distribute the apple mixture over the crust.
Finally, sprinkle the reserved crumb mixture evenly over the apples.
Place into a preheated 350 degree oven. Bake for about 50 minutes or until crumb is golden and apples are soft.
Remove from oven and cool for 1 hour.
While the bars are cooling, make the icing. Add all ingredients into a mixing bowl. Whisk or beat until smooth.
Once the bars are cooled drizzle with the cream cheese icing. Cut into bars and enjoy! Bars can be made 2 days in advance. Simply cover the bars once they've cooled to room temperature.
Oh my those look good! These are going to the top of my baking list!
These were delicious! And I’m more than happy to take them off your hands again if you ever decide to make more 😉
Amanda’s Sick! (flu-like symptoms). Get better Amanda!
I am impressed–especially for a non-dessert lover like Amanda! These look awesome. And sort of wishing I had cleaned my computer screen BEFORE I licked your opening photo. Tastes like cat hair and fried chicken, not apples and happiness.
ps~feel better amanda! adam and I have the same sort of flu in Chicago. Make Tyler go buy you some pho!
We already knew she was sick.
These look amazing and a perfect recipe to take advantage of fall apples!
That is beautiful! I’m so going to have to try it.
I printed the recipe and took it with me to work at San Francisco catering and I loved it
Y’all need to take pointers from this guy. He really knows what the hell he is talking about:
http://www.biteandbooze.com
I was going ot leave a comment, but why beat a dead horse? I had paragraphs explode from my head about each entry I read, and all concrete arguments about why he was wrong and should not write about cardboard. Yeah, yeah, I know, I’m bitter, angry and an asshole!!
By the way, we got an assload of meyer lemons today, like maybe 2 5 gallon buckets worth. Now once the grapefruit here are ready, they’ll be just right for Grapefruit Campari sorbet.
Bobby, thanks for the shout out for http://www.biteandbooze.com. That is my blog, and I appreciate you bringing it to other people’s attention!
Cheers!
Jay D.
another winner
These are really good !! Buttery and sweet the apples make it moist and the frosting is a perfect blend of sweetness