Recipes & Food Styling

Mom’s Honeycrisp Apple Pie Bars Put Autumn on A Dessert Plate 

In autumn, my mom was almost always in the kitchen peeling bushels of apples to make apple pie bars. We loved them. I can almost taste her buttery, cinnamon-roasted apples and her luscious powdered sugar frosting. Her secret to the perfect flaky crust was to only use half of a frozen pie crust. Amazing.

Frozen crusts used to come in sticks, packaged like butter. Now they are almost always in a tin pie plate. I re-use the plates to bake things later. I have found a way to work with the pie-shaped crusts. I thaw them out, knead them and roll them out just like when they used to come in a stick. Otherwise, they’re just too thick.

The secret for achieving the perfect size of apples is to quarter the apples, peel the quarters and cut each quarter in half. The apple pieces might look too big, but after they bake they will be just what you need for the best consistency.

Another important point: Hand-picked apples make the best appl pie bars!

Honeycrisp Apple Pie Bars

14 to 16 small or medium honeycrisp apples

5 frozen pie crusts- enough for top and bottom crusts

Juice from 5 fresh lemons

2 cups sugar

2 tablespoons flour

2 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons warm water

1 teaspoon cinnamon (can add more if desired)

Roll out dough and cover cookie sheet with dough. Peel, quarter and cut apples in half.

In a large bowl, mix apples in remaining ingredients. Reserve 1/2 cup sugar and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon for topping.

Spread apples evenly on crust. Cover with dough. Sprinkle top with a mixture of the reserved sugar and cinnamon.

Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until crust is golden brown.

Icing: Mix 2 cups powdered sugar with 2 tablespoons warm water and 1 teaspoon vanilla.