Apple Pie Bars

This is one of those not-so-good for you but taste-so-good recipes. I threw 2 different cookbooks on my mom's bed and told her to pick one. It was these or key lime bars. Apple pie bars won because of less ingredients. That's totally fine because these are delicious!

Apple Pie Bars

Makes about 16 wedges or squares

For the Base and Streusel:
2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
3/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. salt
6 tbsp. cold, unsalted butter
3 tbsp. milk
3 tbsp. unsalted butter, melted

For the Apple Filling:
3 1/2 cups Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, and diced
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 tbsp. all-purpose flour
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Coat 10-inch springform pan with removable bottom with nonstick spray
Combine flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt in a bowl.
Save 3/4 cup of mixture in a separate bowl.
Cut 6 tbsp. butter and milk into remaining dry ingredients using a pastry blender or your fingertips.
Pat mixture evenly into pan and tap down.
Bake 15-20 minutes or until golden around the edges.
Stir melted butter into reserved flour mixture and stir until sandy.
Toss all ingredients together for the apple filling.
Arrange over the hot base and sprinkle with streusel topping.
Bake 30-40 minutes.
Cool for at LEAST 30 minutes before removing form pan and cutting.

• I remembered as soon as I first started to chop the apples in a pampered chef dicer-thing that you need uniformly chopped apples for something like this. I was lazy and wanted to be a pampered chef, so I just went with irregular pieces then waited to see what would happen. The bars didn't hold together as well as they should have but were still okay I guess. I also made my own whipped cream using 1 cup heavy whipping cream and 1/2 tsp. gelation dissolved in 1 tbsp. water. When the cream had been whipped for some time already, I added 2 tbsp. sugar and 1 tsp. vanilla extract. I then just piped it on for looks and taste!