If you love apple pie but don’t always love the hassle of rolling out crust, these Apple Streusel Bars are about to become your new favorite dessert. They’ve got a buttery shortbread base, a sweet, spiced apple filling, and a golden, crumbly streusel on top. Perfectly cozy, super easy to slice and serve, and absolutely irresistible with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
Ingredients & Equipment Needed
This is just a preview of ingredients and method, keep scrolling for full printable recipe.
- For the Sweet Pastry:
- all-purpose flour
- sugar
- baking powder
- salt
- butter – softened (no substitutions!)
- egg
- For the Apple Filling:
- white sugar
- flour
- cinnamon
- Baking apples – Granny Smith’s work well here
- For the Glaze:
- powdered sugar
- milk – whole milk is best
- almond extract
- Apple Peeler & Corer (recommended)
How to Make Apple Streusel Bars
- Make a crumb mixture for the crust and topping, and press two-thirds into a greased 9×13 pan.
- Toss sliced apples with cinnamon, sugar, and flour, and layer over the crust.
- Sprinkle the remaining crumb mixture on top and bake at 350°F for 40 minutes.
- Once cooled, drizzle with a simple powdered sugar glaze, let it set, then slice into bars and serve.
Storage & Other Tips
- Room Temperature: These store well in an airtight container at room temperature for 1–2 days.
- Refrigerator: For longer freshness, refrigerate for up to 5 days. The bars may firm up in the fridge, which actually makes them easier to slice.
- Freezer: These bars freeze beautifully. Wrap individual bars or the whole pan tightly in plastic wrap and foil, or store in a freezer-safe container. Freeze for up to 2–3 months. Thaw at room temperature or warm slightly before serving.
- Glaze Tip for Freezing: If you plan to freeze them, it’s best to add the glaze after thawing for the freshest appearance and texture.
- Cutting Clean Bars: Chill the bars before cutting to help them hold their shape, and use a sharp knife wiped clean between cuts.
- Add-Ins: Feel free to stir chopped nuts (like pecans or walnuts) or oats into the streusel for extra crunch.
- Glaze Options: Swap almond extract for vanilla extract in the glaze if you prefer, or leave it out altogether for a more subtle flavor.
- Serving Suggestion: These are amazing slightly warmed with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top!
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes! While Granny Smith apples are a reliable choice because they hold their shape and balance sweetness with brightness, feel free to experiment. Honey Crisp, Pink Lady, or a mix of tart and sweet varieties would also work well.
Make sure the butter is softened (not melted) before cutting it into the dry ingredients, and blend just until the mixture forms pea-sized crumbs. Gently press the bottom two-thirds of the dough into the pan using your hands or a measuring cup to create a firm, even layer.
Not necessary—this recipe bakes everything together. Just press down the crust and bake for the full 40 minutes with apples and streusel on top.
Cool the bars completely before slicing, and even chill them briefly to help the streusel and glaze set. Use a sharp knife and wipe it between cuts for the cleanest edges .
Apple Streusel Bars
Equipment
Ingredients
Sweet Pastry
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- ½ cup sugar
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup butter softened (no substitutions!)
- 1 egg beaten
Apple Filling
- ½ cup white sugar
- ¼ cup flour
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 4 cups about 3 medium or 2 large sliced, peeled baking apples like Granny Smith
Glaze
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 3 tablespoons milk whole milk is best
- 1 teaspoon almond extract
Instructions
- To prepare crust, mix flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder in a medium bowl. Cut in butter with a pastry blender or two knives until you have pea-sized crumbles. Gently mix in beaten egg.
- Spray a 9×13 baking dish with non-stick cooking spray. Gently pat about ⅔ of the crumb mixture onto the bottom of the dish. Preheat oven to 350℉ and set aside.
- To prepare apple filling, combine flour, sugar, and cinnamon and toss with apples.
- Spread apples out on prepared crust. Sprinkle reserved crust mixture over apples evenly and bake in preheated oven for 40 minutes.
- When finished, allow to cool completely.
- To prepare glaze, whisk together powdered sugar, almond extract, and enough milk to achieve desired consistency.
- Place glaze in a Ziploc bag and cut off a very small portion of one of the corners (or just use a fork) to drizzle glaze over cooled pastry and allow to harden (you can place it in the freezer to hurry things along). Cut into bars and serve.
Questions & Reviews
Made these today and my family loved them!!! We are Canadians living in South America and while we love where we live, we miss the change of seasons – This was a perfect taste of Fall for us! Thank you!
Just made these and got through sampling a piece (or two) and they are AMAZING! I think the best apple recipe I’ve ever made 🙂 Husband enjoyed them as well. Thank you!! I did add about a cup of extra apples but other than that followed your recipe exactly.
For this recipe could I substitute vanilla extract in the glaze, I have several people with nut allergies and can’t use the almond? Also, since I have several rheumatoid arthritis, could I use the presliced apples that the stores sell and have my daughter remove the skin from these? I have a very difficult time cutting up apples so any other suggestions are welcome. THe recipe looks amazing. I can’t wait to try it.
Sue, yes and yes! Enjoy!
Wonder how well this recipe would work with the dried apples from the LDS Cannery? I might have to give that a try. 🙂
These are on my brunch menu for this weekend – and I’m trying to pick out things I can make ahead – is this one of them? (do these keep well for a day?)
Yep, I think you could make these the day before! How fun (and yummy!)
So, I've made these a couple of times in the last little while and they were a total hit. Soooo yummy! I definitely had to feed them to other people, though, or I for sure would have eaten the whole pan.
I made them again last weekend and realized after I'd made the dough that I didn't have a single apple in the house. (What?) Instead of the apples, I used 3 cups of frozen raspberries and 1 cup of frozen cranberries (tossed in a little sugar/flour, but skipped the cinnamon). Then, I thought to myself, what goes great with raspberries? Why, chocolate! So I used some melted chocolate on top instead of the glaze and they were AWESOME. Just the right mixture of sour and sweet. I don't know if I like them better than the original, because they're so different, but man, sooooo good! I was the hit of the office this week!
Nikki–I would probably just bake them the night before. I'm afraid that if you didn't bake the apples right away, they'd turn brown (and also that the moisture from the apples would mushify the crust). Hope that helps! 🙂
can these be prepared the night before and then just cooked in the morning? I'm not a big fan of taking all morning to make breakfast but we are getting sick of the same old stuff….
Thanks so much for the yummy recipes! I was too lazy to cut up apples, so I used a can of cherry pie filling instead, with a little bit of cinnamon and it was delish!!
Thanks Kate! Makes sense. Now I can make them w/o getting sweaty hands. LOL