Caramel Apple Bar Recipe

With every Fall comes a slew of desserts meant to provide you with that warm, comforting feeling that we all crave on chilly days. We look out for recipes layered with spices like cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves. Their scents and flavors give us those nostalgic Autumn feelings that we love so much. Whether they’re put in coffee, candles or baked goods they set the tone for the Fall months and help make way for the holiday season.

Now, I’m a big fan of those sweet, hearty caramel apples that you find in grocery stores or next to the cider donuts at apple orchards. But I’m an even bigger fan of their equally delicious counterparts: Caramel Apple Bars. They’re sticky, crisp and spiced to perfection.

Ingredients

• Yellow Cake Mix: The shortcut base of our bars is a convenient package of yellow cake mix.
• Brown Sugar: We mix it in with the cake base for a touch of molasses magic, and caramelize our apples for that cozy, autumn feel.
• Butter: We’re melting some in our bar mix for rich, moist goodness, and also sautéing apples in it for that extra silkiness.
• Eggs: Two large eggs to bind our bar mixture and give it that perfect, cakey texture.
• Caramel: These little chips of joy go right into the bar mix and also star in the caramel sauce. They bring the perfect hit of sweet, buttery flavor.
• Cinnamon Spice: A dash of ground cinnamon with our apples.
• Apples: Core and thinly slice two apples for a juicy, tart layer in your bars. They add a fresh, fruity zing!

How to Make Caramel Apple Bars

For the Bars:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 15x10x1-inch baking pan; set aside.
• In a large bowl, combine cake mix, brown sugar, melted butter, and eggs. Beat with an electric mixer on medium speed for about 1 minute or until combined, scraping bowl occasionally.
• Pat dough into prepared pan. Sprinkle with butterscotch chips. Bake in the preheated oven for 15 to 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool completely in pan on a wire rack until room temperature. Cut into bars. Makes approximately 32 bars.

For the apples:

• Add butter to pan over medium low heat and melt. Next stir in brown sugar and cinnamon then add in apples. Allow the apples to cook in the sauce until they become tender and sauce develops (about 7-12 minutes). Set aside.

For the Caramel Sauce:

• Add caramel chips to microwave safe bowl then pour milk.
• Microwave at 20 second intervals and whisk after each session until combined. It usually takes about 1 minute. If sauce is too thin, add more chips, if too thick, add a bit more milk and whisk until smooth.

To assemble:

• Spoon apples over each of the bars along with caramel sauce and serve.

What Kind Of Apples Should I use?

The Fall season brings with it an abundance of apples that we pick for snacking, baking and even bobbing. There are so many different kinds out there it’s hard to keep track of. Granny Smith, Jonagold, Pink Lady and Honeycrisp apples are all incredible options for baking. 

When looking for the right apples you want to pick one with the right consistency, flavor and texture. Your apple needs to be sweet but slightly tart, crisp but capable of breaking down without getting too mushy and jam-packed with strong flavor. 

Personally, I love using up those bags of honeycrisp apples we haul home from our fall days spent out at the orchards. They are wonderfully sweet with a slight tartness that balances out with the butterscotch. When cooked, the honeycrisp apple maintains its structure so that each bar bite is filled with tender, never mushy, bits of apple. 

How to Store

Once completely cooled, store the bars in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days. If you want to keep them fresh longer, pop them into the fridge, where they’ll stay perfect for up to a week. Just remember to let them come to room temperature before serving for that just-baked taste!

Other Apple Dessert Recipes to Try

• Apple Fritters
• Baked Crumble Apples
• Honey Apple Bars
• Apple Crisp French Toast
• Apple Cobbler
• Fried Apples

Caramel Apple Bar Recipe

Delicious caramel apple bars made with cake mix and topped with a simple apple caramel mix.

5 from 4 votes

Print Pin Rate

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Prep Time: 30 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes minutes

Total Time: 1 hour hour

Servings: 32 bars

Calories: 156kcal

Author: Jocelyn Delk Adams

Ingredients

For the Bars:

• ▢ 1 package yellow cake mix
• ▢ 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
• ▢ 1/2 cup salted butter melted
• ▢ 2 large eggs
• ▢ 1/2 cup butterscotch chips

For the Sauteed Apples:

• ▢ 6 tablespoons salted butter
• ▢ 6 tablespoons light brown sugar
• ▢ 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ▢ 2 apples cored and thinly sliced

For the Caramel Sauce:

• ▢ 1/2 cup caramel chips
• ▢ 1-2 teaspoons milk

US Customary – Metric

Instructions

For the Bars:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 15x10x1-inch baking pan; set aside.
• In a large bowl, combine cake mix, brown sugar, melted butter, and eggs. Beat with an electric mixer on medium speed for about 1 minute or until combined, scraping bowl occasionally.
• Pat dough into prepared pan. Sprinkle with butterscotch chips. Bake in the preheated oven for 15 to 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool completely in pan on a wire rack until room temperature. Cut into bars. Makes approximately 32 bars.

For the apples:

• Add butter to pan over medium low heat and melt. Next stir in brown sugar and cinnamon then add in apples. Allow the apples to cook in the sauce until they become tender and sauce develops (about 7-12 minutes). Set aside.

For the Butterscotch Sauce:

• Add butterscotch chips to microwave safe bowl then pour milk.
• Microwave at 20 second intervals and whisk after each session until combined. It usually takes about 1 minute. If sauce is too thin, add more chips, if too thick, add a bit more milk and whisk until smooth.

To assemble:

• Spoon apples over each of the bars along with butterscotch sauce and serve.

Video

Notes

Once completely cooled, store the bars in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days. If you want to keep them fresh longer, pop them into the fridge, where they’ll stay perfect for up to a week. Just remember to let them come to room temperature before serving for that just-baked taste!

Nutrition

Calories: 156kcal | Carbohydrates: 25g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 5g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Cholesterol: 25mg | Sodium: 188mg | Potassium: 31mg | Sugar: 17g | Vitamin A: 185IU | Vitamin C: 0.5mg | Calcium: 43mg | Iron: 0.5mg

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