These are the best healthy apple pie bars! They have a flaky shortbread crust, a cinnamon spiced apple pie filling and are topped with a rich and creamy caramel sauce. They are the perfect fall treat and are also gluten-free, dairy-free, vegan and paleo!
Apple desserts like healthy apple crumble and baked apples with caramel are some of my all time favourite desserts, which is why I am so excited to share today's recipe with you!
Table of Contents
Why you will love these bars:
- The taste! These bars taste like a caramel apple pie but are so much easier to make than pie. They have a flaky, buttery shortbread crust, a cinnamon spiced apple layer and are then drizzled in the most rich and creamy caramel!
- These apple bars are gluten-free, dairy-free, egg-free, vegan, paleo and refined sugar free. They are made without oats, without eggs and without butter.
- They are made with almond flour so are high in protein with 7 grams of protein per bar.
If you love apple pie bars you will also love apple pie overnight oats and the best healthy apple bars.
Ingredients:
For exact measurements refer to the recipe card later in this post.
Jump to the Recipe Card.
- Dry ingredients: almond flour, coconut flour, salt and ground cinnamon. Be sure to use almond flour and not almond meal.
- Wet ingredients: honey or maple syrup, coconut oil, vanilla extract and cashew butter. Be sure to use smooth, unsweetened cashew butter for making these bars.
- Apples: I recommend using any type of red sweet apples such as gala apples, honey crisp apples, pink lady apples or ambrosia apples. I do not recommend using Granny Smith apples as they are not sweet enough.
Recipe variations and add ins:
- Instead of cashew butter you can use almond butter or sunflower seed butter to make the caramel.
- To make these into salted caramel apple bars: sprinkle the bars with a little coarse sea salt before placing them in the freezer to harden.
How to make healthy apple pie bars:
Step 1: Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. While the oven is heating, add all the crust ingredients to a bowl and blend well with a spoon or fork.
Step 2: Line an 8″ x 8″ glass baking dish with parchment paper and transfer the crust mixture to the pan and press down with a spoon until you have an even layer. Then place the pan in the oven and bake for 12-14 minutes, until the edges are golden brown. While the crust is baking, move on to making the other layers.
Step 3: Make the apple layer by placing a pot or large frying pan on the stove on medium heat and adding the coconut oil. Once the oil is melted, add the other ingredients and cook for 5-10 minutes, stirring frequently, until the apples are the consistency you desire.
Step 4: Now make the caramel layer by putting all the caramel ingredients into a large bowl and stirring well until it’s smooth.
Step 5: Once the crust has finished baking pour approximately 3/4 of the caramel over the baked shortbread crust, and spread evenly until smooth.
Step 6: Using a slotted spoon, spoon the cooked apples over the caramel sauce.
Step 7: Drizzle the remaining caramel sauce over the apples. Then place the pan in the freezer for 1-2 hours to let the bars harden.
Step 8: Remove the pan from the freezer and cut the bars into pieces. Then serve and enjoy!
Top tips:
- If you don't feel like peeling the apples you don't have to.
- These bars can be served warm or cold.
- When you take these bars out of the freezer, let them warm up for a couple minutes to make cutting them easier.
Healthy apple pie bars FAQs:
If you can't have almond flour I would use cashew flour instead.
Yes! As long as you use maple syrup to sweeten them they are. I kept them egg free for this reason.
No these bars are not low carb or keto.
Store these bars in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 7 days.
These bars freeze really well in a freezer safe bag or container for up to 3 months.
Other healthy desserts you will love:
Recipe
Healthy Apple Pie Bars
Equipment
- Large bowl
- 8 inch square baking pan
Ingredients
Shortbread Crust Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups almond flour
- 2 tablespoon coconut flour
- 1/4 cup melted coconut oil
- 1/3 cup honey or maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- pinch sea salt
Apple Layer Ingredients
- 3 red apples, peeled and cut into small pieces
- 3 tablespoon coconut oil
- 2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Caramel Layer Ingredients
- 1 cup cashew butter
- 1/3 cup melted coconut oil
- 1/3 cup honey or maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- pinch sea salt
Instructions
Shortbread Layer Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350F.
- Add all the crust ingredients to a bowl and blend well with a spoon or fork.
- Line an 8" x 8" glass baking dish with parchment paper and transfer the dough to the pan and press down with a spoon until you have an even layer.
- Place the pan in the oven and bake for 12-14 minutes, until the edges are golden.
- While the crust is baking, you can start making the other layers.
Apple Layer Instructions
- Place a pot or large pan on the stove on medium heat and add the coconut oil. Once the oil is melted, add the other ingredients.
- Cook for 5-10 minutes, stirring frequently, until the apples are the consistency you desire.
Caramel Layer Instructions
- Place all the ingredients into a large bowl and stir well until it's smooth.
- Pour approximately 3/4 of the caramel over the shortbread crust, and spread evenly until smooth.
- Using a slotted spoon, spoon the apples over the caramel.
- Drizzle the remaining caramel sauce over the apples.
- Place the pan in the freezer for 1-2 hours, until the caramel hardens.
- Remove the pan from the freezer and cut the bars into pieces and enjoy!
Notes
- You don't have to peel the apples if you don't want to.
- You can use any type of sweet red apple for this recipe. My favourites are Honey Crisp, Gala and Pink Lady.
- Nutritional values are an estimate and will vary depending on the exact ingredients used.
Kristie
Yuuuummm, so good!