Healthy Apple Crumble Bars

Your hunt for the perfect apple crumble bars is officially over. This is the perfect Fall recipe for Thanksgiving or just for a treat! They’re gluten free, refined sugar free and vegan. Made with an almond and oat flour crust, a delicious apple pie filling, and an easy oat crumble topping.

Nothing screams Fall more than apple pie. I’ve been eating my apple pie chia pudding non stop, but I thought it was time to move on to something desserty!

I’ve been alternating between my pumpkin cookies and these apple crumble bars and safe to say my taste buds are very happy.

These apple pie bars are incredibly easy to make, but they do require a few different steps. I’ll walk you through the whole process so you make them perfectly from the start!

This simple recipe is vegan, gluten free and surprisingly healthy. If you love this recipe, try my baked pumpkin oatmeal next!

How to make apple crumble bars

Make the crust. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. In a large bowl, mix together the oat flour, almond flour, arrowroot powder, salt and apple pie spice. 

Add in all remaining ingredients. I suggest using your hands to kind of knead all the ingredients together. You want to make sure everything is well incorporated and no chunks of flour remain.

Add to an 8×8 greased pan and press down with your fingers to spread it evenly into the pan. It may seem like there isn’t enough dough at first, but keep pressing it and there will be plenty.

Try to make it as even as possible. Use a spatula to press down and remove any fingerprints on the top.

Bake for 15 minutes and prep the rest of the bars while you wait. Baking the crust first is key to making sure the apple crisp does not get soggy.

Make the filling. First things first, combine the apple sauce, arrowroot powder, coconut sugar, apple pie spice and salt. 

Very thinly slice the apples or use a mandoline to get thin strips. Add the apples to the bowl with the rest of the ingredients. 

If using the mandoline, gently fold the apples into the rest of the filling so they don’t completely break apart.

When the crust is done baking, let it cool for 5-10 minutes and then add in the filling, spreading evenly. 

Add the crumble topping. Instead of using more crust for the topping, we’re going to make a simple crumble, which is why these are apple pie crumble bars. They taste just like apple pie but have a crumble for the crust.

To make the topping, simply combine the quick oats, coconut sugar, melted oil and flour in a bowl. Mix well and then use your fingers to sprinkles on top of the bars, ensuring it is evenly spread.

How to store

Once prepared, these apple crumble bars will keep at room temperature for up to 3 days. However, I prefer to store them in the fridge because of the apples and apple sauce, they can get a bit soggy.

I do not recommend freezing these bars as the texture will not hold up very well when they defrost.

Ingredients & substitutions

Arrowroot. The arrowroot powder in the crust and filling can be subbed for tapioca or cornstarch. I don’t recommend subbing for more oat or almond flour because the arrowroot is necessary to bind everything together.

Sugar. I used coconut sugar to keep them refined sugar free, but any kind of granulated sugar will work just fine! There is maple syrup in the crust, I do not recommend subbing that with anything else.

Almond flour. To make these nut free, you can sub the almond flour with additional oat flour.

Unfortunately, there is not a good way to make these oat free as oats are a key ingredient in both the crust and crumble topping.

PRO TIP: Be sure to let the bars cool completely for slicing. They need to set as they cool or else they will fall apart. Ideally let them cool for at least 1 hour, but 30 minutes does the trick.

Try these dessert recipes next!

• Pumpkin Bread
• Vegan Pumpkin Cookies
• Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins
• Apple Crisp
• Sweet Potato Pie Bars

Be sure to follow along on on instagram and subscribe to my email list for more recipes and updates. Leave a comment and rating below if you try this vegan spaghetti sauce recipe and let us know how it turns out!

5 from 2 votes

Easy Vegan Apple Pie Bars

by: claire cary

Your hunt for the perfect apple pie bars is officially over. This is the perfect Fall recipe for Thanksgiving or just for a treat! They’re gluten free, refined sugar free, and accidentally vegan.

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Prep: 15 minutes mins

Cook: 45 minutes mins

Total: 1 hour hr

16

1x2x3x

Ingredients

Crust:

• ▢ 1 ¼ cup oat flour
• ▢ ½ cup almond flour not meal
• ▢ 3 tbsp arrowroot powder
• ▢ ¼ tsp salt
• ▢ ½ tsp apple pie spice
• ▢ 3 tbsp melted coconut oil or (vegan) butter
• ▢ 3 tbsp coconut sugar
• ▢ 3 tbsp water
• ▢ 2 tbsp maple syrup

Filling:

• ▢ 1 cup apple sauce
• ▢ 2 cups thinly sliced apples about 1 large or 2 small apples
• ▢ ¼ cup arrowroot powder*
• ▢ 1 tsp apple pie spice
• ▢ ¼ cup coconut sugar
• ▢ ¼ tsp salt

Crumble Topping:

• ▢ ⅔ cup quick oats
• ▢ ½ cup coconut sugar
• ▢ 4 tbsp melted coconut oil or (vegan) butter
• ▢ ¼ cup gluten free flour*

US Customary – Metric

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. 
• In a large bowl, mix together the oat flour, almond flour, arrowroot powder, salt and apple pie spice. 
• Mix in all remaining ingredients. I suggest using your hands to make sure everything is well incorporated. 
• Add to an 8×8 pan, greased, and press down with your fingers to spread it evenly into the pan. It may seem like there isn’t enough dough at first, but keep pressing it will be plenty. Use a spatula to press down and remove any fingerprints. 
• Bake for 15 minutes. 
• While the crust is baking, prep the filling. 
• Combine the apple sauce, arrowroot powder, coconut sugar, apple pie spice and salt. 
• Very thinly slice the apples or use a

  mandoline to get thin strips. 
• Add to the bowl with the rest of the ingredients. 
• When the crust is done baking, let it cool for 5-10 minutes.
• Add the filling on top, spreading evenly. 
• Combine all ingredients for the crumble in a bowl. 
• Sprinkle on top of the filling after you add it to the crust. 
• Bake for 45 minutes. 
• Be sure to let the bars cool completely for slicing.
• They need to set as they cool or else they will fall apart. Ideally let them cool for at least 1 hour, but 30 minutes does the trick.
• Slice into 16 squares and enjoy! I like to drizzle on a little glaze using just powdered sugar, milk and vanilla. But they are delicious as is or with ice cream.

Notes

If using avocado oil, make sure it is NOT virgin because that has a very nutty taste. Refined avocado oil works best, or melted coconut oil/butter.

The arrowroot powder can be subbed for tapioca or cornstarch. 

I recommend an 8×8 for this recipe. A 9×9 will be slightly too big and the crust will be spread too thin. If a 9×9 is all you have you can still make these bar, but note that they will be slightly thinner than pictured.

I don’t recommend using rolled oats for the crumble, quick oats work best.

The coconut sugar can be subbed for any kind of granulated sugar.

Serving: 1bar / Calories: 197kcal / Carbohydrates: 28g / Protein: 2.2g / Fat: 7.5g / Fiber: 1.6g / Sugar: 15g

Did you make this?

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