All the flavors of your favorite apple pie and the delicious Dutch-style crumb topping make these bar cookies exceptionally yummy! Easy to make as well – Dutch Apple Pie Bars!

Apple Pie….who can resist this delicious fall favorite? I surely can’t!
I definitely crave this delicious dessert, especially in Autumn but sometimes I don’t feel like going through the trouble of making a pastry dough from scratch or even using a store-bought one. Thankfully, these delicious apple pie bars come to the rescue!
I love the combination of cinnamon and nutmeg so I used both to flavor the apples. Also, I love its buttery crumbly Dutch-style topping as it’s so easy to make as well.
Yup, it’s even easier than rolling pie dough! 🙂 How convenient is that?
My little boy and hubby feasted on these scrumptious bars so I am glad I made 2 batches as I knew one just wouldn’t be enough.
I am grateful for this recipe which I found on our church cookbook from Holland, Michigan (definitely Dutch country!) and from now on this is how we will enjoy the fresh apples this fall season and beyond.
Doesn’t that look good? It comes out moist and full of juicy apple deliciousness for sure! I hope you like it, too!
All that crumbly deliciousness!!! Enjoy these yummy apple pie bars, fall season, or not!

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Dutch Apple Pie Bars
By: Manila Spoon
October 21, 2015

All the flavors of your favorite apple pie and the delicious Dutch-style crumb topping make these bar cookies exceptionally yummy! Easy to make as well!
FOR FULL RECIPE & INSTRUCTIONS and to PRINT, SEE RECIPE CARD BELOW.
NOTES ON INGREDIENTS FOR DUTCH APPLE PIE BARS
- Flour – use all-purpose or plain flour
- Sugar – white sugar would produce paler bars so if you wish to give it a deeper color use brown sugar or do half and half
- Butter – use salted butter for some flavor contrast.
- Ground Cinnamon
- Ground Nutmeg
- Apples – use tart apples like Granny Smith because it works better than the sweet variety.
For the Crumb Topping
- Flour
- Sugar
- Butter
HOW TO MAKE DUTCH APPLE PIE BARS
- Butter a 9×9 square baking dish. Preheat the oven to 350 F. Mix the 1 cup flour and 1/3 cup sugar; cut in butter until crumbly with the use of 2 knives or a pastry blender. Press into the prepared pan. Bake for 15 minutes.
- In a bowl, mix 1/3 cup sugar, 2 tablespoons flour, and cinnamon and nutmeg. Stir in the apples to coat. Spoon over the baked layer.
- Mix the crumb toppings until crumbly. Sprinkle over the apples. Bake for about 30 minutes or until the top is lightly browned and the apples are soft. Cool completely and cut into bars. Enjoy!
Yield: 16 Bars
Prep Time: 15 Minutes
Cooking Time: 45-55 Minutes
Total Time: 1 Hour and 10-15 Minutes
This recipe was adapted from Cooking with Friends Cookbook by the ladies of the Harbor Church, Holland, MI.
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Dutch Apple Pie Bars
Ingredients
- 1 cup flour
- ⅔ cup sugar, divided
- ½ cup (8 tablespoons) butter
- 2 tbsp flour
- ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- ½ tsp ground nutmeg
- 3 tart apples (like Granny Smith), peeled and thinly sliced
For the Crumb Topping
- ⅔ cup flour
- ⅓ cup sugar
- ¼ cup butter, room temperature
Instructions
-
Butter a 9×9 square baking dish. Preheat the oven to 350 F. Mix the 1 cup flour and 1/3 cup sugar; cut in butter until crumbly with the use of 2 knives or a pastry blender. Press into the prepared pan. Bake for 15 minutes.
-
In a bowl, mix the remaining 1/3 cup sugar, 2 tablespoons flour, and cinnamon and nutmeg. Stir in the apples to coat. Spoon over the baked layer.
-
Mix the crumb toppings until crumbly. Sprinkle over the apples. Bake for about 30-35 minutes or until the top is lightly browned and the apples are soft. Cool completely and cut into bars. Enjoy!
Recipe Notes
TIPS & TRICKS
If you want, you can treat this like a crumble and serve warm with ice cream on top! It’s crazy delicious that way, too!
These look fabulous! I make something similar myself, and they're so easy to customise with different fruits 🙂 yummy!
That is so true Becca and I will definitely try this with other fruits that may be in season! Thanks for stopping by. 🙂
Dear Abby, I'd love to try these delicious bars! What a treat! We went apple picking a week ago and there are still enough apples left to try these bars. That crumb topping…yum!!!
Thanks, Allie and hope you like it! I haven't done any apple picking this year….sigh.
I love making bars but I haven't tried making anything quite like this. I am always looking for apple season recipes.
Hope you get to try it Erin! Thanks!
Wow, these look amazing. It's late, so I'm trying not to run to the kitchen right now to make them. Can you just bring several over? 🙂
I wish I could send some over Susan! Thanks!
I see why you needed two batches!! I would have to keep one for myself 🙂 Wish I had gone apple picking this year 🙁
Me, too Kacey, you can never have enough apples. Thanks for stopping by.
I can almost taste these through the screen! I bet these would be really good with pears too, but then I have a bit of a pear obsession at the moment.
I can imagine that to be so. I think you can certainly use other fruits! Thanks Dannii!
I was dicing apples this week, too, to use in a savory dish with chicken–but your recipe looks like what I want now–super sweet and fall-y!
Hope you enjoy it Jill! Thanks!
These look amazingly good, I think I'd prefer them over a regular pie! I have three bags of apples sitting in the fridge waiting to be used so I'm making these soon!
Hope you like these apple bars as much as we do. Thanks Sara!
Omg…just one nibble please! These looks absolutely fantastic!! xoxo
Thanks, Nicole!
Dear Abigail, these look delightful! I would love one this evening after dinner. xo, Catherine
Please enjoy Catherine! Thanks!
My son adores apple anything, especially if it has a little crumble on top! This recipe has just been printed and saved for the day he comes home from college for Thanksgiving break!
These look delicious, especially with that crumbly topping! I love apples!!
Thanks for your feedback Barbette and glad that you liked it. You can certainly cut back on the sugar if you wish. When you think about it, the entire sugar is only 1 cup which isn't much compared to other recipes but it may have felt much because it was divided into 3 parts but overall it's just 1 cup. It wasn't too sweet for me but everyone's taste is different of course. Thanks again!
I have tons of apples this year from my backyard apple trees. Found your recipe and gave it a try, on my, so delicious! Gave leftover bars to my kids to take to school in a lunch box.
Oh these would be gone so quick here we love that kind of topping and these bars look over the top yummy!
I found this recipe at the right time. I had extra apples and I cannot make a pie, because I can never get the crust to work well. These bars tasted just like a traditional apple pie and I didn’t have to make a crust. LOL Thank you!
I love apple season. These bars look delicious. I think I need to make some for Thanksgiving.
These came out perfect! Such great apple flavor and the tender crumble on top is everything. SO good and I will be adding them to my recipe book.
Such a lovely dessert perfect for colder days. I will bake this for sure. I have a box full of apples. Looks delicious!
I am in love with this recipe. It is so simple to make and it tastes amazing with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top.
Made these for a party they were scrumptious, next day made another one but put it in a small cookie sheet pan even better… next time I will try making the crust to include the same amout and make another 1/2 recipe to make it a little thicker and more apples to make it thicker also, ate the batch in 3 day but shared with co workers thought it was better than a apple pie. In my eyes it a keeper.
Author
Yay! Glad you enjoyed this. It is a yummy alternative to apple pie for sure. Thanks for letting us know.