These apple crumble bars are soft, chewy, and delicious! Sweet spiced apples and smooth caramel take center stage in this decadent dessert.

A serving of the apple crumble bars on a plate.

These dessert bars are definitely a household favorite. They’re soft, chewy, and loaded with flavor.

To simplify the recipe, Kim used caramel squares and canned apple pie filling. It’s a winning combination.

Try these tasty apple crumble bars for your next holiday dessert.

Now, the recipe takes about 2-hours from start to finish. While that does seem like a long time, it’s worth the effort.

My favorite parts of the dessert are the chewy baked edges and the tender apples.

But, enough chit chat, it’s time to cook,

An aerial view of the dessert bars in the baking dish.

How to make apple crumble bars at home?

First, start by preheating your oven to 375 degrees F. and spray a 9×13-inch baking dish with non-stick cooking spray.

Next, grab a large mixing bowl. Add the all-purpose flour, quick oats, brown sugar, baking soda, and salt.

Flour, oats, and brown sugar in a mixing bowl.

Use a whisk or fork to combine the dry ingredients.

Now, add the butter, but use a pastry cutter to combine it with the rest of the ingredients.

Once it has a crumbly texture, set aside 1.5 cups of the mixture.

Butter combined with dry ingredients to create a crust.

Afterward, use your hands to press the remaining mixture into the bottom of the baking dish. Doing so, will create the crust.

Then, open the can of apple filling and spread it out onto the crust in an even layer. Set the baking dish aside.

Apple pie filling spread out over the crust.

After that, open the sweetened condensed milk and unwrap the caramel squares. Place a medium saucepan over low heat.

Combine the two ingredients in the saucepan. As the caramel melts, stir the ingredients together with a wooden spoon.

Caramel squares and sweetened condensed milk in a pan.

It should only take about 5-7 minutes for the caramel to melt. Keep stirring until it’s smooth and creamy.

When the sauce reaches that texture, carefully pour it over the apple pie filling in the dish.

The squares and milk combined into a caramel sauce.

Sprinkle the walnuts and the remaining flour mixture over the caramel sauce. Put the dish into the oven to bake.

The apple crumble bars need to bake, uncovered, for 25-30 minutes or until the top is golden brown and the center has set.

The caramel sauce poured over the apple pie filling.

Last, remove the bars from the oven and let them cool for about 60-minutes before slicing and serving.

That’s it, your apple caramel crumble bars are done! Kim and I hope you enjoy the dessert and wish you all the best 🙂

The remaining crust and walnuts sprinkled over the caramel sauce.

Recipe Tips:

You can use a food processor to combine the flour, oats, sugar, baking soda, salt, and butter. It’s easier and faster that using a whisk and pastry cutter.
Prepping the ingredients in advance makes this recipe come together a lot quicker. For example, before getting started, open the cans of pie filling and sweetened condensed milk. Additionally, unwrapping the caramel squares beforehand makes assembling the dish a breeze.
If the top of your bars start to overcook, then cover the baking dish with an aluminum foil tent. That action will prevent the bars and caramel from burning.

An up-close view of the baked caramel apple bars.

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