These Apple Butter Oatmeal Bars are the easiest and most delicious Fall dessert ever! Buttery oatmeal base loaded with sweet apple butter in the middle and topped with another layer of buttery goodness…you can’t go wrong with these!
Sharing another quick and easy dessert recipe today with you on a Saturday! Whaaaat! I know, I know. I usually only post new recipes on the weekdays but y’all, this one was so good, I knew I wanted to get it up before Thanksgiving!
If you’re anything like me, maybe you’re not keen on baking homemade pies or cakes. Sure, I love to eat them, but please don’t put me down for baking a 3 layer cake. Thanks!
One thing I am always down to make? AND eat? These Apple Butter Oatmeal Bars!
I feel like apples are severely underrated in the Fall. Pumpkin trumps everything in the months of September, October and November and then soon after, gingerbread and peppermint are all the rage in December.
What about the apple, y’all?!? They need some love too!
Why You’ll Love These Bars:
Ohhhh these bars. They are Fall in dessert form. First you have the buttery crust AND topping that sandwiches the apple butter together.
2 sticks of butter, y’all. Yes, you heard me right: two sticks.
I use salted butter of course and I think it helped add a saltiness to the sweetness of the apple butter and I loved it!
I also love the oats in this – it makes the bars taste so hearty and delicious. Basically, you can eat these for breakfast and not feel an ounce of guilt, y’all!
I love the brown sugar and the cinnamon in these…they pair perfectly with the already spiced apple butter and make everything taste so Fall-ish!
I love how they aren’t overly sweet but they really come through with the delicious spiced apple butter flavor. They’re handheld, easy to eat and SO addictive.
Like, roll your eyes back in your head good.
If you want to get really crazy, eat them while warm with a big scoop of vanilla ice cream on top! Or homemade whipped cream! Or salted caramel sauce! I have way too many ideas about desserts…ha! So let’s get into what you need to make these!
Ingredients You Need:
- All purpose flour
- Quick oats
- Salted (softened) butter
- Apple Butter (homemade or storebought)
- Light brown sugar
- White granulated sugar
- Cinnamon
- Salt
- Baking powder
Best Baking Tips
As always, making sure that you preheat your oven! This recipe comes together pretty quickly so having it pre-heated and being able to just pop it in there right when you’re done makes life so much easier!
Make sure that your butter is SOFTENED. After recipe testing for my friend Stephanie’s upcoming baking cookbook, I learned the value and importance of softened butter. Your oatmeal butter mixture should look like THIS:
Here’s a guide for how to get perfectly softened butter if you need it in a flash!
Next, make sure that you get a high quality apple butter. I bought mine from a local farmer’s market in my town and it had minimal ingredients and had a pure apple butter taste! You could always make yours homemade as well..here is a recipe that I’ve always wanted to try!
Once your butter/oat mixture is combined, make sure to grease your baking dish. I used a 9×9 baking pan for this, but an 8×8 should work as well. You don’t want this to stick to the bottom of the pan!
Once it’s greased, gently press ½ of the oat mixture to the bottom of it – spreading it out evenly. If needed, you can do a little bit more than half of the mixture.
Next, take the delicious apple butter and make an apple butter layer! You don’t want it too thick – I used about 10 oz for this recipe.
Lastly, use your other half of the oat mixture and gently pour it on top of the apple butter.
Bake and voila! You have a buttery, delicious apple butter bar that will make you want to go back for seconds…or thirds!
This is a super simple baking recipe that I hope you guys love! Let me know if you make it!
Did you enjoy this recipe? Here are a few others you might like:
Thank you so much for following along here, friends! Want to see more? Be sure to follow ourbalancedbowl on Instagram and tag me with your photo if you end up making a recipe! You can also post a photo of your recipe to the Our Balanced Bowl Facebook page! Like a recipe that you saw? Follow me on Pinterest here! I always love to see your re-creations! If you do make a recipe, it would make my whole day if you were to rate and comment so I can get your feedback! Lots of love! – Haylie
Apple Butter Oatmeal Bars
These Apple Butter Oatmeal Bars are the easiest and most delicious Fall dessert ever! Buttery oatmeal base loaded with sweet apple butter in the middle and topped with another layer of buttery goodness...you can’t go wrong with these!
Ingredients
- 1 and 1/4 cups all purpose flour
- 2 cups quick (or old fashioned!) oats
- 2 sticks (16 tbsp) softened salted butter
- 10 oz apple butter (homemade or store-bought)
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/4 cup white granulated sugar
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 tsp baking powder
Instructions
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Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
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Mix all dry ingredients (all purpose flour, oats, brown sugar, granulated sugar, baking powder, salt, cinnamon) together in a large mixing bowl.
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Add softened butter and gently combine with a wooden spoon until it's all mixed in. See photo above for what it should look like.
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Grease an 9 inch square baking dish. Press half of the oat mixture firmly into the bottom of the pan.
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Add the apple butter and carefully spread it evenly over the mixture.
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Press the other half of the oat mixture on top of the apple butter gently.
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Place in the oven and bake for 35-40 minutes.
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Let cool for at least 30 minutes! Serve and eat anytime (breakfast, snack or dessert!)
Recipe Notes
See above photo for how the oatmeal butter mixture should look!