Apple Cinnamon Cookie Bars

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First of all, Happy Veterans Day to the soldiers (past & present). Thank you for your service and sacrifice! Josh and I have the day off today, yippee! We are meeting our good friend Lincoln for lunch and plan on enjoying our day together.


I am a firm believer in the theory, “an apple a day keeps the doctor away.” I eat at least one apple every day. I just love them. I like all varieties, but Josh is picky, he only likes the really tart apples-Granny Smith are his favorite. Honey crisp, Jazz, and Mutsu
 are my top three, but again, I have a special place in my heart for all apples:)Fall is the perfect season for baking with apples. The apples are so good right now…and cheap too:) I decided to create an apple cinnamon cookie bar since I already created an apple cinnamon cookie earlier this fall. You all know I love my cookies:)

I started with a basic bar dough and added in lots of cinnamon and spices. I am in love with nutmeg, all spice, and cloves-so I added in a little bit of each. I decided to add in a handful of too, because I personally love the shriveled little guys, but you can omit them if you wish. I used Granny Smith apples so Josh would be happy and tart apples really are great for baking. I sprinkled the dough with extra cinnamon sugar before putting them into the oven.
It is important to let the bars cool before cutting/serving because they are very soft when they are warm. I know it is hard to wait, but these are well worth the wait, I promise. I am going to be making these every fall. I hope you will too!

Apple Cinnamon Cookie Bars

(Printable Recipe)
2 ¼ cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
Pinch of fresh nutmeg
⅛ tsp allspice
Pinch of ground cloves
½ cup butter, melted
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 T vanilla extract
1/2-¾ cup raisins (you can leave these out or try dried cranberries)
2 apples, cored and diced, I used Granny Smith
Cinnamon Sugar mixture to sprinkle on top

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9 by 13 pan with cooking spray. Set aside.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, and cloves.
In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the butter with the sugars on medium until creamy. This will take a minute or two. Scrape down the sides if necessary.
On low, add the eggs, one at a time. Beat until combined. Add in the vanilla. Beat on medium until everything is smooth and mixed together.
Turn mixer on low. Add a little flour. Slowly mix and add until all of the flour is combined. Don’t over mix.
Stir in the raisins and apples.
Spread the dough evenly into prepared pan. Use a spatula to make sure the dough is nice and even. Sprinkle the dough with the cinnamon/sugar mixture.
Bake for about about 30 minutes. You want the bars to be golden brown.
Remove the pan from the oven and cool on a rack. Cut the bars once they are cool. Serve and enjoy!

If you like these bars, you might also like:
Apple, Pecan, and Cinnamon Crumble Bars from Dessert First
Caramel Apple Bars from Recipe Girl
Apple Pie Bars from Cookie Baker Lynn
Applesauce Spice Bars from Two Peas and Their Pod

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Maria

I'm Maria and my husband is Josh. We share a love of cooking, baking, and entertaining. We enjoy creating recipes that are simple, fresh, and family friendly. We love sitting around the table with good food, good conversation, and good friends and family! Our kitchen is always open!
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  1. I made these and they were so, so good! There were exactly what I was looking for! Thanks so much!

  2. I have these in the oven right now and they smell delicious! We picked a half bushel of apples and am an scrambling to use them all before they go soft on me. I’m tired of cobbler, pie, muffins etc. so I was super excited to find this recipe, nothing I’ve ever had before! The only changes I made was to brown the butter, and substituted chopped pecans for the raisins. I will update once I get to taste 🙂