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baked apple cinnamon bars
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Apple Cinnamon Bars

Soft cinnamon apple bars with a buttery swirl and tangy cream cheese frosting. They land somewhere between coffee cake and a cinnamon roll, with applesauce keeping the cake extra tender underneath it all.

DessertExtrasAvocado oilButterWhite sugar
Ingredients
  • Wet Ingredients
  • ½ cup avocado oil
  • ½ cup melted butter
  • 1½ cups white sugar
  • 4 eggs
  • 1¾ cups applesauce
  • Dry Ingredients
  • 2 tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp fine salt
  • 2 tsp cinnamon
  • 2 cups flour
  • Cinnamon Swirl
  • 2 tbsp melted butter
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 4 tbsp brown sugar
  • Frosting
  • 1 stick unsalted butter, softened
  • 8 oz cream cheese, softened
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 1½ cups powdered sugar
Method
  1. 1Preheat oven to 350°F
  2. 2In a stand mixer, combine wet ingredients until smooth
  3. 3In a separate bowl, whisk together dry ingredients
  4. 4Slowly add dry ingredients into wet ingredients on low speed until fully combined
  5. 5Pour most of the batter into a buttered and floured quarter sheet pan or 9x13 pan
  6. 6Mix swirl ingredients into a paste and drizzle over batter
  7. 7Dollop remaining batter on top and use a fork to swirl gently so the cinnamon mixture stays mostly in the middle
  8. 8Bake about 20 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean
  9. 9While bars cool, make frosting by creaming butter and cream cheese together
  10. 10Add cinnamon and slowly mix in powdered sugar until smooth
  11. 11Once bars are fully cool, frost and cut into squares
  12. 12Serve with black tea or coffee
Notes
  • The applesauce keeps the bars soft and tender without making them taste strongly like apple
  • The cinnamon swirl gives these bars a coffee cake feel
  • Frost once fully cooled so the cream cheese frosting stays thick and smooth
  • These are great for feeding a crowd or bringing to a gathering
Swaps
  • Look for a similar Nothing Special recipe that uses pumpkin puree for fall pumpkin bars
  • Use browned butter in the frosting for a deeper flavor
Use It Again
  • Leftover bars make a great afternoon snack or breakfast treat
  • Serve chilled straight from the fridge for more of a cream cheese bar texture

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