Apple Pie Bars (Croatian Apple Pie)

Apple pie is a true autumn dessert which is baked a lot in Croatia. Since apples are available year round and my husband expressed a desire for this dessert, I decided to make it and to share the recipe with you. This recipe comes from my grandmother’s old cookbook which is already falling apart and has yellow pages, so we definitely can call this pie – Old fashioned.

Old fashioned Apple Pie Bars (Croatian Apple Pie)

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Prep time

20 mins

Cook time

45 mins

Total time

1 hour 5 mins

Recipe type: Dessert

Cuisine: croatian

Ingredients

For the crust:

2 eggs
⅔ cup (150g, 5.3 oz) margarine or butter, room temperature
⅔ cup + 1 tablespoon (150 g; 5.3 oz) granulated sugar
2½ cup (350 g, 12.3 oz) all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
lemon juice and zest from ½ lemon

Apples filling:

5-6 large apples, peeled and grated
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 tablespoons sugar + more (if you are a sweet tooth)
icing sugar for dusting

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350°F (180 °C).

Crust:

In a bowl of stand mixer whisk eggs with sugar until pale and fluffy. Change wire whip with dough hook, add butter, flour, baking powder, vanilla extract, lemon juice and zest. Mix until dough becomes crumbly. Transfer the dough on lightly floured surface, and knead with your hands until you get smooth, non sticky dough. Wrap in plastic and put in the fridge for 30 minutes.

Apples:

Peel and grate apples.
Add cinnamon, sugar and vanilla extract and mix until combined.

Assemble:

Divide the dough in half. Roll out the dough with a rolling pin on a floured surface.
Press one half of the dough into the bottom of the greased 9x13 inch baking pan.
With your hands spread apple filling above bottom dough ( IMPORTANT: squeeze half of the liquid from the apples, before you assemble the filling, in contrary, pie will be mushy).
Cover with top crust. ( see ** Note).
Bake for about 45 minutes or until the crust is pale golden. Let it cool for 30-45 minutes, sprinkle with icing sugar, cut into squares and serve.

Notes

** The other half of the dough, I like to grate over the apple filling, and press lightly with hands to cover any holes, just to get that "ragged" look ( like on my photos)

***In Croatia, we are using grams and milliliter. My every recipe has a measuring in cups, grams (milliliter) and ounces. I own cups and spoons measure utensils and I try to be exact when I convert weight into cups, but there is a slight possibility of deviation from the exact amount. Due to differences in measurement, I recommend that you use a kitchen scale, if you have one.