I’ve managed to whittle my apple supply down to about only 50 pounds of apples after making two rounds of Apple Sauce, Apple Butter, Caramel Apple Dip, Apple Crisp and Mini Apple Pies. Since I’m still surrounded by apples, I knew I had to try these Peanut Butter Apple Cookie Bars when I saw them at the Diva Entertains Blog. If you are unable to eat nuts, I would imagine you could substitute Sunbutter in this recipe, but I haven’t tried it to know for sure how it would work.
Peanut Butter Apple Cookie Bars (adapted from Diva Entertains Blog)
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 1/2 cups sucanat (or brown sugar)
1/2 cup peanut butter (homemade or natural)
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
2 cups whole wheat flour (I use freshly ground hard white wheat)
1 1/2 cups peeled and diced apples
In a large mixing bowl, stir together melted butter, peanut butter and sucanat until creamy. Add eggs, vanilla, baking powder, baking soda and salt, stirring until well combined. Mix in flour thoroughly. Fold in diced apples.
Spread dough into a 9×13 inch baking dish. Bake at 350° for 25-30 minutes or until golden. Allow bars to cool before adding the glaze.
Peanut Butter Glaze
2 cups powdered sugar (I recommend making your own with sucanat or using organic, unbleached)
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup creamy peanut butter (homemade or natural)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Combine all ingredients and beat until smooth. Drizzle or spread over the cooled bars.
As you can see, drizzling the glaze kinda led to spreading the glaze like a frosting in my case, so feel free to drizzle or spread or slop the glaze on there however you’d like. They’ll pretty much taste great no matter how you do it. :)
I know you recommend soaking whole grain flour, and I think I remember you saying that whole grain flour, when not soaked, is hard on your system. Is that right? So what do you think about using whole grain flours in recipes like the above that don’t really work well for soaking? I was wondering the same for cookies, etc. Thanks!
I “sort of” recommend soaking whole grain flour. I am incredibly unsure of where I stand on that issue. I have blogged about it in the past to answer reader questions, and overall, I do think there’s good in it. I’ve just also read other information that makes me question how necessary this step is.
What you may remember reading is that OATS are hard on my system. I have learned to avoid them as for some reason, I do not digest them well. :(
Otherwise, I soak wheat pancakes and waffles, biscuits and a few other things, but have decided not to worry about soaking cookies, brownies, cakes and some of my breads. As soon as I figure out how I really feel about all of the soaking business, I’ll try to share more.
How’s that for a non-answer? :)
Thanks for your answer! I have tried soaking with your soaked pancakes, and also a soaked bread from Passionate Homemaking, and have been very pleased with the results. It seems to mitigate the harsher flavor of the whole wheat flour.
Laura, you can soak your wheat (add a little whey or water kefir to the soaking water to break down the phytic acid). Then dehydrate before milling. The flour will be more nutritious and easier to digest.
This looks yummy! Will have to make these for snack tonight and tomorrow. Gives me something to do with the last of my apples!
Laura, there are so many varieties of apples available, and I never know which ones to buy for recipes, except NOT to use the Red/Golden Delicious. Do you have any suggestions/recommendations? Thanks.
I meant to add that this recipe sounds so yummy, I would really love to try it, if I just knew which kind of apples to use (or which others not to use). :-)
I just use whatever I have on hand – this time it was Gala and Empire. You’re right though, red delicious are not good for baking (or eating in my opinion!!).
I’m sure granny smith would be great in this recipe!
Just wondering why you dont use red delicious? Is it personal preference or do things not turn out that great?
It’s mostly a personal preference, however, red delicious apples in general just don’t have much flavor compared to many other varieties – so the baked products aren’t as flavorful and yummy. :)
Laura! I just made these and oh my goodness thay are so good!!
Thanks for the recipe!
It’s posts like this that make me wish we were neighbors. Thank you for sharing the recipe and pictures, which inspire me to make treats to share with my family and friends.
This sounds so good! Did you happen to taste the bars without the glaze? I’m trying to lose some baby weight and would like to leave the glaze off.
You can definitely leave the glaze off and have a tasty treat! The glaze is good, but it just adds extra sugar – so great idea to leave it off!
I do not like red delicious apples either. They are bitter to me. My favorite to cook with is golden delicious. They will hold their shape if you do not over cook. If you want to make applesauce with them you can.
I am not a fan of peanut butter in cakes, etc. So I wonder of I could use applesauce?
You sure could. It would turn out more cake like though.
Can you substitute gluten free flour mix for the wheat flour?
I’m not sure, but probably.
my 8yo totally freaked when he saw these bars! “go back, go back!~ what are THOSE!?” We are Gluten free and I will try to make them with a GF mix and xanthan gum. I’ll let you know how it goes…
I made these for the church potluck today and was asked for the recipe. So yummy!
Laura- I love these kind of recipes. So good without a lot of fuss!
These were awesome Laura!! thanks for sharing :) I’m so glad we got to spend some time together- I look forward to the next time I’m in town :) Happy baking!!!!
I miss you already and I’m so glad we got to have some good visiting time. I’m glad you’re home safe and sound with your hubby now!!
Hmmm, these are looking like BREAKFAST bars to me! A little less sugar and half-batch of glaze? I don’t think my kids will argue, do you? :-)
I’m making these for breakfast as soon as I put my sleeping baby back into bed. Only no glaze… We don’t need the extra sugar!
Win!
I also served them for breakfast today and decided to skip the glaze. :-) I put about a cup of brown sugar instead of 1 1/2 cups in the batter. Hubby thought them delish with some homemade applesauce on top. I’m sure they’d be even better while still warm {I baked mine last night}.
I first made Head bars 5 years ago for breakfast. Made them today for a party. Doubled the recipe but only used 1 cup of sugar and no glaze. They are delicious even with less sugar! Thank you, Laura