How to Make Caramel Apple Crisp Bars

On Friday, I spent some time at Reid's Orchard in Owensboro, Kentucky. For decades, Reid's hosted an annual Apple Festival that drew thousands and thousands of apple fans to the orchard, which sits right off Kentucky Highway 144 in Daviess County. While the Apple Festival doesn't exist any longer, Reid's still serves up the apples. And that's exactly what WBKR What's Cookin'? guest Patty Millay is serving up in her September recipe.

I recently made a joke that my favorite kind of apple that grows on trees are the ones that have caramel on them. Well, Patty must have been eavesdropping on my conversation. Here's her recipe for Caramel Apple Crisp Bars!

From Patty:

I LOVE Fall and the cooler weather inspires me to fire up the oven and make something delicious! I've spent some time in my vintage cookbook collection and found this Autumn goody!

CARAMEL APPLE CRISP BARS

3 Large Granny Smith apples (peeled and sliced to1/4 inch)
3 Large Honeycrisp apples (peeled and sliced to 1/4 inch)

1 cup white granulated sugar

3 2/3 cups all purpose flour

3 cups old fashioned oats

1 3/4 cups unsalted butter (softened)

2 1/4 cups brown sugar

2 1/2 tsp kosher salt

1 1/4 tsp baking soda

1 cup chopped pecans

2 Tbl cornstarch

1 Tbl ground cinnamon

2 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

1 bag (11 ounces) caramel cubes (unwrapped)

2 Tbl heavy whipping cream

DIRECTIONS:

In a large bowl, stir in your apples with a 1/2 cup white sugar. Set this aside for 30 minutes.

Preheat your oven to 350*. Line a 9x13 baking dish with heavy duty aluminum foil letting the excess foil fold over the sides of the dish. Then, spray your foil with cooking spray.

In a large bowl, beat 3 cups of flour, oats and butter, 1/12 cups brown sugar,1 1/2 tsp salt and baking soda with a mixer at medium speed until well combined and crumbly. Press 4 cups of your oat mixture into the bottom of the prepared pan. Stir pecans into the remaining oat mixture and reserve.

Drain your apples and discard the liquid. Add cornstarch, cinnamon, vanilla, nutmeg, remaining flour and remaining brown sugar, 1 tsp salt, and remaining granulated sugar to apples, stirring until well combined.

Bake your crust for 20 minutes. Let cool for 5 minutes. But, leave your oven on.

Spread apple mixture over the hot crust then lightly sprinkle with reserved oat mixture. Return to the oven and bake for 40 minutes. Let cool completely on a wire rack. Refrigerate until firm (2-3) hours.

Using the excess foil sides as handles, remove from pan and cut into bars. In a medium microwave safe bowl - heat caramels and cream on high for 15 seconds, stir well and repeat until melted and smooth, stirring well after each 15 second interval. This takes approximately 4 intervals to complete. Drizzle caramel on the bars and let stand until set (about 5 minutes).

Cover and refrigerate for up to 3 days.