Aside from pumpkin, another favorite part of fall for me is when honeycrisp apples are in season. In my opinion, no other apple compares to a fresh, local honeycrisp. It is simply the best. I always go through a period of mourning once they are no longer in season, so I try to utilize them to their fullest potential while they are around. This recipe is great because you can use whatever apple is YOUR favorite, but if you haven’t tried honeycrisp, DO IT!
These paleo apple bars are gooey, a little sweet and a little salty. Does it really get any better than that?! You can pick them up and savor each bite. While the caramel topping is optional, you should probably give it a go at least once, even if it’s just for good measure. It’s so yummy!
If you try out this recipe, let us know what you think by leaving a comment below and adding a rating. Also, take a picture and tag it on Instagram #realsimplegood so we can check it out!
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Paleo Apple Bars
Ingredients
For the apple bars:
- 1-1/2 cups of nuts, (I used almonds and cashews)
- 10-12 dates, - pitted
- 1/2 cup sunflower seed butter
- 1/4 cup honey
- pinch of salt
- 1 apple, - sliced into thin pieces (I love honeycrisp, but use your favorite)
- cinnamon for sprinkling on top
For the caramel sauce:
- 2 tbsp grassfed butter or ghee, (or coconut oil for dairy free)
- 1/4 cup coconut or maple sugar
- 1 tbsp sunflower seed butter
- 1 tbsp coconut milk
- pinch of salt
Instructions
For the apple bars:
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and line a 9x9 inch baking pan with parchment paper and set aside.
- Add all of the ingredients except for the apples and cinnamon to your food processor.
- Pulse until the ingredients are combined, stopping and restarting a handful of times.
- When a large ball of "dough" starts to form you are done.
- Remove the mixture from the food processor and use your hands or the back of a spoon to press it down firmly into your parchment lined pan.
- Layer the apple slices on top.
- Sprinkle with cinnamon.
- Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.
- Remove from the oven to cool once they are done baking.
- Once cooled place the dish in the fridge to continue cooling for an hour or so.
- Just before you are ready to take the bars out of the fridge to cut up, start to make the caramel sauce.
For the caramel sauce:
- Melt the butter in a small sauce pan over medium heat.
- Add the coconut sugar and stir continuously until the butter and sugar start to combine.
- Add the sunflower seed butter and continue stirring to combine.
- Pour the coconut milk in and stir some more. The texture will seem like it isn't combining at first; it's ok.
- Turn the heat down a bit and continue stirring. A caramel sauce will begin to take shape. Once everything is combined, you can turn it down to low and just let the sauce simmer until you're ready to top the apple bars.
- Remove your bars from the fridge and drizzle with the caramel sauce and then slice into bars.
- Eat these up! All of them! Or store them in an airtight container in the fridge for about a week.
i agree, honey crisp apples are simply the best kind of apples! these caramel apple bars are making me drool, pinning these for later 🙂
Hehe!! You’ll have to let us know what you think once you try them out! Thanks for visiting and leaving a comment!
caramel sauce is never optional for this gal! i also love honeycrisp apples and would enthusiastically devour these bars. 🙂
Grace – you are my kind of girl! I feel the same! Justin has even started to fall in love with caramel sauce! He used to claim to not have a sweet tooth… 😉
Can I substitute almond butter for the sunflower seed butter?
Love your website!
Yep! You sure could! The sunflower seed butter gives it more of a peanut buttery taste, but almond butter would be quite delicious too!! 🙂 Yay! Enjoy and let us know what you think once you make them! Thanks for visiting and commenting.