The Honey Bourbon Caramel Apple Bars is a outstanding Apple Bar recipe that tastes like caramel apple pie. This bar has a buttery shortbread crust, layered with tart and sweet apples. Then the apple bars are topped with oatmeal streusel and drizzled with honey bourbon caramel.
Finding the right apples is crucial in building a great flavor profile for the Honey Bourbon Caramel Apple Bars. To build the right flavors is using a combination of sweet apple and tart apples.
Pick a good sweet Apple that bakes well and holds its shape. Good choices are Braeburn, Honeycrisp, Gala and Johnagolds, they are sweet crisp and also hold up well when baking. Braeburn and Johagolds are often on sale at good price point, making good choices to use.
Choosing great tart apple that bakes well is the Granny Smith Apples. These apples are readily on available and often on sale at a good price point. Granny Smith Apples are quite tart with hint of sweetness. There green skinned apple with white green crisp flesh offers a good contrast to sweet apples.
How to achieve the filling for Honey Bourbon Caramel Apple Bars by using the sweet apples like Gala Apples and tart Granny Smith Apples. These apples need to be peeled and cored, then sliced thin less then quarter inch thick. Keeping the Apple slices thin and evenly cut insures an even baked bar. Then tossing the apples with, sugar, flour, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt, until we’ll coated. Then then adding an extra secret ingredient boost Butterscotch Chips. All these steps take time and effort, but well worth the work involved.
There is nothing like fresh crumb topping on Honey Bourbon Caramel Apple Bars. This simple mixture of all purpose flour, old fashion rolled oats, brown sugar, butter and cinnamon rubbed together. Working the crumb mixture in a mixing bowl, by rubbing with fingers until crumbly textures. Doing this step by hand allows you to feel texture and not overwork the crumb topping.
An alternate technique is to use a supermarket shortcut, replacing most of the crumb topping with half box of yellow cake mix and butter. Again recommend rubbing the crumb topping mixture by hand with fingers. This method gives a more commercial taste, but still taste excellent.
The Honey Bourbon Caramel Apple Bars needs a good solid base for bars. A simple shortbread crust is perfect choice, that tender can withstand the moisture of Apple filling. The shortbread mixture is simple to make, using melted butter, sugar, flour, vanilla and salt. This mixture is simply combined together in bowl until dough is formed. Then pressing dough evenly on prepared baking pan that is lined with parchment paper. Note for easy removal of the Honey Bourbon Caramel Apple Bars cut parchment paper a inch longer then top of the baking pan.
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees convection or 350 degrees conventional oven. Then bake the shortbread crust base for 10 to 15 minutes keeping eye on color of crust. The shortbread crust should be a very light golden brown. Remove crust cool for few minutes before building Honey Bourbon Caramel Apple Bars.
Honey Bourbon Caramels recipe.
Homemade caramel is the best, make a good size batch and kept the unused batch in the refrigerator for month or can be frozen for year. Depending on size batch of Bars a batch of Honey Bourbon Caramel will make 4 to 6 recipes of bars. It takes time and good ingredients to make a great caramel, but they are so good.
To make these caramels put can of sweetened condensed milk, brown sugar, butter, corn syrup and salt in heavy duty 8 quart pot. Cooking over medium high heat stirring constantly until the caramel reaches 240 degrees. This takes a good 20 minutes depending on humidity and cooking range. Remove caramel pan from heat and add, vanilla extract and good ounce or more of Honey Bourbon Whiskey. Stirring well until all alcohol is evaporated and mixed into caramel. The smell of honey bourbon caramel is so good that you be tempted to try right away, but don’t this caramel is molten hot burn mouth.
Using the Honey Bourbon Caramel just warm enough to drizzle all over the baked crumb apple bars. This drizzling of caramel over the Apple Crumble Bar outstanding flavor boost and great garnish. These Honey Bourbon Apple Bars are so good you will be tempted to eat more than one bar. Bring back fond memories of Moms homemade apple pie. Enjoy