Apple Biscoff cookie bars: a recipe

Apple Biscoff cookie bars

Why have I not made more cookie bars? WHY?

It's the perfect marriage of cake and cookie: it's like getting two treats in one.

Where has the cookie bar been all my life? WHERE?

I went trolling for an apple cake-ish kind of recipe the other day because I had a few Honeycrisp apples left. I didn't want them to go to waste, but they were a day or two past their crispiest point -- you know, the crispy point that makes you just want to eat it plain and not waste it by baking it.

And what goes better with apples, we all now know, than Biscoff spread? NOTHING.

Thank goodness the Internet Fates chose to throw an adaptable cookie bar recipe my way.

I doctored up a recipe that featured peanut butter and apples because I knew the Biscoff spread would just make it that much better (peanut butter is beginning to take a back seat in our house to Biscoff spread and Nutella -- how about yours?).

And I was right.

Just as an aside, I do find the Biscoff spread a little trickier to cook with than peanut butter. (Note: This does NOT mean I love it any less.) While it will melt down and become incorporated like peanut butter, it can quickly become stiff, unlike peanut butter.

So in this recipe, you'll need to not only work fast but also work a little harder than you might think to get the batter distributed evenly in the pan.

And, as you can see from the photos, initially the Biscoffy batter doesn't coat the apples very well, but once it begins to bake, it's smooth sailing.

So don't worry ... you will end up with chewy, Biscoffy, apple goodness that's part cake, part cookie.

Apple Biscoff Cookie Bars (adapted from Two Peas and Their Pod)

1 stick butter
2 cups brown sugar
1/2 cup Biscoff spread
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup cored, peeled and diced apples (about 1 medium)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

In a pan, melt the butter and sugar, stirring constantly, over medium heat until smooth and combined. Remove from the heat, and stir in the Biscoff spread. Cool slightly.

Whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt together in a bowl. Set aside.

Add the eggs, one at a time, to the sugar mixture, making sure to mix well, then stir in the vanilla. Add the wet mixture to the dry, and stir until smooth. Fold in the apples as best you can.

Pour the batter into a 9 x 13 pan, working the batter into the corners and to the edges of the pan. Bake for about 30 minutes. Put pan on wire rack to cool.

Once completely cooled, cut into bars.