It’s drizzling here in eastern Pennsylvania today, Isaac’s gentle farewell to us all. Before David and I head back to our home in Connecticut this afternoon, I’m spending the last few hours of my Labor Day holiday watching the occasional puff of wind nudge early fall leaves to the ground.
I know it’ll feel good to get back into the routine tomorrow, but with today’s dreary weather and the packing up and cleaning rituals of leaving here, I’m a little low energy. But here’s the good news: it’s a two-hour drive from here back home, and our departure time coincides with teatime.
So while I may still need to vacuum the house and clean out the fridge, I’ve already dropped Earl Grey tea bags into a couple of to-go cups and packed up Apple Butter Cinnamon Bars with Oatmeal Crumble to enjoy on the journey home.
Teatime makes the transition easier.
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 cup old-fashioned oatmeal
- ¾ cup light brown sugar
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 stick (8 tablespoons) butter, melted
- 1 cup apple butter
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position, and heat oven to 350 degrees. Coat an 8- by 8-inch baking pan with vegetable cooking spray, then line pan bottom and up and over 2 sides with heavy-duty foil to facilitate removal of bars from pan. Coat foil with vegetable cooking spray.
- Mix flour, oatmeal, sugar, and salt in a medium bowl. Stir in butter with a fork until well mixed and clumps form. Spread half the oatmeal mixture over pan bottom and up the sides about ¼ inch, pressing to form a thin crust. Mix apple butter and cinnamon in a small bowl; spread mixture over crust and then sprinkle remaining oatmeal mixture over apple mixture.
- Bake until crisp and golden brown, 35 to 40 minutes. Set on a wire rack and cool to room temperature. Use foil “handles” to remove bars from pan. (Can be double wrapped and frozen for several months.). Cut into squares and serve.
Have a safe trip home! I have some cherry butter — will try this recipe with that.
I always have so much apple butter in the fall, so this is perfect!
Perfect timing! I’ve got a (crock)pot of apple butter simmering away as we speak, er, type, or communicate. Thank you for this great idea. I hope your drive goes well – may you have a boring journey. And get home safely.
I think this will be my first day of school afternoon snack and I still have enough of my Musselman’s Apple Butter!
Wow, yummy!!!
I love that you let nothing coming between you and teatime. This sounds like the perfect early-fall recipe. I only wish that came a little sooner in Southern California.
My daughter is allergic to apples, so I’m going to try this with pumpkin butter. Looks so yummy!
This looks fantastic! I’m allergic to raw apples, so anything in which I can enjoy them cooked is excellent in my book.
I have trouble finding apple butter around me. Do you have a good recipe for making it?
Couldn’t find pumpkin butter so I used good blueberry preserves. Very yummy!