Sake Strawberry-Apple Bars

These Sake Strawberry-Apple Bars are just delicious! An easy recipe for bars filled with a sweet and juicy strawberry-apple filling and topped with a crunchy crumble.

Juicy strawberries with sweet apples get even better with a little sake. A moist and juicy filling topped with a salty pretzel-oat crust makes it difficult to eat just one bar!

I know I've mentioned that apple desserts are my favorite kind of desserts; a very close tie with Nutella desserts

I remember eating apple crumbles when I was little. My little brother and I would return from a long day at school to the comforting smells of apple and cinnamon baking. My mom would make crumbles and bars as often as she would make us cookies.

There wouldn't be any lectures about not making a mess while we ate a crumble because a crumble is well, a crumbly affair to say the least. Her crumbles and bars were not made with sake...that's my crazy idea!

When I was studying at University, I was surrounded by students from all over the world. One very good friend of mine was Masaki Yoshida from Japan. We met each other in one of our International Business classes. All Masaki wanted to be was American. He loved basketball, rap music, and drove a Nissan 300 ZX. Masaki was a part of our group of friends that was mostly students from South America and Italy.

This is a crumble that is even more appealing because of the shortbread crust and the salty pretzel topping. There are oats mixed in with the butter and pretzel…it is slightly healthy. I find sake at Publix in the nice sushi section.

This is a crumble that is even more appealing because of the shortbread crust and the salty pretzel topping. There are oats mixed in with the butter and pretzel…it is slightly healthy.

Sake is smooth baked into the apples and strawberries. I recommend you try it. If you don't have sake, you could use lemon or orange juice.

I love to add strawberry or apricot jam to my fruit fillings for pies or crumbles. If you don't have strawberry jam, you can use any other flavored jam. This is very similar to my Winter Mini Apple Cranberry Crumble recipe.

What ingredients are in these easy to make bars?

Crust:

• unsalted butter, softened
•  sugar
•  all-purpose flour
•  sea salt

Filling:

• granny smith apples (or your favorite baking apples)peeled, cored, and cut into ½" pieces
• strawberries
• lemon
• cinnamon
• ground ginger
• sea salt
• strawberry jam
• cornstarch
• sake (or orange juice)

Crumb Topping:

• salted pretzels
• all-purpose flour
•  light brown sugar
• granulated sugar
•  quick cooking oats
•  butter

How to make these crumble bars

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Grease a 8x8 inch baking pan. In a medium sized bowl, add the apple pieces, cinnamon, ground ginger, and lemon juice. Let it sit while you prepare the crust. In a medium bowl, beat the butter and the sugar until fluffy. Beat in the flour until a soft dough is formed. Remove the dough and place it into your prepared pan. Press firmly onto the bottom and sides of the pan.

Bake for about 15 minutes or until golden brown. You will have to refrain from eating this sugar cookie crust! Yum!

While the crust is baking, prepare the apple-strawberry mixture. In a medium sauce pan, sauté the apples in medium-low heat for about 3 minutes (until they lose their crispiness). Add the strawberries and the strawberry jam. Add in the sake combined with the 2 teaspoons of cornstarch.

Let it thicken and set the pan aside to cool while you prepare the crumb topping.

Crumb Topping:
In a medium bowl, stir together the crushed pretzels, oats, flour, both sugars, and oats. With a pastry cutter (or your fingers) cut in the butter pieces until the mixture has a crumbly mixture with the crumbs the size of blueberries.

After the filling cools, spread evenly on top of the crust.

Sprinkle the crumb mixture evenly over the apple-strawberry filling.

Bake about 35-40 minutes or until the the topping is golden brown. Cool the bars completely in the pan on top of the rack, then place them in the refrigerator to chill before cutting.

You can store the bars in an airtight container in the refrigerator if you don't gobble them all up as soon as you bake them.

Some other desserts to try:

• Fresh Strawberry Bundt Cake
• Strawberry Crumble Bars
• Vegan Strawberry Banana Bread
• Strawberry Panna Cotta

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Sake Strawberry-Apple Bars

These Sake Strawberry-Apple Bars are just delicious! An easy recipe for bars filled with a sweet and juicy strawberry-apple filling and topped with a crunchy crumble.

Prep Time10 minutes mins

Cook Time35 minutes mins

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Keyword: apples, bars, crumb topping, Strawberries

Author: Lora

Ingredients

• For the Crust:
• 1 stick unsalted butter softened
• 4 tablespoons sugar
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• dash of sea salt
• For the filling:
• 5 large granny smith apples or your favorite baking applespeeled, cored, and cut into ½ inch pieces
• ½ cup strawberries cut into chunks
• juice of 1 lemon
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• ¼ teaspoon sea salt
• 4 tablespoons strawberry jam
• 2 teaspoons cornstarch
• ¼ cup sake or orange juice
• For the Crumb Topping:
• 1 cup crushed salted pretzels
• ½ cup all-purpose flour
• ¾ cup light brown sugar
• ⅓ cup granulated sugar
• ½ cup quick cooking oats
• 1 stick chilled butter cut into pieces

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 350 F. Grease a 8x8 inch baking pan. In a medium sized bowl, add the apple pieces, cinnamon, ground ginger, and lemon juice. Let it sit while you prepare the crust.
• Prep the crust: In a medium bowl, beat the butter and the sugar until fluffy. Beat in the flour until a soft dough is formed. Remove the dough and place it into your prepared pan. Press firmly onto the bottom and sides of the pan.
• Bake for about 15 minutes or until golden brown. You will have to refrain from eating this sugar cookie crust! Yum!
• Prep the filling: While the crust is baking, prepare the apple-strawberry mixture. In a medium sauce pan, sauté the apples in medium-low heat for about 3 minutes (until they lose their crispiness). Add the strawberries and the strawberry jam. Add in the sake combined with the 2 teaspoons of cornstarch. Let it thicken and set the pan aside to cool while you prepare the crumb topping.
• Prep the Crumb Topping:
• In a medium bowl, stir together the crushed pretzels, oats, flour, both sugars, and oats. With a pastry cutter (or your fingers) cut in the butter pieces until the mixture has a crumbly mixture with the crumbs the size of
• blueberries.
• After the filling cools, spread evenly on top of the crust.
• Bake about 35-40 minutes or until the the topping is golden brown. Cool the bars completely in the pan on top of the rack, then place them in the refrigerator to chill before cutting.
• You can store the bars in an airtight container in the refrigerator if you don’t gobble them all up as soon as you bake them.

Nutrition Disclaimer

Please keep in mind that the nutritional information presented below is an approximation and may vary depending on the exact ingredients used.

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