Healthier Halloween Treats: Caramel Apple Pie Bars

Halloween is secretly one of my favorite holidays. The ghoulish decor, the fall weather, fabulous costumes.

Yet nearly every year of my adult life I’ve pretty much failed to dress up and celebrate in some way. 

For the past 10 years, 95% of my Halloweens I ended up sick, traveling, or society was shut down because of a hurricane or a pandemic. 

This year isn’t much different in terms of dressing-up unfortunately (I failed to plan ahead on that one). 

Despite my lack of a costume, there’s one thing I managed to pull off to keep the spirit of Halloween alive in my house: the treats.
And what I landed on to satisfy my sweet tooth were these bloody delicious caramel apple pie bars (said in my best British accent, pun intended of course).

Living a healthy lifestyle doesn’t mean you have to give up sugar altogether and never enjoy a treat again in your life without a side of guilt and/or shame. These sorts of thoughts around food are part of what I work with my clients on to eliminate once and for all. 

Instead, it’s about finding the right balance. And one of the ways to do that is by upgrading the ingredients of the dishes that you love. 

Think of these ingredient upgrades as the “trick” in this treat (see what I did there 😜). 

I’ve made these caramel apple pie bars gluten, dairy, and refined sugar-free. 

The “trick” with this dessert is swapping out the foods linked to common intolerances (ie the gluten and the dairy products) and instead using ingredients less likely to cause stomach upset and a whole host of other symptoms. 

I’ve swapped the regular sugar for coconut sugar in the entire recipe, which has a delicious smoky note almost like brown sugar but is low-glycemic. Apples are also a great source of fiber and vitamins. 

Because it’s Halloween season, I added red food coloring to the caramel sauce to make it look like blood drizzled all over. Truth be told, it looks more like a reddish-brown chocolate (it’s kind of hard to dye something that’s already brown). But hey, it’s still spooky, right?  

So there you go—a healthier dessert you can feel better about but still indulge your sweet tooth. It’s Halloween after all! 

“Bloody” Caramel Apple Pie Bars

Recipe adapted from Sally’s Baking Addiction to be gluten, dairy, & refined sugar free. 

For the shortbread:
1/2 cup unsalted non-dairy butter, softened to room temperature  
1/4 cup coconut sugar 
1 tsp vanilla extract 
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup gluten free flour (I use Bob’s Red Mill 1:1 but you can also sub regular all purpose flour if you’re not gluten free) 

For the apple filling:
3 large apples, peeled and sliced thin (I suggest a mix of Granny Smith & Gala)
1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice 
1 tsp vanilla extract 
2 Tbsp gluten free flour
2 Tbsp coconut sugar
1/2 tsp salt 
1 tsp cinnamon 
1/2 tsp ground ginger 
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

For the streusel topping:
1/2 cup gluten free old-fashioned oats (you can use regular if not gluten free)
1/4 cup gluten free flour
1/3 cup coconut sugar 
1/2 tsp salt 
1/2 tsp cinnamon 
1/4 tsp ground ginger 
Pinch of ground nutmeg 
Pinch of ground cloves 

For the caramel “blood” drizzle:
Recipe adapted from Downshiftology.

13.5 oz can full-fat coconut milk
1/2 cup coconut sugar 
1/2 tsp salt 
1 tsp vanilla extract 
Several squirts of red food coloring (optional for Halloween of course!)

Preheat the oven to 300°F. Grease and line an 8-inch square baking pan with parchment paper leaving enough overhang on all sides. Set aside.

Make the crust:
Stir the softened butter, coconut sugar, vanilla, and salt together in a medium bowl blending with a rubber spatula. Add the gluten free flour and stir until everything is combined. Press the mixture evenly into the prepared baking pan, bake for 15 minutes and then remove from the oven. (As the crust bakes, you can prepare the filling and streusel.)

Make the apple filling:
Combine the sliced apples, lemon juice, vanilla, gluten free flour, coconut sugar, and all the spices together in a large bowl until all of the apples are evenly coated. Set aside.

Make the streusel:
Whisk the oats, flour, coconut sugar, salt, and spices together in a medium bowl. Cut in the chilled butter with a pastry blender or two forks (or even with your hands) until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Set aside.

Turn the oven up to 350°F. Evenly layer the apples on top of the warm crust. It will look like there are too many apple slices, so layer them tightly and press them down to fit. Sprinkle the apple layer with streusel and bake for 30–35 minutes or until the streusel is golden brown.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool for at least 20 minutes at room temperature, then chill in the refrigerator for at least an hour. Lift the foil or parchment out of the pan using the overhang on the sides and cut into bars. 

Make the caramel sauce:
Combine the coconut milk, coconut sugar and salt in a saucepan over medium-high heat.

Bring to a boil (keeping a close eye on it, as it can quickly boil over), then immediately lower the temperature, keeping the sauce at a light simmer. Simmer for about 30 minutes, stirring constantly and scraping the bottom of the pan so it doesn’t burn. 

Once the sauce has turned a dark amber and has thickened to coat the back of a spoon, remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla extract and food coloring to make it look like blood (if you like). Drizzle the salted caramel sauce on top of the bars or pipe with a piping bag and enjoy!