In the spirit of crispy cool days & reflections on childhood visits to upstate NY apple farms I bring you my Maple Apple Pie Oat Bars. These are delightfully happy little treats that can be enjoyed any time at all. Made with old fashioned rolled oats, pure maple syrup, crispy fresh apples and warming spices these are a great breakfast, dessert or snack recipe.
The house smelled fragrant & wonderful while these bars were baking.
What is it about cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, maple syrup & apples? They evoke such great memories, comforting thoughts, smiles & satisfaction.
If you are stressed or in a bad mood I suggest you bake up a batch of these. The smell alone will have you dancing & prancing around your kitchen. All natural aromatherapy & you don’t even need a trip to the spa, though that would be nice too!
Serve these bars warm with a side of maple sweetened Thick Greek Yogurt freshly whipped cream or your favorite ice cream. You can also make some extra apple-maple sauce to drizzle over the top. Now were talking. For add flavor & texture I added 1/2 cup of Ezekiel Cereal. You could also use Grape Nuts if you have those on hand. If you have neither, don’t worry simple use all oats.
Aren’t these chocolate covered sunflower seeds so adorable? They add so much to the presentation too!
What is your favorite way to combine oats, spices & apples?
Variations
Toss a handful of the following into the batter before baking:
- Chopped toasted nuts or seeds – peanuts, pecans, almonds, walnuts, macadamias, sunflower seeds, etc.
- Chocolate Chips
- White Chocolate Chips
- Cinnamon Chips
- diced Candied Ginger
- dried cranberries, blueberries or raisins
- chopped dried apricots
Oat Bar Recipe Links
- Blackberry Bars Folkmann
- Date Almond and Oat Bar Zomt Bakes
- Lemon Blueberry Vegan Bars Newlywed Cooking
- No Bake Bars Shall We Cook
- Peanut Butter Oat Bars Goddess in the Kitchen
- Power Packed Oat Bars Food 4 Tots
Marla I LOVE these!!! Not only do they look just beautiful with your awesome presentation, but I can almost TASTE one with your awesome description!!! You go girl!
These look awesome! Love the burst of bright colors too!
Love these! The styling is super cute! Great job!
These look incredible, and I’m just digging what’s in that mug!
what a cute way to decorate these! i love the bright colors 🙂
Wow, Marla, these photos are incredible and so colorful and interesting. You really know how to set up an appetizing food scene. We could all learn a lot from you! Thanks for sharing these amazing images and this fun, delicious and healthy recipe for apple pie bars! I’m always looking for a new breakfast idea, and this will be something to try.
My husband lives on Ezekiel cereal and we always have it in the house! I love making “granola” type bars for my kids and these are next on the list! Yum!
Mmm I love apple pie but don’t always have the patience for all the peeling and crust-making. I love these cute bar alternatives, especially the addition of oats.
Wow. I’m loving this especially the the chocolate covered sunflower seeds!
Oh man, I bet these are great. A perfect breakfast or with a little ice cream, a delcious dessert. And yes, those sunflower seeds do add a cute touch!
I love all the wholesome ingredients in these! The chocolate covered sunflower seeds are super cute toopers 🙂
It’s like an apple pie and a granola bar all in one, and they look delicious! These are perfect fall flavors. One of my favorite ways to combine these ingredients is to top halved apples with oats and spices and bake until soft.
Love this recipe and your photos! Love the Greek yogurt in them!
I buy a bag of apples every week at the market and I’m always looking for delicious new ways to use them! I will definitely be trying this, Marla!
Excellent! Those apple oat bars must be divine.
Cheers,
Rosa
You’re so cute- these are darling. I love those sunflower seeds too.
Some truly amazing colors! I bet the taste is just as colorful 🙂
My favorite way is in oatmeal, but this sounds really good!
These look SO good and I’m in awe of how bright and colourful FUN they are!!!!
Oat bars are indeed all-time favourite treats for my son. Yours look so good and beautifully presented! By using so many nutritious ingredients, these bars are really a power-packed breakfast for the family! Btw. thanks for the link.
So pretty and yummy! I love the sound of these, and I live with a little guy who would adore them! Thanks also for the link. Happy Holidays!
I am telling you Sweet Girl!
I am in LOVE with everything you make!
These look delish!
ANd the chocolate covered sunflowers on top…PERFECT!
Your spunky~fun spirit shines through everything you make!
And I just adore those buttons!
I love them all…and am just going to rotate them on my sidebar!
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox
Love having a bit of YOU on my blog!
i grew up and also now live a LONG way from the apple, maple, and oat belts, but I still find them such a magical combination of flavors for fall. I would really love one of these bars with my morning coffee tomorrow. I’d better get cracking!
These look super delicious! Perfect for Fall 🙂
Ooh these sound amazing for breakfast. Or an early morning snack. I’ll have to play around with the recipe because I don’t have maple syrup or ricotta cheese (too expensive) but I suppose I can use brown sugar? And maybe increase the butter….Mmm….
Sophia: That is the great thing about these oat bars. Measurements do not need to be precise & I bet you can easily swap out the ricotta for milk or greek yogurt. heck I would even try a sweet potato or pumpkin puree. Yes, the brown sugar is a great idea too!
Barbara: I know you being in Florida & me in the OC the fall/winter months are not quite as we remember as kids! We need to make up for it by baking seasonal goodies.
Teresa: You always bring me BIG smiles when you stop by for a visit. Thanks soooooo much for adding my button to your blog:)
Abby: These bars would be simple to make with your little guy. They are super quick & easy, plus then he can decorate his own.
These are freaking adorable. I LOVE them!
Those colorful candies are so cheerful, I can imagine that kids would eat anything if those were on top! Great plot to get them to eat their oats. 😉
Those look like perfect fall treats! Such gorgeous colorful photos. Love the picture with the whole pan of bars!
another fabulous recipe girl! The Professor will be all over this one for sure!
Love them, Marla! They sound delightful!
Marla…unbelievably beautiful and fun! Your photography and styling skills are amazing, not to mention, the delicious sounding recipe–I tried to eat my monitor. 😉
These remind me of when we lived in New York City and we would take weekend trips to Vermont. We always enjoyed sampling the maple syrup and maple candies. These would be a wonderful after school treat for my kids.
All apple recipes are ode’s to Upstate NY apple farms, in my opinion. 🙂 I might be sick of pumpkin, but I never get sick of apple recipes. This is a great one, Marla!
i don’t even have to eat one of these to undergo a mood improvement! the colorful sunflower seeds do that all on their own. 🙂
Grace: Isn’t it great when something so simple as colorful sunflower seeds can make up so happy!
Liz: Pumpkin or apple can’t get enough of ’em! Miss those apple farms in upstate NY. Amazing memories.
Marla, these are on the list for baking during my 2 days off! I have Nature’s Path Pumpkin Flax Plus Granola cereal, canned pumpkin, and dark brown sugar ready to go! I think this could be a great substitution combo! Thanks for sharing all your recipes!
At 40,000 feet these look wonderful
Okay, these are the cutest things I’ve ever seen! Iove that you added chocolate covered sunflower seeds!
Marla, this is very tempting. I love anything with maple especially when it’s healthy oats.
I love it how you decorated with chocolate covered sunflower seeds, so bright and cheerful. It looks delicious!
Hey Marla! I have everything but the cereal – where can I find a box? Holler back and I’ll go make this today. 🙂
[K]
These sounds great….perfect to make for a breakfast through the week!
These apple oat bars are just what I have been looking for! Plus I have all the required ingredients in, ready to be used!
I love foods that can be breakfast or dessert 🙂 The flavors in this sound fantastic, and I love the color pop from the sunflower seeds. Definite winner!
I absolutely LOVE bar cookies with oats in them! This recipe looks fantastic–it’s so much fun to bake with apples and pumpkin this time of year, you know? And the chocolate-covered sunflower seeds are an awesome thought!
These do look like so much fun to make and eat! Love them!
Marla – these oat bars look like wholesome goodness! Luv the ingredients you used…I’m going to try ’em, maybe using another cereal that’s more often in my pantry. Good stuff!
Fantastic presentation – so colorful and vibrant. 🙂
Apple and spices are two of my favorite holiday flavors, and this looks like a nice, healthy snack to keep around this time of year. Yum!
Wow! Love oat bars!
Apple crisp is a fave way to combine those ingredients, but bars will do! They really will!
Your photos get prettier with every blog post! Love this recipe. The Grape Nuts made me laugh. Was just telling a friend about my mother-in-law’s risotto-making skills today and the words, “Grape Nuts” came up in the conversation!
Thanks for another yummy recipe.
Those sunflower seeds always add so much to the
presentation. They are so pretty and I can only imagine tasty too!
I want to make these right away. Your goodies are always spot on
🙂
I just stumbled across your blog, and WOW! Your photography is GORGEOUS! So colourful and delcioius-looking! I’ll definately have to try these bars! 😀
Thanks for stopping by Katie! I am so glad you like my photos. These bars need to be baked up here again asap…
We love these little chocolate covered sunflower seeds in our house Marla. What a darling use of them with your oat bars! Very creative. Delicious recipe too!
These bars are a must try for me!
These would be perfect. Just went to the apple orchard and came home with APPLes and well need to do something with them that are good for you too.
These bars are such a tasty breakfast treat!