Gluten-Free Vegan Apple Pie Bars - Rhian's Recipes (2024)

These Gluten-Free Vegan Apple Pie Bars are the perfect dessert: a "buttery" base with tender, warmly spiced, caramel-flavoured apples and nutty crumble topping. They're great for Thanksgiving and Christmas and are an excellent alternative to Apple Pie!

Why does this recipe use brown rice flour?

You can usewhite rice flour, but I found the texture was much better with brown rice flour. If you can't find brown rice flour in your local supermarket, you'll be able to find it in local health stores or online.

Why you'll love these Gluten-Free Vegan Apple Pie Bars:

• they'reundetectably veganandgluten-free
• they have a "buttery" base and crumble topping
• they're filled with tender, juicy apples
• they taste like salted caramel
• they're warmly spiced and fragrant
• they'reeasyto make
• they'rerefined sugar free
• they're an excellent make-ahead dessert
• they're perfect for sharing
• they're great for Thanksgiving and Christmas!

How to make these Gluten-Free Vegan Apple Pie Bars

Scroll down to thebottom of the post for the full recipe.

• Mix together the ingredients for the dough in aglass mixing bowl.

• Transfer one half into asquare baking tin.

Tip:Line the tin with greasedbaking paperto make it easier to remove the bars after.

• Use your fingers to push the mixture all the way to the edges, then use a spatula to press down on it until the surface is completely even.

• Bake in oven for 10 minutes - you'll be baking this again so you don't want to over-bake at this stage!

• Add the oats for the crumble topping to the remaining half of the dough and mix well.
• Place in the fridge while you make the rest - this will help it firm up and make it easier to crumble over the top after.

• Place the coconut oil, coconut sugar, apples, vanilla, cinnamon and salt in a pan.

• Leave to cook on a low heat, stirring occasionally, for about 20 minutes until soft.
• Dissolve the cornflour (cornstarch) in a tiny splash of water in a small bowl.
• Once the apples have cooked, add the cornflour and water mixture and mix well.
• Once the apples have thickened (takes about 30 seconds), turn off the heat.

• Place the cooked apples over the cooked base until completely evenly covered.

• Use your fingers to crumble the rest of the dough mixture over the top until it is all used up and the apples are completely covered.

• Bake in the oven for around 20 minutes, or until golden brown.

• Leave to cool completely before cutting.

How long do these Gluten-Free Vegan Apple Pie Bars keep for?

These Apple Pie Bars do taste best when fresh, but they keep covered in the fridge for up to a few days.

Substitutions you can make to this recipe:

• you can substitute thecoconut oilwithcoconut butter
• you can use any type of liquid sweetener: maple syrup, agave syrup, brown rice syrup etc
• the ground almonds (almond meal) can be substituted with ground walnuts
• for a nut-free version, use ground sunflower seeds instead of ground almonds and use a nut-free plant-based milk
• the cornflour (cornstarch) can be replaced with tapioca starch
• you can replace the brown rice flour with plain flour if you’re not gluten-free.
• you can useany type of plant-based milk:almond milk, cashew milk, oat milk, rice milk, soy milk etc
• if you're not into apples, you can use any type of fruit:pears, peaches, plums, blueberries, cherries, strawberries, raspberries etc (just adjust cooking time accordingly).

Substitutions to be careful of:

• you can usewhite rice flour but the texture is much better with brown rice flour.

More vegan apple desserts:

• Apple Pie
• Apple Crisp
• Apple Upside Down Cake
• Apple Crumble Bars
• Apple Muffins
• Apple Bread
• Apple Cake

If you try out this recipe or anything else from my blog,I’d really love to hear anyfeedback! Please give it a rating, leave a comment, or tag a photo @rhiansrecipes #rhiansrecipes onInstagram! Thank you.

Disclosure: This posts contains affiliate links to Amazon. If you purchase any of these products, a small percentage will come to me with no extra cost to you! This income will go towards the running of this blog – thank you.

More Baking & Dessert Recipes