Apple Squares

Sweet apples, tart cranberries and warm spices make this classic slab-pie a long time family favorite. This dessert spans multiple generations with my grandmother, my mother and I all putting our own spin on it.

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Keyword apple, caramel, cranberry, egg free, heirloom recipe, nut free

Prep Time 1 15

Cook Time 1 30

Cooling/Chilling Time 4

Servings

Calories 564kcal

Equipment

10"x15" sheet pan with sides
larger sheet pan (to catch drips)
rolling pin

Ingredients

Crust:

2 ½ Basic Pie Crust or 4x your favorite standard 9" pie crust recipe
15 ml milk, cream or egg wash

Filling:

4 kg Caramel Apple Pie Filling cranberry variation (or your favorite apple pie filling)

Glaze:

80 ml Salted Caramel Sauce Apple Cider Caramel variation, room temperature
60 ml apple cider or juice, room temperature
10 ml vanilla
320 g powdered sugar
¼ tsp fine salt

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Assembling the crust and filling:

When making your pie crust, instead of forming the dough into disks, form it into two rectangles, wrap in plastic and chill for at least a couple of hours before using. (I like to make my two rectangles slightly uneven, using the larger rectangle for the bottom crust and the smaller for the top crust)
2 1/2 Basic Pie Crust
Preheat your oven to 375°. Line a sheet pan larger than 10"x15" with foil - this will catch any drips from the apple squares while baking.
Remove the dough for your bottom crust from the fridge and roll into a large rectangle. The dough should be about 1/8" thick and large enough to cover the entire 10"x15" sheet pan with a slight overhang around all the edges.
Fill the crust with the cranberry Caramel Apple Pie Filling. I like to really pack the filling in and mound it up a bit - feel free to adjust to your preference.
4 kg Caramel Apple Pie Filling
Put the pan in the fridge while you roll out the top crust.
Remove the dough for your top crust from the fridge and roll into a large rectangle. The dough should be about 1/8" thick and large enough to cover the apple filling and provide a slight overhang around all the edges to match up with the bottom crust.
Remove the pan from the fridge, moisten the edge of the bottom crust with a little milk, cream or egg wash.
15 ml milk, cream or egg wash
Gently lay the top crust over the apples, press lightly over the surface to ensure there are no air gaps under the crust.
Press the edges of the crust together to seal them, crimping or fluting the dough to form a decorative edge. (I generally don't bother brushing the top with any egg, cream or milk because I cover the whole top with glaze, but you can brush the top crust with egg wash, cream or milk to aid in browning and give a bit of shine.)
Cut several small slits in the top crust to allow steam to escape during baking.
Place the assembled apple squares on the larger, foil lined pan. Put the entire thing in the preheated oven. Bake for 45-60 minutes or until the filling is bubbling up through the vents and the top is golden brown.
Remove from the oven and cool completely.

Making the glaze:

Whisk together the salted caramel sauce, apple cider and vanilla until the caramel is fully incorporated.
80 ml Salted Caramel Sauce, 60 ml apple cider, 10 ml vanilla
Add the powdered sugar and salt, whisk until it forms a smooth glaze with no lumps of powdered sugar remaining.
320 g powdered sugar, 1/4 tsp fine salt
Drizzle the glaze over the surface of the baked and cooled apple squares. This amount of glaze will nearly cover the entire surface, if you want a lighter drizzle, cut the glaze recipe in half.
Allow the glaze to set before serving. The apple squares can be served room temperature or chilled. Enjoy topped with a drizzle of caramel sauce or some ice cream.

Notes

Neither mom nor grandma used a pre-cooked filling for their apple squares - they would mix the raw (peeled and sliced) apples with sugar, spices, and a little bit of flour. After cramming what looked like way too many apples into the bottom crust, they would dot butter all over the top before sealing everything in with the top crust.
- If you'd prefer to take this approach, toss the following ingredients together in a large bowl (reserving the butter to dot on the top):
  - 12 large apples (peeled, cored and chopped or sliced)
  - 1 tbsp lemon juice
  - 1 cup sugar (or more to taste)
  - 1 cup brown sugar (or more to taste)
  - 1 tbsp cinnamon
  - 1/4 tsp nutmeg
  - 1/4 - 1/3 cup flour (use the larger measurement if the apples are very juicy)
  - 6 oz dried fruit (i.e. raisins or dried cranberries) [optional]
  - 1/4 cup butter (cut into small pieces)
- Once the apples are evenly coated with the sugar, spices and flour, transfer the mixture into the bottom crust, dot the surface of the apple mixture liberally with the reserved butter.
Grandma made her apple squares with raisins rather than cranberries - I don't recall her doing anything to rehydrate the raisins before using them, but it has been a very long time since I helped grandma with her apple squares.
Mom made her apple squares with dried cranberries. She would rehydrate the cranberries over night and drain any excess liquid from them before mixing them into the raw apple mixture.
Mom and grandma would have made this with a classic vanilla glaze like the one included in the Cinnamon Braid recipe. That is my dad's preferred topping, although he tells me that mom's layer of glaze would be much thicker than in my recreation. I would start with double the vanilla glaze from the Cinnamon Braid recipe for full coverage or a single recipe for a lighter drizzle.

Apple squares served on a plate with vanilla glaze

Nutrition