These Apple Pie Millionaire Bars are buttery cinnamon flavored shortbread covered in apple cider spice caramel and topped with white chocolate.
On Sunday night I was getting ready for bed.
I had responded to someone on Twitter and I decided to check if they responded back.
What I saw instead was 2 dead, 20 wounded in Las Vegas.
I watched in horror as people posted videos from their phones.
The more I watched the more I realized from their stories that there was no way that only 2 people were dead and 20 were wounded.
I stayed up all night as the death and wounded toll climbed.
To my surprise, I became physically ill twice, a reaction I was not expecting.
And I became disheartened as I watched people on Twitter making all sorts of false claims.
People on the “right” claiming the shooter was Muslim.
When they found out it was a white guy it was oh he must have just converted to Islam right before the shooting.
Commenting that he was probably a member of antifa and he was angered by them playing God Bless America an hour before the shooting began.
Crazy Alex Jones once again claiming conspiracy theory.
People on the “left” actually gloating that it was a white man.
People are disgusting.
We have reached the state of the world that when we have a mass shooting certain sides hope that it’s a certain type of person so that they can push some agenda.
I hate to tell you all but it was just a messed up a-hole with a crap ton of guns.
My heart aches for the family and friends who lost a loved one.
And my heart aches for those who were there and survived for that nightmare will stay with them forever.
Yet another issue dividing the nation.
But as always among the horror are the good stories.
The brave first responders.
The good samaritans who stepped up doing things I’m sure they never in their worst nightmares ever thought they would be doing.
The droves of people who donated blood.
With all that has been going on there has been a lot of stress baking.
I’ve actually been working on these Apple Pie Millionaire Bars for awhile now.
Original Millionaire Bars have a shortbread layers, a caramel layer, and topped with chocolate.
Mine have a cinnamon shortbread, a apple cider caramel layer, topped with white chocolate.
And yes, they are soo good.
You will need a candy thermometer.
I love this one.
It gives an instant read and makes it so much easier to make candy.
You can buy apple pie spice at the store, McCormick’s is usually the brand at the store that carries it.
I personally buy mine from King Arthur Flour.
The boiled cider is also from King Arthur Flour but you can make it but boiling apple cider down until it forms a syrup.
It took me a few times to get this recipe right but I’m glad I took the time because these are definitely worth it.
Last but not least…it’s a great time to order my cookbook. 😀
Want More Apple Recipes?
Cinnamon Sugar Apple Babka Buns
Cider Glazed Apple Fritter Muffins
Salted Caramel Apple Fritter Bread
Apple Pie Millionaire Bars
Ingredients
- Cinnamon Shortbread:
- 1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp. salt
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- Apple Cider Caramel:
- ¼ cup boiled apple cider
- 1½ cups granulated sugar
- ¼ cup light corn syrup
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 5 TBSP unsalted butter, cut into 5 pieces
- 1/2 tsp. apple pie spice
- 1/8 tsp salt
- Topping:
- 12 oz. white chocolate chips
- 1 TBSP unsalted butter
Instructions
- For the shortbread:
- Preheat oven to 300F.
- Prepare a 9x13" baking dish by lining with parchment paper so as able to lift the bars out when done.
- Cream together the butter, powdered sugar, cinnamon, salt, and vanilla until smooth.
- Add the flour and beat on medium speed until crumbly dough is formed.
- Press dough evenly into the bottom of your prepared baking dish.
- Poke several holes in dough with a fork, covering the entire surface.
- Bake for 35-45 minutes until top is golden brown. Set aside to cool.
- Apple Cider Caramel:
- Combine boiled cider, sugar and corn syrup in a deep saucepan and bring to a boil over medium high heat.
- Normally with caramel you would be heating until it formed a golden brown color but the boiled cider is already brown. So allow the ingredients to turn to liquid, stirring occasionally. Just make sure there are no clumps of sugar.
- In a microwave safe bowl heat butter, cream, apple pie spice, and salt for about 30 seconds, or until butter has melted.
- Slowly add cream mixture to pan.
- It will bubble up so stand back.
- Stir in the vanilla with a wooden spoon and return the caramel to medium low heat.
- Stirring occasionally, cook for about 10 minutes until a candy thermometer reads 248F.
- Once desired temperature is reached, remove from heat and carefully pour caramel over your cooled shortbread.
- Do not scrape sides of saucepan, this caramel will be slightly overdone and can be discarded.
- Let cool at room temperature until the caramel is set. You can place in fridge but it will make the chocolate harder to spread as the cold caramel will cause it to seize.
- For the white chocolate layer:
- Melt white chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl.
- Stir in the butter to thin it out and give it a shiny appearance.
- With an offset spatula apply a thin layer of the chocolate on top of the caramel layer.
- Once chocolate has set cut bars with a knife to desired size.
Ash says
Oh my goodness, these just seem like the most lovely fall dessert.
Carol says
These sound absolutely decadent! Also a little scary for me.☺.
Kelly says
That looks Yumazing! And you are so right about everything else that has happened. Hugs.
Stephanie says
Peabody, I started off wanting to add Fireball Whiskey to your Glazed Apple Cider Donut Cake, but I fell down the rabbit hole of amazing recipes on your site. Do you think It would work here to use only 3/4 cup of milk and 1/4 of the whiskey for the caramel? I’m not really experienced with changing things up, so thank you in advance for any thoughts you have.
Peabody says
Which recipe are we talking about? You are on the Apple Pie Millionaire Bars which doesn’t have milk. Do you mean the Glazed Apple Cider Donut Cake?
Stephanie says
Oops! I mean the 1 cup heavy cream in the caramel in this particular recipe.
Peabody says
Okay, then no. You cannot sub heavy cream out when making caramel it’s needed for structure. If milk is used then it will not set up. You could use the full amount of cream and then add 3 TBSP of Fireball to the recipe and that should work and give you a taste of the fireball as well.
Trav says
A couple questions, and a suggestion.
1. The ingredients list for the caramel doesn’t include salt or vanilla, but both are called for in the instructions. How much of each?
2. I let my caramel cool at room temp for a few hours and then applied the chocolate. After letting the chocolate set overnight, I went to cut them and all the chocolate just cracked up and fell off the caramel. Should it be added while the caramel is still warm so they bond?
Suggestion: include the description of what “boiled cider” is in the recipe. I clicked the jump to recipe button and just saw “1/4C boiled cider”…so I started with cider in the pan, brought it to a boil, then proceeded with the recipe as instructed. I then read through the pre-recipe text and noticed the description of it. (It goes without saying I’m not an experienced candy maker but thought it could help other n00bs like me 🙂 )
Peabody says
1. Hmmm, it’s on there when I look at it.
2. Did you use white chips or did you use white chocolate? As that makes a BIG difference in the butterfat content. Also, there is going to be some cracking. Millionaire bars are basically homemade Twix bar. So think of what happens to the chocolate on a candy bar when you cut or bite into it.
Trav says
Weird, I triple checked it while making them and even had my girlfriend look too to make sure I wasn’t just blind lol. In any case, glad to see them on there now, I need to try this again!
I had used white chocolate chips, just Walmart GV brand. I’ll try it again and spread it on before it cools completely. Some cracking would be fine but on mine the chocolate layer literally fell completely off the caramel layer. I have caramel shortbread bars and a pile of cracked white chocolate! >.<
Thanks for the reply and the recipe though, even my busted version is tasty! 🙂
Peabody says
Sometimes, with cookie settings can mess up the lists. I had to change servers earlier this year and it’s been a little wonky from time to time.
The Walmart chips are not white chocolate just white vanilla chips. You are going to want to make sure it’s white chocolate.
I’m glad you found it tasty though!