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Among the stash of old recipes I was fortunate enough to inherit from my mother, we found a little pink notebook with – you guessed it – even more recipes that my mother had written down!
The notebook contained mostly dessert recipes (my mom had quite the sweet tooth!) and this recipe called Apple Chunkies immediately caught our eye!
Apple Chunkies are super simple to make and are great when you need a quick and easy dessert! A sweet butter and vanilla batter is mixed up with chunks of apples and chopped walnuts – then baked. (How easy is that!?)
These Apple Chunkies are sweet and dense and served cut into small little squares for serving and nibbling! And although the original recipe in my mother’s notebook did not include this – we added a simple caramel glaze to the top of the squares – but that is totally optional!
So – if you’re going apple picking this season – be sure to add these sweet little Apple Chunkies to your baking schedule! Enjoy!
We love seeing what you made! Tag us on Instagram at @afamilyfeast or hashtag #afamilyfeast so we can see your creations!
Apple Chunkies
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup sifted all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 whole egg
- 1 peeled and cored Gala apple, cut into 1/2 inch chunks (or any hard baking apple will also work)
- 1/2 cup coarsely chopped walnuts
For the Glaze (optional)
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons whole milk
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- In a medium pan melt butter and remove from heat. With a wooden spoon, stir in sugar to dissolve. Add vanilla and stir again.
- In a small bowl, sift flour, baking powder and salt.
- Once the sugar mixture is cool, blend in the egg and mix thoroughly.
- Add the dry mix to the sugar mixture and stir to combine.
- Add the apples and nuts and stir.
- Butter an 8X8 pan and spread batter in evenly.
- Bake for 30 minutes until golden brown.
- While the pan bakes, place glaze mixture in a sauce pan and bring to a boil. Boil on medium and stir for one minute. Remove from heat and set aside.
- Once the pan comes out of the oven, let sit for five minutes then spread the glaze over the top. If the glaze tightened up while the pan baked, heat slightly to a spreadable consistency. The glaze should be the consistency of a soft jam or spread and not runny.
- With a sharp knife, cut rows 4 x 4 into 16 pieces.
- With a spatula, remove each piece to a platter and cool, or serve slightly warm.
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Hi Lisa – I’m sorry you had trouble getting the bars out of the pan!.I would recommend letting them cool before you try to remove them from the pan (that should help). Also, our baking pan had a non-stick coating (which also helps prevent sticking) but if yours isn’t non-stick, you could try lining the pan with foil or parchment paper – leaving the ends long enough over the edges of the pan so that it create a handle, then you could lift the baked (and cooled) dessert out of the pan before cutting it into squares. Hope that helps!
On this page it says 1/4 cup butter but on the introduction page it says 3/8 cup of butter. What is correct?
Hi Marge – My apologies for the delay in responding…we’ve been away for the week. I’m not sure which introduction page you are referring to (perhaps Pinterest?) – but I would follow the recipe card as written on our site. Butter is used in two places within the recipe. Hope that helps!
Hi, I love your blog and enjoy trying many of your recipes during the week. I am making the apple chunkies now and as I added the sugar to the butter, it absorbed the butter as I was stirring and therefore did not really dissolve. Will this still have the same texture? Should I have done something differently? Thanks so much for sharing your family’s recipes!
Hi Lisa – Thank you so much! I think you’ll be fine! As it bakes in the oven the sugar should dissolve the rest of the way. Hope you enjoy the recipe and thanks for following our blog! We appreciate it!
What a treasure to have had written recipes from your mom! These apple chunkies look so great and I love their name. I honestly can’t wait to try these!
So fantastic you have hand written recipes from your mom,,,what a treasure! I’d like to peruse them while nibbling on her Apple Chunkies…Perfect with a spit of tea!
It’s just awesome that you found your mom’s fantastic recipe. I love the chunky apples!
Thank You for posting Your Mother’s recipe. I never knew this could be done! I was all out of milk and used water to make the glaze and still so good. ( next time I will be sure to have milk !) This sure is a keeper!
Thank you C! So glad you enjoyed the recipe!
Oh yum, I’d love one right now with my coffee.
Martha,
I must tell you a short story regarding a conversation I recently had with a friend who asked why I loved A Family Feast blog. I simply stated your recipes are honest,unpretentious, with enough creativity and family heritage to take them beyond ordinary.
To my delight, yesterday’s post proved my point, as did today’s recipe from your Mother.
With a bag of freshly picked pears sitting on my counter, I think I might try these in your Apple Chunkies recipe. The pears, an heirloom variety from a friend’s farm, are much firmer than market ripened pears. What do you think?
Your darling daughter is blessed to be growing up in such a loving family.
God bless,
Linda
Oh my goodness Linda – thank you! You’ve made my day and I can’t wait to show Jack your note when he gets home later today! It is exactly who we are – and I’m so glad it comes through! We just love cooking and sharing recipes (and love hearing that our readers enjoy them too!) So – yes – pears will absolutely work for this recipe! If you are worried about the pears being too firm even after baking, you could try sauteeing them in a pan with just a little bit of butter to soften them a little before adding them to the batter. Please let us know how it comes out! Thank you again for writing today! PS..We are blessed to have such a great little girl in our lives! 🙂 Have a wonderful day! Martha
I like such easy and delicious apple recipes! They look yummy!
Thanks Medeja! (Me too!) 🙂