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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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Making this today but no apple so am using ripe bananas
Thanks for the suggestion Susan!
8×8 pan???? This could have gone in a 9×13 pan for 30 minutes. It was still fluid in an 8×8. Ok I’m going for and hour of baking now and I am NOT happy with the directions. Hopefully I’m not wasting flour and sugar!!!!
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Hi Mimi – This should be a thicker batter not liquid – sounds like some sort of measurement mistake was made along the way. (We have a video at the bottom of the recipe card that shows exactly how this recipe is made – hope that helps!.)
I didn’t make this yet! The pan size didn’t change when the recipe was doubled or tripled! If I triple the recipe would a 9 x 13 pan work?
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Hi Brenda – Unfortunately that feature that doubles/triples only applies to the ingredients list. I’d double the recipe for a 9×13″ pan.
How do you store these? In fridge or on counter?
Hi Liz – With butter and milk in the recipe, I’d suggest keeping these in the refrigerator for longer term storage.
You certainly publish a wide variety of recipes, any chance you can give out some gluten free recipes please as I am a coeliac.
Hi Amanda – Thanks for your feedback. We have a few recipes tagged as gluten-free (https://www.afamilyfeast.com/tag/gluten-free/) but I’m sure there are others that are naturally gluten-free that I haven’t tagged – I’ll try to be better about tagging them for you!
We have several family members who eat a gluten-free diet and I know they have adapted many of our baking recipes with the one-to-one flours from King Arthur and Bob’s Red Mill and have seen good success with both of those brands. I hope that helps in the meantime!
I made the apple chunkies today. They are delicious and easy to make. I used gala apples but mine didn’t bake as high as the photo and not as cake like, more of a chewy texture, but delicious none the less. Thank you for this and all of your other wonderful recipes.
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You’re welcome Donna! Did you happen to use a larger pan (maybe 9×9 instead of 8×8)? That will definitely cause a flatter result.
How long ahead can you make these and they be fresh to serve?
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Hi Julie – I would probably bake them no more than a day ahead of serving.
Delicious, simple-to-make dessert. Because I am lazy, I didn’t make the sauce – just served it with vanilla ice cream. A perfect fall dessert. Next time I will add a couple of minutes to the bake time for extra browning.
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Thanks Annie!
This was a very easy delicious cake. The caramel topping makes it.
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Thanks Tammy!