This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our disclosure policy.
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.
Last Step! Please leave a review and rating letting us know how you liked this recipe! This helps our business thrive & continue providing free recipes.
You may also like:
Made these once a while ago and everyone loved them, super easy to make as well! Have you ever made these in advance? I don’t think they would freeze well as it might change the texture of the apples. Thoughts?
Hi Jodi – I think these are best freshly back so we haven’t tried freezing these – but I think you’d probably be OK to do so. My only suggestion is to maybe add the glaze after they thaw since I’m sure that wrapping them for freezing will probably cause the glaze to stick to the plastic or foil, and mess up the appearance of the glaze and bit. Hope that helps!
Thank you so much for your speedy reply! If I end up freezing them, I will add the glaze once thawed.
This reminds me of a carmel apple made into a piece of cake. Thanks , I will be trying this soon.
Similar…you could definitely add caramel bits or a caramel sauce over the top!
Excellent
Thank you!
So quick & so tasty…I love raisins & added a few spoonfuls after rehydrating
Great idea!
Batter was too dry to mix in the apples and nuts
Sorry you were disappointed Pam. There is a video of the recipe in the post – did your batter look the same? If not, I’d check the measurements – don’t pack your flour when measuring.
AWESOME!!
Thanks Amanda!
This recipe is absolutely amazing!!!! My husband can eat the all the chunks in one day , he needs to practice restraint for sure when I make these, and in the fall I make them a lot !! Thank you for this quick, tasty and easy recipe.
Thank you Barbara!
No wonder I’m a bit chunky since I could easily eat all the “chunkies” in a single day…Just like your hubby…😋
Lol – thanks Debi! 😀
It’s a small cake, which is welcome. I added some cinnamon and nutmeg for flavor.
Thanks Tina!