Applesauce Bars

Yummy! Moist Applesauce Bars that make me think of Thanksgiving and Christmas time! Make sure to see my notes below for what I did differently from the recipe. I got this recipe from allrecipes.com.

Applesauce Bars

1/4 c butter, softened
2/3 c brown sugar
1 egg
1 c applesauce
1 c flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice

Icing:
1 1/2 c powered sugar
3 T butter, melted
1 T milk
1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9x13 inch baking pan.

In a medium bowl, mix together the butter, brown sugar and egg until smooth. Stir in applesauce. Combine the flour, baking soda, salt and pumpkin pie spice; stir into the applesauce mixture until well blended. Spread evenly into the prepared pan.

Bake for 25 minutes in the preheated oven, or until edges are golden. Cool in the pan over a wire rack.

In a small bowl, mix together the confectioners' sugar and margarine. Stir in vanilla and milk until smooth. Spread over cooled bars before cutting into squares.

Well, if I have homemade Apple Butter (see previous post) then, of course, I'm going to substitute the applesauce in the recipe with the Apple Butter. Also, if you ever read the comments made by other bakers, you will see that not everyone has pumpkin pie spice on hand. I don't either. So, the Apple Butter has a sufficient amount of cinnamon and all you have to do is add 1/4 tsp ginger and 1/4 tsp nutmeg. I try to always have fresh nutmeg. It makes a huge difference in baking.

I would have loved to add nuts and/or raisins, but my husband is not fond of them in anything baked.

The icing is nice because it gives the bars a thin layer of added sweetness. I had heavy whipping cream on hand and used that for the milk and added a dash of cinnamon so you could see the specks in the icing. A nice combination.

I think that you could leave off the icing and serve it with vanilla ice cream (or eggnog ice cream, if in season and your into eggnog) or with whipped cream.