Easy apple squares are made with cinnamon and brown sugar. These delicious cake bars are very moist, thanks to the vegetable oil and the plain Greek yogurt.
The apple squares are super easy and quick to prepare on a busy weeknight! If you're bored with making the same apple recipes, such as apple crisp, crumble, or cobbler, try these little apple squares, and you'd be very happy! These apple cake bars work great as both dessert and breakfast. Talking about breakfast, have you tried these apple cinnamon pancakes with shredded apples? Or, maybe you will enjoy this cozy apple crumb coffee cake?
Apple Squares with Cinnamon and Brown Sugar
In this recipe, I am using a generous amount of apples, tossed together with cinnamon and brown sugar, folded in the cake batter and baked in a 9x9 square pan. These apple cake bars are really just a lot of apple chunks held together by a relatively small amount of cake batter. 🙂 After all, the apple dessert recipes should be all about apples, shouldn't they?
The apple squares are very moist, thanks to the vegetable oil and the plain Greek yogurt.
Other apple desserts
If you love all things apple, you will love these quick and easy apple desserts:
Apple Breakfast recipes
What could be better than enjoying a small slice of something sweet with apples in the morning? Here are my favorite apple breakfast recipes:
- Pumpkin Banana Bread with Apples
- Crepes with Ricotta Cheese and Caramelized Apples
- Apple Cinnamon Pancakes
- Apple Cinnamon Crepes
Easy Apple Squares (Cake Bars)
Ingredients
- 3 apples peeled, cored, and chopped into small square chunks
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 4 tablespoons brown sugar
- 1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour sifted
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup white sugar
- ⅓ cup vegetable oil
- ⅓ cup Greek yogurt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 eggs
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9×9 square pan.
- In a medium bowl, toss chopped apples with cinnamon and brown sugar.
- In a mixing bowl, combine together 1 and ¼ cups flour, 1 teaspoon baking powder, and ⅛ teaspoon salt.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together 1 cup of white sugar, vegetable oil, yogurt, and vanilla until very smooth. Add eggs and whisk until smooth.
- Add dry ingredients (flour mixture) into wet ingredients and mix until just combined.
- Pour half of the batter into the greased pan, top with half of the apples, then pour the remaining half of the batter on top of the apple layer. Top with the remaining half of apples.
- Bake the cake for about 45 minutes or 1 hour - until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
- Dust with powdered sugar before serving.
Nutrition
The nutritional information on this website is only an estimate and is provided for convenience and as a courtesy only. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed. It should not be used as a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
I just took these out of the oven and the house smells amazing! I had 6 apples that were use-eat-toss dead ripe so I decided to try this recipe and double it. I put it in a 9 x 13" pan and what I ended up with is apple cake - it rose to the top of the pan! Not exactly what I had planned on so the next time I make this i will use a larger pan to make squa/res and the size listed if I want a cake instead. I also added some cinnamon to the batter...I just love the apple cinnamon combo!
I made the cinnamon apple sq. turned out goooooood thank u for the recipe
Hi! I just made these tonight and they were great! I'm not a fan of yogurt so I used 2 oz of cream cheese instead. They were perfect! Thanks for sharing!
just made this in an 8" square pan. It turned out more like cake than bars. I substituted sour cream as I had some open. The recipe seems very flexible with the yogurt/sour cream/buttermilk.
On a whim, I sprinkled a handful of Caramel Bits over the top before baking. This is really an outstanding Apple dessert.
Thanks for sharing.
This recipe sounds delicious and I can't wait to try. Do you think these bars would freeze well? Our parents have an apple tree and I now have a bag of 50 apples to use! Thanks. 8)
Yes, these will freeze well. I successfully froze this strawberry cake before https://juliasalbum.com/2014/06/strawberry-chocolate-chip-cake/
and these apple squares are similar in structure to that cake! Just make sure to cool apple squares completely so that they don't sweat in the freezer. And also, wrap them in airtight plastic bag.
JHi,I am just about to make this delicious sounding recipe in the UK, and when converting the ingredients to gram, I seem to be way out with the flour, I worked out the flour to be 1 cup = 120g - which I got from a couple of conversion sites, which would make the 1 1/4 cups 150g, but in a post of yours way back in 2014 you said the flour was 270 grams - can you tell me which amount I should use? i don't want to mess these up they sound so lovely.
Thank you Margaret
'Jul 08, 2014 at 2:43 pm
1 cup of sugar equals 220 grams
1 and 1/4 cup of flour equals 270 grams
re moist after the first day! I like to call these apple squares.'
Your calculations are correct. 1 1/4 cups of flour should be 150 g.
I am glad you're trying this recipe! Enjoy the apple squares!
Do you think these would be okay if baked in a muffin tin in cupcake wrappers? They look amazing!
Yes, these would work great in a muffin tin in cupcake wrappers!
These look so so delicious and perfect for breakfast!
Hello,
Please, I need a little information before beginning my squares.
I would like to know a detail for you but very important for me.
You say "1 cup of sugar or 1 and 1/4 cup of flour", that's ok but I don't know how big is your cup. ;o)
Can you tell me if 1 cup of sugar means 200 grs or more than 6 oz ? Unfortunately, we don't have the same units of measure. :o(
Thank you.
1 cup of sugar equals 220 grams
1 and 1/4 cup of flour equals 270 grams