Apple Streusel Bars

Cormac loves things with apples. If it were just myself-- I'd live on chocolate chip cookies and blondies but, hey, its good to have someone to push the variety. I saw this recipe pop up on a blog I enjoy reading a while back and filed it to memory for the next time "I dunno, something with apples would be nice *slurping of saliva noise Homer-style*" was requested for dessert.
These are tasty-- at first, they came out lacking in bar-form until I realized we are impatient piggies who didn't wait long enough for the bars to cool down. If you do, they cut out perfectly. I used a 9x9 but next time I will use a 9x13 so the spread will be thinner. Also, the glaze isn't necessary (although it looks pretty)-- even with less-than-sweet apples this can manage just fine without the added sweetness of the glaze. Cup of tea?

Apple Streusel Bars
adapted from Lovin' From the Oven

Ingredients
STREUSEL CRUST:
2 cups AP flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup butter
1 egg, beaten

FILLING:
1/4 cup white sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup AP flour
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2tsp vanilla
4 cups (about 3 medium) baking apples, sliced thinly.

GLAZE:
1 cup icing sugar
1-2 tbsp whole milk
1 tsp vanilla

Directions
Preheat your oven to 180C /350F.

To prepare pastry crust, dice cold butter into small cubes. Add to mixer and beat together the flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder under you have pea sized bits. Slowly add in beaten egg. If you have a large food processor that would work well, too.

Spray a 9x13 baking dish with non-stick cooking spray.
Gently pat about 2/3 of the crumb mixture onto the bottom of the dish. Preheat oven to 350 and set aside.
Apple filling: combine flour, sugar, and cinnamon. Toss with apples and spread apples out on prepared crust. I kind of stacked them like I'm making a fancy tartin.

Sprinkle reserved streusel mixture over apples evenly, sprinkle with cinnamon if you want (I loves me some cinnamon!)

Bake 40-45 minutes. Allow to cool completely (I was too impatient and dug straight in, which means its less bar-like and more gooey delicious.

Glaze: whisk icing sugar, vanilla, and roughly 2 tbsp milk. You might need more milk to get it to the desired thinness. Drizzle glaze over cooled bars-- I used a fork and that worked perfectly. Allow to harden. If you can!