I like to tease my husband that he is a tree-a-holic. He loves his trees and we have started a new orchard at the farm.  Well, you could call me a recipe-a-holic. I am always printing off recipes from blogs, recipe sites, you name it I print it. Tearing recipes out of magazines is also one of my habits. My problem with all of this is that, unlike the trees my husband orders, I have a bad habit of letting these recipes sit around and gather dust.

This winter I decided to get organized (which would be a whole ‘nother lengthy post) and I went through all of my recipes stacked on my desk. I actually got rid of many but still have tons of them. However, along with my getting organized, I made a vow to cook more of the recipes I run across. So far, so good – I have been making many new dishes – some turned out really well and others not so much.

A couple of months ago, I ran across a Sour Cream Apple Bar recipe on a blog called Culinary in the Desert.  The recipe sounded quite tasty and since the Sour Cream Apple Pie recipe I made last November was a hit. I decided to give these a try.

THE RECIPE:

For the crust

2 cups uncooked quick-cooking oats
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon allspice
16 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup chopped walnuts, toasted

For the filling

1 cup sour cream
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups shredded apple

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a bowl, whisk together oats, flour, walnuts, baking soda, cinnamon, salt and allspice. In a large mixing bowl, beat together butter and brown sugar until creamy. Add dry ingredients and mix until well combined.

Scoop half of the mixture into a 9″ x 13″ baking pan. Press mixture down over the bottom of the pan to form an even crust. Place into the oven and bake until lightly golden, about 8 to 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a large bowl, stir together sour cream, sugar, flour, egg, vanilla and apple. Pour filling over the hot, partially baked crust. Crumble remaining crust mixture evenly over the filling and lightly press down to adhere.

Place pan back into the oven and bake until the top is golden and the center is set, about 25 to 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool completely before cutting into bars.

Notes: I didn’t have walnuts so I skipped that in the crust. I used Jonathan apples in order to get the most apple flavor. I didn’t want the apples overpowered by the oatmeal crust.

The Verdict:

Quite good according to my taste testers. However, the only change we would make would be to add more apples. The apple lovers in the house thought that additional apple flavor would make this recipe almost perfect.