Its a Pie! Its a Bar! What is it??

Ah Mom, she is such a wonderful lady.  Helpful, caring, funny.  And the provider of some of my favest recipes!!  Today we will be tackling Apple Bars.  Super easy, so flavorful.  And they make a TON!    She said so, and it is true!

Once again, my handy little helper will be modeling today's tasks.  In her pajamas.  It was that kind of day!!

 Start with this oh-so-easy and OH-SO-TASTY dough.  Mix up 2.5 cups of flour, 1 T of sugar and 1 t of salt.  Cut in 1 cup of shortening.  It is VERY important it is shortening.  Do not sub butter or margarine, it won't taste right.  Add 2 egg yolks (remembering to save the whites!!!) and 1/2 cup of water and mix it into a ball.

Cut that ball in half like so.

 Roll out half of the ball to fit a 12 x 18 " jelly roll pan.  Then sprinkle 1.5 cups of crushed cornflakes over dough.  It sounds TOTALLY crazy but it soaks up all of the juices and you never remember that they are even there!  It is a very important step (that Lucy and I almost forgot and had to go back and do after we put in the apples...I do not advise that).

We have one of these handy apple core-er and slicer thingies.  I LOVE IT. So did Lucy.  She was able to do it all herself, except for putting the apple on and taking the core off.  I highly recommend it, they are super cheap (I think mine was about $15 at Menards or Fleet Farm) and I use it a lot.  Then again, I love apples and baking!!  But one pie/crisp/batch of applesauce and this thing pays for itself.

Ok, infomercial over. 

Isn't she just the cutest?  By the way, this is not a crappy picture, I was playing with photoshop.
So, get those 10 apples peeled, cored and chopped up.  Add 1.5 cups of sugar and 1.25 t cinnamon. 

  

Spread the apples over the dough, roll the other half of the dough out then cover the apples. 

Remember those egg whites?  Beat them and brush them over the dough.  It makes the dough oh so crisp and lovely and I would argue the second most important thing about this recipe.  Throw that bad boy in a 350 oven for an hour.  They were so good....I forgot to take a picture!!!  Whoops!  Believe me, these are awesome and go fast!

I should also note that I like a little frosting (what, more sugar??), so I made a simple glaze (also from Mumsy's book) of 2 t water, 2 T butter, 1.5 c powdered sugar and 1 t almond extract.  I tell ya, that almond extract MADE the entire thing for me.  How many times have I said that now?  Maybe the almond extract is the #1 key.....

Guess you better make them for yourself and find out!!!