Caramel Apple Crisp Bites bring all of the flavors of fall into one delicious dessert so easily. The apple cinnamon filling and the graham cracker crust will warm your heart and fill your tummy.
Caramel Apple Crisp Bites
These Caramel Apple Crisp Bites are the perfect recipe to make with all of those delicious fresh apples you pick in the fall!
Our family loves going to the apple orchard and picking fresh apples to begin with – the apples good and fresh and crisp taste just burst when they are right off the tree. (our family’s favorite apples are large Golden Delicious apple, right off the tree – what is yours?)
But, what we love even more is what we make once we have all of those delicious apples.
You have heard me cook with my sister, my kids, and my niece… but today was a special treat – I got to cook with my husband!
Adam is my best taste tester and my best critic. When I told him I wanted to make apple crisp bites (I have a little obsession with bite-sized desserts) – he jumped right in to help!
Are you ready to be obsessed with a dessert? Seriously, get ready. You are going to be totally and completely crazed over these Caramel Apple Crisp Bites. They are one of our all-time favorite fall desserts because they are so tasty and uniquely fall!
If you have more apples to use up, try out these Caramel Apple Pie Cookies! They are out of this world!
While these Caramel Apple Crisp Bites are particularly perfect on a nice, cool, Fall day, they are a great dessert any time of the year!
What type of apples are best in an apple crisp?
Basically, you want to go with the sweet varieties of apples. Empire, Granny Smith or Honey Crisp work well. However, We used Golden Delicious for our recipe and they came on perfect.
Ingredients
- Graham cracker crumbs (I used store bought in a can. I find these to work the best)
- Butter
- Powdered sugar
- Apples (we used golden delicious)
- Sugar
- Brown sugar
- Flour
- Cinnamon
- Nutmeg
- Caramel topping
How to make Caramel Apple Crisp Bites
Apple Crisp Bites are really easy to make. It starts out with the crust!
- In a medium bowl mix together the graham cracker crumbs, powdered sugar, and butter.
NOTE ABOUT BUTTER: Some people have found the crust recipe to work perfectly, while some others found the 12 tablespoons of butter was way too much and the butter started to pool – you may want to start by using 1/2 C butter (1 stick vs. 1 1/2 sticks, or 12 T). Melt the butter and add slowly to the crumbs, a little bit at a time, making sure it’s not too wet. You can always add more or save the leftover butter for later. You want a soft dough that sticks together slightly when you try to form a ball, not a wet dough. - Evenly distribute the mixture to the 24 mini muffin cups. Using your fingertips or the side of a spoon (a tablespoon measuing spoon works perfect for this), press the mixture to the bottom and sides of each cup. You will create a cup-like shape! (save a little bit to put on top of the bites if you can!)
- Bake for 5 minutes at 350 degrees (until they start to get a bit golden brown) and let cool completely.
- Chop the apples up into small pieces.
PRO-TIP: I used a food processor, but be careful not to over chop them in there. We don’t want an apple sauce or puree – just small chopped up pieces! - Mix the apples, brown sugar, flour, cinnamon, and nutmeg together in a bowl. Bake at 375 degrees in a baking dish for 15 minutes until the apples are slightly softened.
- Scoop the filling into each of the crust cups still in the muffin pan.
PRO-TIP: Fill them up generously. - Sprinkle any leftover graham cracker crust on to the tops of the apples and bake at 350 degrees for 5 minutes.
- Take out of the oven and let them cool completely. Take a knife and loosen the crusts from the cups. They should then pop right out of the pan!
- Drizzle with caramel topping and enjoy!
More Fall Recipes
- Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread
- Cinnamon Roll Cookies
- Caramel Apple Dump Cake
- Apple Cider Doughnut Holes
Caramel Apple Crisp Bites
Video
Ingredients
- 2 cup graham cracker crumbs (I used store bought in a can. I find these to work the best)
- 12 tablespoons butter melted
- ½ cup powdered sugar
- 4 cups peeled, cored and chopped apples (we used golden delicious)
- ⅓ cup sugar
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- 2 ¼ tablespoons flour
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
- Caramel topping (store bought!)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease mini muffin pan with non-stick butter spray
- Melt butter
- In a medium size bowl mix graham cracker crumbs, powdered sugar and butter with a spoon (slowly add the butter and evenly distribute)PLEASE SEE UPDATE/NOTE BELOW
- Evenly distribute mixture to the 24 mini muffin cups. Press along the bottom and sides to make a “cup”
- Bake for 5 minutes and let cool completely
- Chop the apples into little pieces – I used a mini food processor. Don’t puree, just finely chop
- Mix apples, sugar, brown sugar, flour, cinnamon and nutmeg in a bowl
- Bake in a baking dish for 15 minutes on 375 degrees, until apples are slightly softened
- Scoop a teaspoon or so of the apple mix and place on top of the graham cracker crust cups (while still in the muffin pan) and sprinkle any extra graham cracker on top of the apples.
- Bake for 5 minutes on 350 and let cool completely. Use a knife to loosen from pan and they should pop right out.
- Drizzle with caramel topping
Came across this recipe on Facebook & I’m excited to make them for Thanksgiving! Flavored of apple pie but in an unexpected form! I think the butter issue might be the difference of butter vs the fake stuff. Use REAL butter! Pinning it now & I shall return after I make them! I may have to do a taste test run before Thanksgiving!
I almost posted the same question as Anne #124.
I bought a mini muffin pan just for this recipe. I had never needed one but mini tarts is a great reason. I’m going to use pears and top it with pecan bits instead. Originally I wanted to put the pears in won ton wrappers but my experiment got a little messy. Have you ever used wrappers as cups like the graham cracker?
I have not! I like the sweetness of the graham cracker crust – but would love to hear how yours come out!
yes..way to much butter…I too didn’t read the rest of the instructions…but just kind of soaked it up with a papertowel..waiting for them to cool…will let you know…
Like so many others, I found the 12 T of melted butter was waaaay too much! Of course I found out the hard way – after I made the recipe and before reading the comments. I thought it was because I was using pre-crushed gluten free graham style crumbs, but then I saw that others had the same issue. In my experience, if you’re using 2 cups of crumbs, start by using 1/2 C butter (1 stick vs. 1 1/2 sticks, or 12 T) Melt the butter and add slowly to the crumbs, a little bit at a time, making sure it’s not too wet. You can always add more or save the leftover butter for later. You want a soft dough that sticks together slightly when you try to form a ball, not a wet dough.
I ended up removing the dough from the tin and spreading into a baker.
Hi Dee – Thank you for your comment – I am not sure why it has worked perfect for some and not so much for others! Makes no sense. I am going to add your comment to the recipe section of the post for others to see. Thank you for your constructive feedback!
Hi! I wanted to know if I could freeze these after I make them and use them for a later date? And if so, up to how many days our months can they be frozen for? My cousin is coming for thanksgiving and wants me to make them for her so she can take them home. Hope I can make it work out! Thanks!
Hi Libby – I have not tried freezing them – they have kept in the refrigerator for a couple of days, just fine…. but I haven’t froze them…. they don’t last that long in my house!
About how many days ahead of time could I make these? I am baking for Thanksgiving and want to do some items ahead of time.
Sooooo excited to make these and crossing my fingers I will have the success everyone else has. How many does this recipe make? I am making these for my school faculty so wondered how long I need to plan to spend in the kitchen.
Thank you!
Hi Allison – it makes about 24 -30. Watch the butter, some people have found that it is too much!
Not sure if this could be the butter problem, but in my other baking I see a big difference in using margarine or “spreads”. Butter, margarine and “spreads” are all sold in stick form. I am very careful to use only butter or margarine. “Spreads” can contain up to 40% water and can change the result when you are baking. – – – Just an observation.
Thanks for the great feedback!!!
OMG! These were easy to make and turned out fabulously. I used boxed graham cracker crumbs and the butter recommended and did not have an issue removing them from the mini muffin pan. I actually got 32 out of this recipe. I also used canned apple pie filling with the added spices and 1TBSP brown sugar. So good and a quick short cut if you are short on time. My book club is going to love these and added bonus my house smells like fresh apple pie. Thank you for the recipe. Incredibly easy to follow.
I was just looking to see if anyone one used canned apples , Thanks!
Hey I tried this recipe the apple mix was amazing however when making the crust there was way too much butter I added a bunch more graham crackers to this and it was still too buttery next time I will just have to add butter by eye. But otherwise this recipe was wonderful.
Attempted to make these this morning with zero success. I couldn’t find graham cracker crumbs at my local grocery store (closest Kroger is over an hour away), so I bought Honey Maid graham crackers, put them in a Ziploc bag, and rolled them with a rolling pin until I could see no “chunks”, just very fine crumbs. Aside from this, I followed the recipe to the letter, and had the same issue with too much butter. (I didn’t read through the comments until after I had mixed the crust, or else I would have started out with much less butter.) I even added about 1/3 cup more crumbs, thinking it would help absorb the butter, but it just turned to mush. I tried putting a couple spoonfuls into a mini muffin pan, and they slumped down to the bottom, looking nothing like the picture. I hate wasting ingredients on a recipe, so I spread the whole crust into an 11×7 baking dish and baked it for 15 minutes, then let it cool completely. I mixed up the apple mixture and spread it over the crust, and baked at 375 for 20 minutes. Final verdict: WAY too much butter, nutmeg was overpowering, and the graham cracker crust did nothing for the apples. I’m hoping to save face with the kids and serve it with ice cream after school, but unfortunately, this has been a waste of time and money for me. Thanks for the opportunity and suggestions to improve the recipe, wish we could all pinpoint how the turnout is so different from one kitchen to the next!
Kristin – I am SO sorry these did not work out for you – there really are some weird differences from kitchen to kitchen. I have had seriously tons and tons of emails from people telling me how great theirs came out and a bunch having butter issues (this was the first nutmeg issue, though 🙂
I do know that letting the cups totally cool seems to be making a difference, as well as baking them at the right heat – I hear if your oven runs too hot, it could cause these problems – mine runs a little cooler than it probably should.
Again – sorry for the waste of time and ingredients!