Easy Apple Pie Bars (Slab Pie Recipe) is a traditional dessert from Transylvania, Romania, baked in a jelly roll pan, cut in squares, and dusted with powder sugar.
Enchanting Flavors
October is here, and apples are in season and a little cheaper, which means it is time to bake an apple pie, Romanian style.
I have to confess that writing this recipe, as easy as it looks like, kind of kicked my butt.
I always try to do the best work I can when bringing my own culture into the American one with my recipes.
American apple pie is not the same as the Romanian version; therefore, I had to research and figure out how to name the pie.
Most Romanian pies are baked in trays, cut into squares, and served with powder sugar on top. They look more like bars.
However, it came out that the proper English term for this kind of pie is a slab pie.
For those who do not know what a slab pie is: A slab pie is simply a shallow pie made in a rimmed baking sheet, usually a jelly roll pan.
It feeds a crowd, and it takes less time to prepare, as you don't have to hand shape a bunch of pies.
However, as the slab pies are very traditional and standard in Romania and most Eastern European countries, I guess this is the right name for my recipe.
This recipe comes from my German grandmother, who lived in Transylvania. The apple filling is slightly sweet and also cooked before assembling the pie.
We cook the apples first, with butter, sugar, and spices, until the apple juices are reduced to almost nothing.
There is no cornstarch, flour, or other ingredients to thicken the filling. We sometimes add raisins and walnuts, as I did in this recipe.
It is not mandatory, but that makes the pie delicious and different.
The slab pie can be filled with anything, farmer's cheese, apples, berries, quinces, or pumpkin. We take advantage of what fruits are in season and make a pie.
Ideal for Gatherings
These pies are excellent for potlucks, parties, and other events with lots of people.
Call them rustic. I think this is a good word for them.
There are many recipes out there to make a pie crust, but this one, in particular, was very interesting to me because of the ingredients required.
My grandmother writes that you can use different combinations of liquids for the dough: 6 tablespoons wine, OR 1 tablespoon rum (yum!) and five tablespoons water, OR 1 tablespoon vinegar and five tablespoons water.
Basically, you have three versions of the same recipe that will taste slightly different. I tried all of them, but I loved the one with the wine.
There is no alcohol left after you bake the pie, but the crust had a subtle taste which I liked a lot.
You can make the dough by hand or use a food processor. Make your life easier if you can! Also, use any apples you want.
I remember the women in my family making apple pies with leftover apples, cheap ones, small and slightly ugly.
Nothing was wasted, and the pies were great! Also, you can keep the skin on the apples if you like!
There is a lot of nutritional value in the skin, but feel free to peel the apples before grating them if you don't like them unpeeled.
PIN THIS FOR LATER:
Have fun making this apple pie version. Call it bars, slab pie, or placinta cu mere (in Romanian), and let me know what you think! See you next time!
More recipes to love and make
Ham Cheese And Onion Puff Pastry Slab Pie
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📖 Recipe
Easy Apple Pie Bars (Slab Pie Recipe)
Ingredients
Pie Crust:
- 3 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
- 4 tablespoons lard/cold butter
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- a pinch of salt
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 large egg
- 2 tablespoons sour cream
- Choose one option for the liquid:
- 1 tablespoon white vinegar + 5 tablespoons water
- OR 1 tablespoon rum plus 5 tablespoons water
- OR 6 tablespoons white wine
Apple filling:
- 2 pounds apples any type you like, coarsely grated(use a food processor if you have)
- 4-5 tablespoons granulated sugar
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon nutmeg
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons butter
- Optional:
- ¼ cup raisins
- ¼ cup chopped walnuts
- To finish: 2 tablespoons milk or 1 egg beaten
- 1-2 tablespoons of powder sugar to sprinkle on top before serving
Instructions
- In a bowl, combine flour, salt, sugar, and baking powder. Cut in lard/butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
- Incorporate the egg and the sour cream.
- Add the liquid and incorporate. The recipe requires six tablespoons of liquid that can be: 1 tablespoon white vinegar + 5 tablespoons water, OR 1 tablespoon rum plus five tablespoons water, OR 1 tablespoon vinegar plus five tablespoon water. Use the combination of ingredients you have available.
- Shape dough into a ball; chill for 30 minutes.
- TIP: If you use a food processor, start the same, pulsing 1-2 times together flour, salt, sugar, and baking powder. Add lard/butter and pulse a few times until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Add the egg, sour cream, and liquid and pulse until a dough is formed. Shape it into a ball and chill for 30 minutes.
- Meanwhile, grate the apples. You can peel them first, but it is not necessary if, for example, you buy organic ones that do not have the skin waxed. I prefer to leave the skin on—it contains most of the apple's nutrients, but if you don't like the skin, feel free to peel the apple before you grate it.
- In a cooking pan, melt the butter and add the apples, lemon juice, cinnamon, nutmeg, and sugar. Mix and cook the apples for about 10 minutes until the juices are reduced.
- Set aside to cool.
- Preheat oven to 350F/180C.
- Grease and flour the baking pan. Set aside.
- On a floured surface, divide the dough into two parts.
- Roll one piece of dough the size of the pan. Place it on the bottom of it.
- Add the apple filling and spread evenly.
- Roll the other half of the dough to the pan's size and cover the apples with it.
- To finish, brush the surface of the pie with milk or an egg wash.
- Use a fork to pinch the surface of the pie.
- Bake at 350/180C for about 45-50 minutes or until the top crust is golden brown.
- Remove from the oven, place the pan on a metal rack and let it cool for an hour.
- The traditional Romanian way is to sprinkle powder sugar on top. It is served cut in squares.
Carrie LaFord says
Do you have a recipe for placinta?
I grew up Italian, my father was a musician and would play accordion at Romanian picnics in Michigan on Sundays. He would sometimes take us along. We learned to dance Romanian and loved eating the placinta, not sure if I’m spelling it correctly. It was long ago, but I believe them to be almost dough-nut like pastry filled with cheese and dill. Hope you know what I’m talking about. I would love to make them for my brother.
The Bossy Kitchen says
Hi Carrie, there are multiple ways to make the placinta(which by the way, you spelled right) with cheese. It could look like the apple recipe you commented on, but instead of apples you can do a mixture of cheese from ricotta and feta cheese with 1-2 eggs and some fresh dill. It would look like a slab pie. Another way to do it is to make this recipe:https://www.thebossykitchen.com/feta-black-caraway-pastries/
There is another type of placinta(usually made in the Romanian Moldova region), an yeast dough that is filled with cheese and dill, flattened and then cooked in the pan. I do not have a recipe like that on the blog yet, but I am working on it. However, if you Google for example Romanian cheese pie placinta, there are a bunch of recipes that might be helpful. Thank you though for visiting.:-)
Tatiana says
Hi,
You put an “Or” in the ingredients list and it should be an “and” or just nothing.
Best,
Tatiana
The Bossy Kitchen says
Hi Tatiana, Thanks for letting me know. I made a correction there. The dough requires 6 tablespoons of liquid that could be only white wine, or a combination of vinegar and water, or rum and water. Thanks again for noticing the glitch.
Anonymous says
Anonymous says
Anonymous says
Maria says
Hi Tatiana, I’d like to make the slab pie with Filo dough so I think I need the Apple filling to be very thick how can I make it thicker do you just cook it till it’s very very thick? Thank you Maria
The Bossy Kitchen says
Hi! Gabriela here! You can follow the same recipe and use phyllo dough instead of the pie dough I made. I use phyllo dough this way very often too, so go ahead and try it!
Maria says
Hi Gabriella, I’m going to try it with the Philo thank you so much Maria
The Bossy Kitchen says
You are very welcome. Let me know if you liked it.
Claire says
Dough was very hard to roll out to fit into a 9x13 pan. The dough was more for an 8x8 or 9x9 or a pie pan.
The Bossy Kitchen says
Hi Claire, I am not sure why this happened to you. I make this pie in a 9x13 Pyrex pan and works just fine.
Claire says
@The Bossy Kitchen, It took alot of rolling and I finally got the dough rolled out to fit. I let my dough chill longer than 30 minutes. That might have been the reason!
Anyway--made the bars and they are really good. They are not sweet at all-which is a good thing. I can't handle a sickening sweet dessert. For those that think these might be too sugary or sweet - they are not. Not even with the powdered sugar on top.
How cool this recipe is to have been handed down from your Grandma!!
The Bossy Kitchen says
Yes, probably the dough was too cold and hard to roll. I am happy you liked the dessert. You are right, the bars are not very sweet, and I love cooking the apples before baking the pie. We make apple pie like that all the time and I love it. Happy holidays to you, Claire, and thank you for taking the time to write a review!
Miri says
Do you have a recipe to make the cake with farmer cheese instead of apples ? Thanks
The Bossy Kitchen says
I don't have a specific recipe for that, but you can try this Sweet cheese slab pie or Lemon Ricotta Cheese Cake .