This recipe came to me when I realized I had a huge container of unsweetened applesauce and nothing to do with it. Plus, I really wanted apple pie, but I didn’t want to spend the ridiculous amount of calories on that. I am also lowering my carb intake. I found that the weight gain I am experience right now during perimenopause, responded better to switching my higher carb items earlier in the day and lower my carbs the rest of the day. Weight maintenance is difficult throughout your life and we constantly have to adapt.

I looked for a way to do a low carb pie bar with applesauce for the filling instead of apples. I ended up combining two recipes and coming up with my own. The two recipes I used were from Erin Lives Whole and The Old Farmer’s Almanac. Erin’s recipe had a crust that was easy to adapt and the Old Farmer’s Almanac had a guide of how to make an applesauce pie filling. It may sound like it might not be good. However, I replace the sugar with some great stand-ins that provide the sweetness. They were awesome! They tasted great. So great we ate all of them over a few days. This recipe is worth it if you want to lower your sugar intake over the holidays.

Here are the original stats:

Here is the recipe:

Sugar Free Applesauce Pie Bars

Serves 12

Crust:

• 1/4 cup melted unsalted butter
• 1 tablespoon sweetener of choice
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 cups almond flour
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt

Filling:

• 2 cups unsweetened applesauce
• 1 cup brown sugar substitute
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 teaspoon ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

Preheat the oven to 350F.  Place all of the ingredients for the crust in a bowl and mix until all of the dry ingredients are moistened.  Place all but 1/3 cup of this mixture in an 8×8 square baking dish lined with parchment paper.  Press down evenly.

For the filling place the applesauce in a saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium heat.  Simmer for 20 minutes.  Take off the heat and add the butter.  Let cool slightly.

Beat the eggs and add slowly to the warm mixture while stirring.  Add in the spice and mix well.  Add the mixture to the crust and sprinkle the remaining 1/3 cup crust mixture over top.

Bake for 30-32 minutes or until browned.  Let cool completely before serving.  The bars will be soft.