Oatmeal Apple Pie Bars

In surfing around I came across these bars at Cookie Pie's blog. They are well worth making.

Oatmeal Apple Pie Bars

Ingredients:

Filling:

1 Tbsp. unsalted butter
3 large apples, Mac's, peeled, cored and thinly sliced
2 Tbsp. packed dark brown sugar
1 Tbsp. grated fresh ginger
2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 cup chopped pecans, or halves
pinch of salt

Crust:

1 cup unbleached flour
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
1 cup large flake oats
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted

Directions:

Preheat oven 350º.
Prepare a 9 X 9" baking pan. Line with parchment on bottom and butter the pan well.

Filling:

Melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat, add pecans and toast until golden.
Add apples, brown sugar, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt cook, stirring often.
When the apples are golden and tender and caramelize, about 8 to 10 minutes.
Put in a small bowl and let cool.

Crust:

In mixing bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, salt, brown sugar and oats.
Stir in melted butter.
Take 1 1/2 cups of oat mixture and press evenly into bottom of prepared pan.
Spoon filling over crust, spreading evenly.
Crumble remaining oat mixture over filling.

Bake bars for 30 to 35 minutes, until topping is golden brown.
Let cool on a wire rack to room temperature, cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour, or overnight.
Remove bars from baking pan, and cut into bars.
Keep bars in an airtight container in the fridge.