Caramel Apple Bars

A few weeks ago, I wrote "These Caramel Apple Cream Cheese Bars from Picky Palate are what I'm bringing to the football watching event this coming Sunday. Easy, yes, and filled with terrible-for-you ingredients that come together droolingly. I can't wait."

So I made them, excitedly, with a few modifications for a slightly healthier version (sorry!). Really, I just stretched the recipe to fill an 11x13" pan, rather than the 9" square one. While the base recipe is delicious, I think I'll modify it a bit more in the next iteration. I'd like to balance the sweetness next time around and want to try it with fresh apples, cinnamon and lemon juice. It would also be great with an oatmeal cookie crust rather than the granola bars smashed with cookie dough. If you refer to the original recipe Caramel Apple Cream Cheese Bars from Picky Palate and her beautiful pictures, I'll just tell you what I did differently. Fully informed, you can make whatever version strikes your fancy.

All of my ingredients, prepped and ready. I mixed a pinch of cinnamon into
the apple filling because it just felt like the right thing to do.

The baked crust, smeared with cream cheese and layered with apple
filling (the whole can), a smashed granola bar and chunks of the
remaining sugar cookie dough.

Mmm, all done baking.

After cooling a few hours, I drizzled the whole thing with 4 oz of caramels that
I melted in 2 T of milk. The whole thing was still extremely sweet.