TWD: APPLESAUCE SPICE BARS

The morning I made these - my first thought when I stepped out the door was "did I miss the lazy hazy end of summer"? It was about 62 degrees, rainy, calm and - well, beautiful! School started the next day, football season was only a week away and there was no humidity. I guess I could have missed a couple weeks since anything is possible.....

It was a perfect day for an apple bar - fall, comfort spices and apples and of course "glaze". I realized it was meant to be when I remembered there was applesauce in the fridge just waiting....

For some reason - I was expecting the bar have more "crumb"

No raisins for me (long and complicated story). I also doubled the spices to enhance the flavor.

Doubling the glaze was a perfect way to top these! Replacing the vanilla with rum (actually doubling the rum to 2 teaspoons - yum!) was a delicious touch and added another layer of flavor.

Making two smaller pans of bars left me with some extra batter which became mini-muffins.

Fresh out of the pan - I actually was a little disappointed. But - the next morning, this bar (which I came to think of as more like a bread similar to banana) was delicious. The flavors blended and mellowed and the glaze was a nice touch.