Blueberry Crumb Bars

These blueberry crumb bars are crazy straightforward to mix and could, dare we say, rival your favorite blueberry pie recipe. You can pick them up and eat them on the go, which makes them a reliable dessert for picnics and summer parties!

Ahh, sweet blueberries. We are positively obsessed with them right now. We've been eating them by the handful… and with cottage cheese… and in a bowl of cinnamon shredded wheat… and in every baked good we can possibly imagine (hello, lemon blueberry bundt cake!). We can’t imagine a day when we'll ever tire of baking with blueberries.

This past weekend, we decided to combine blueberries with one of our favorite desserts – crumb bars! Give us anything with a crumb topping and we'll devour it faster than you can say “butter”. Quite a few years ago, we made peach crumb bars, which we successfully turned into blueberry crumb bars. If you can go wrong with fresh fruit and a buttery crumb crust and topping, we haven’t found a way.

We're sure you could easily adapt these bars to use up whatever type of berry you have in your fridge, but we are definitely partial to the blueberry. It’s our favorite of the berry family, plus we just love that beautiful purple color that baked blueberries exude.

These bars are exceptionally straightforward (and speedy!) to make, so no excuses… grab a big container of plump, juicy blueberries and hop into the kitchen!

Prepare yourself for the fact that you will continue to cut “just a little piece” until half of the pan is gone. It’s unavoidable; just don’t say we didn’t warn you!

• Yield: 24 bars
• Prep: 20 minutes
• Cook: 50 minutes
• Total: 1 hour 10 minutes

Ingredients

For the Crumb

• 3 cups ( 375 g ) all-purpose flour
• 1 cup ( 200 g ) granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon ( 0.25 teaspoon ) salt
• 1 cup ( 227 g ) cold unsalted butter, cut into small cubes
• 1 egg

For the Blueberry Filling

• 4 cups ( 592 g ) fresh blueberries, (20 ounces)
• ½ cup ( 100 g ) granulated sugar
• 4 teaspoons cornstarch
• Juice of one lemon, about 3 tablespoons

Method

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Lightly grease a 9×13-inch baking pan.
2. Make the Crumb: In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Use a fork or pastry cutter to blend in the butter, and then the egg (the dough will be crumbly). Press half of dough into the prepared pan.
3. Make the Filling: In a separate large bowl, whisk together the sugar, cornstarch and lemon juice. Gently fold in the blueberries to coat evenly with the sugar mixture. Spread the blueberry mixture evenly over the crust, drizzling any excess juice in the bowl over the filling. Crumble the remaining dough evenly over the blueberry layer.
4. Bake for 45 to 50 minutes, or until the top is light golden brown. Cool completely before cutting into squares. Leftovers can be stored in an airtight container or wrapped in plastic wrap at room temperature or in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.

Notes

This recipe was originally published on July 23, 2013.