These Blueberry Crumb Bars are made with a real blueberry filling (no canned pie filling here!) and a buttery crust and crumbly topping!
I’m finally back home after a long weekend at a conference in Salt Lake City spent surrounded by other incredible bloggers and plenty of incredible food.
The trip was amazing, minus the TSA pat down just before the flight home because a bag of chili that I tried to bring home from the conference alerted as “explosive” during a TSA check.
That was… awkward. 😳
Needless to say the chili was in fact not explosive, but I am a little concerned about eating it now. This is why I’m a desserts person. A from-scratch baker, that way I don’t have to worry about my food alerting as explosive.
These blueberry crumb bars are 100% from-scratch and 100% non-explosive.
We start with a homemade blueberry pie filling for the juicy center layer of these blueberry crumb bars. You can use fresh or frozen berries, you’ll cook them in a saucepan with some sugar and corn starch until the filling is thick and then add more fresh berries, a pat of butter, and some vanilla extract for flavor.
Both the crust and the buttery, cobbled topping are made from the same shortbread-esque cookie mixture to keep things simple (and delicious).
We’ll make this crumbly cookie base and topping in our food processor, you can use a pastry cutter instead, but the food processor is going to be the quickest and easiest way to do this. The mixture should be very crumbly, and you’ll use your hands to pat half of it evenly into the bottom of a baking dish, then layer your filling, then top everything off with the remaining crumbly cookie mixture.
Once these blueberry crumb bars have finished baking and are still hot, they will be hard to cut. The filling won’t be very solid and the crumble will actually crumble apart if it’s still warm. In order for these bars to be sliceable, you will need to let them cool for about 2-3 hours.
…That being said, I am 100% for scooping them out of the pan with the spoon and enjoying them warm (or even topped with ice cream!). Yes, they will totally fall apart if you do that, but they are so good warm it’s worth it.
Enjoy!
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How to Make Blueberry Crumb Bars
Blueberry Crumb Bars
Ingredients
Blueberry Filling
- 5 cups blueberries divided (840g)
- ½ cup sugar (100g)
- 2 Tablespoons cornstarch
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- 1 Tablespoon lemon juice
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 Tablespoon butter
Crumb Base/Topping
- 3 ¼ cups all-purpose flour (405g)
- ¾ cup sugar (150g)
- ¼ cup light brown sugar, tightly packed (50g)
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup cold unsalted butter, cut into small cubes (227g)
- 1 large egg yolk
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F (175C) and lightly grease a 9x13 glass baking dish. Set aside.
- In small saucepan, combine 3 cups blueberries (505g), sugar, cornstarch, salt, and lemon juice over medium-low heat.
- Stir frequently until the blueberries release their juices, and the mixture is very liquidy (about 5-8 mins).
- Increase heat to medium-high and bring to a boil, stirring constantly.
- Boil (still stirring constantly) for 1 minutes and remove from heat. Add remaining 2 cups of blueberries, butter, and vanilla extract and stir until butter is melted. Allow to cool while you prepare your crust.
- To prepare your cookie crust, combine flour, sugars, baking powder, cornstarch, and salt in a food processor and pulse briefly until combined.
- Sprinkle your butter pieces evenly over the dry ingredients and pulse until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
- Add egg and vanilla extract and pulse again until mixture just begins to cling together.
- Pour ½ of your cookie batter into the bottom of your prepared pan and use your hands or the back of a spoon to press evenly into the bottom of the pan to form a crust.
- Pour your cooled blueberry filling evenly over the crust.
- Use your hands to sprinkle the remaining crust mixture evenly over the top of the filling.
- Transfer to the oven and bake on 350F (175C) for 55-60 minutes or until the top of the blueberry crumb bars is golden brown.
- Allow to cool completely (2-3 hours) before slicing and serving. If you prefer to enjoy these warm the crumb bars WILL fall apart if sliced before they have cooled and set, so plan to use a spoon!
Bruce
OK. My measuring cups are now retired! I had the same trouble with the base again, so I measured 3 1/4 cups of flour using my best spoon and level technique, and I was using 437 grams instead of 405.
I’ve also learned that this recipe can’t be improved on. I had about two cups of cheese filling, made with locally-produced quark, so I spread it over the base, under the berries. The result was very good, but not as good as the original recipe. I also learned that the small blueberries, which is what I was able to find this week, don’t cook down much at all like the fat ones do, so the filling isn’t as tasty.
I’ve learned a lot this week, and have some excellent blueberry-cheese crumb bars to eat and share.
Sam
The scale is so much easier, faster, and more accurate. I’m so glad you enjoyed them so much! 🙂
ronnie
this is awsome
Jess
Hi, can this filling be used for a cake?
Sam
Hi Jess! That should work. 🙂
Bruce
OK. I found the video for the Strawberry Crumb Bars on your YouTube channel, so I’ve seen how your dough looks. I could tell that mine would never get to that point. Maybe my Challenge brand butter has less water in it than the brand you used, or maybe my egg yolk was smaller. Anyway, I’m still sure there will be no disappointment when we eat them!
Sam
Hi Bruce! Hmm, I often use Challenge butter and have with this recipe, so that shouldn’t be it. Usually with a food processor if you just keep pulsing it will get to that point (unless the flour was accidentally over-measured, probably not but it’s something to consider). Regardless I hope you still LOVE these! 🙂
Bruce
Yes, too much flour is possible, since I didn’t weigh it. They are delicious, of course. After being refrigerated overnight, the are holding together much better ( but I’m still eating them over a plate).
Bruce
They haven’t cooled yet, so I haven’t tasted my raspberry crumb bars. The filling tastes amazing, and I got some great raspberries at my local produce market. I wish you had a video for these bars, though, because my dough mixture never did “begin to cling together”. It pressed into the pan very well, but the topping is more like coarse sand than your little clumpettes. Mine might have to be eaten with a fork, but I’ll bet they’re fantastic! I’ll let you know after their Thanksgiving debut tomorrow. I now have a batch of your Best Blueberry Muffins (which definitely are) in the oven for breakfasts tomorrow and Friday (if they last that long).
Bruce
My blueberry bars are in the oven now, and the dough was much more cooperative this time, in spite of my new food processor, which is horrible. This one has a big space (over 1 inch) between the upper and lower blades, and that makes it incapable of doing a good job of cutting in butter. With lots of coaxing, I got the job done. Fortunately, I can still use the old food processor for jobs like this. The bowl is cracked, but still in one piece. We’ll just go with the guess that the last time I got too much flour into the dough. As I said before, the raspberry bars were delicious. Since raspberries have so much more flavor than blueberries, I think the raspberry version will be my favorite.
Sam
I’m glad these turned out better for you. It’s frustrating when your equipment doesn’t work properly.
Jackie
Can these be frozen?
Sugar Spun Run
Hi, Jackie! I personally have never frozen them, however, someone recently tried this and reported success. I hope that you enjoy them. 🙂
Jamie
Best blueberry dessert my family and I have ever had! It’s so worth the effort to make, but be warned—these bars are addictive!
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed them so much, Jamie! 🙂
B
I bought 10 lbs of fresh blueberries yesterday and stumbled upon this recipe. Twenty four hours later it’s all gone! Even my picky eater loved it. I’m making it again tomorrow for my in-laws! This recipe is a keeper!
Sugar Spun Run
I am so glad that this recipe was a hit and a perfect use for all your fresh blueberries. Thanks for commenting, Brynn! 🙂
Tracey daisy
Can I use the stand mixer to mix the prepare the cookie crust? Cause I don’t have a food processor
Sam
Hi Tracey! I would recommend a pastry cutter to work everything together over a stand mixer. It will be a good bit of an arm workout though. 🙂
Laurie
I used my stand mixer. It worked just fine and tasted so good.
Joanna
Hi Sam! Just wanted to let you know that I made these for my mom and she adored them. She loves blueberries and said that it is the best blueberry filling she has ever had. They absolutely loved the bars. Thanks for a great recipe!
Sam
I am so glad everyone enjoyed them so much, Joanna! 🙂
Brianna
Do you store this in the fridge or at room temp?
Sam
Hi Brianna! You can store these at room temperature. 🙂
Ellen
I made the blueberry crumble bars on Saturday. They turned out amazing. Your recipes and videos are so easy to follow. On May 20, 2020 we will be married for 47 years. My husband said these bars were the best thing I ever made. He asked if raspberry bars can be made the same way
Sugar Spun Run
I am glad that you find my recipes easy to follow and the videos helpful, Ellen. I am happy that you both enjoyed the bars as well. I have a Strawberry Crumb Bar recipe that is similar to this one. Substituting raspberries should work just as well. Happy (early) Anniversary to you both and congratulations on 47 years of marriage. 🙂