blueberry crumb bars
Hmmph! I thought. The natives are getting restless.
But who could blame them? Just look at these things! And, oh, to taste them. (As I just did. Because the memory of their deliciousness was vague and I had to. For the sake of clarification.) They’re tart and buttery and fruity and tangy and crumbly… And well, I understand why anyone would get impatient. Can you imagine how much people would revolt if they knew that I had baked these a whole five days ago and have kept them from you since?
It could get ugly.
But if there ever were a dessert worth getting ugly for, it would have to be this. It manages to be The Very Dessert We Were Looking For To Use Up The Greenmarket Berries We Went Gaga Over but also The Perfect Solution to Picnic and Pot-Luck Dessert Limitations as well as–shh, don’t tell anyone–Seriously The Easiest Thing in the Whole World to Make. But we’ll just call them Blueberry Crumb Bars.
“Omg, post the recipe already!”
As you wish.
Blueberry Crumb Bars
Adapted from AllRecipes.com
Recipes like this make me wonder why I don’t use AllRecipes.com more. After seeing a blueberry crumb bar on another site, I immediately wanted to make them but the first recipe seemed overly fussy. I knew there was a simpler way to do it, and lo and behold, All Recipes had it. Once I swapped the shortening for butter–of course–and dolled it up with some lemon juice and lemon zest, they were just as heavenly as the 176 commenters promised they’d be.
I could imagine easily swapping another fruit or berry for the blueberries–I’m especially thinking something tart like sour cherries or cranberries in the fall (I’d use orange instead of lemon with cranberries). But if you have blueberries on hand, do not miss a chance to make these.
These are easiest to cut once chilled, and store even better in the fridge than they do at room temperature–something unusual for cookies!
Yield: I cut these into 36 smallish rectangles
1 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup cold unsalted butter (2 sticks or 8 ounces)
1 egg
1/4 teaspoon salt
Zest and juice of one lemon
4 cups fresh blueberries
1/2 cup white sugar
4 teaspoons cornstarch
1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease a 9×13 inch pan.
2. In a medium bowl, stir together 1 cup sugar, 3 cups flour, and baking powder. Mix in salt and lemon zest. Use a fork or pastry cutter to blend in the butter and egg. Dough will be crumbly. Pat half of dough into the prepared pan.
3. In another bowl, stir together the sugar, cornstarch and lemon juice. Gently mix in the blueberries. Sprinkle the blueberry mixture evenly over the crust. Crumble remaining dough over the berry layer.
4. Bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes, or until top is slightly brown. (This took an extra 10 to 15 minutes in my oven.) Cool completely before cutting into squares.
These look absolutely awesome. I have just eaten, but am hungry again now.
YES! I have 2 pints of blueberries that i need to use! perfect!
yay!!! oh my gosh these look amazing. thanks for sharing!!
Could you possible use frozen blueberries? I had fresh up until a few days ago when I froze them. This recipe came too late for me :)
oh my goodness i wish i was at your house when you made these. i am now going to have to make this!
Mmmmm…those look delish.
I can’t take it!!!!!!!!!!!!! THESE LOOK AMAZING! I saw the photos on Flickr and waited for the recipe. Oh the blueberries are so pretty and they taste oh so great! I’ve gotta buy some more blueberries!
Lisa — Yes. I mean, I didn’t because they’re in season and everywhere, even cheap, but I have more than once used frozen blueberries in the place of fresh ones and found them astoundingly good. They’re just one of those fruits that freezes impeccably.
You are my hero :) I was just looking for a crumb bar recipe to use with some homemade strawberry jam a friend mailed to me. Plus – I plan to go blueberry picking this weekend and will need some recipes to use them up! Thanks Deb!
Great recipe, Deb. You are always posting goto bakes for me. Another keeper, I’m sure. tnx.
Oh, man. There is nothing better than a fruit dessert…yum. Thank you!
Oh man. Want those now.
I made your chocolate pudding the other day, using mostly Mexican chocolate, and goat milk (because that’s what I had). Turned out great! (Pictures here.)
(Well, the goat milk I had was a little too funky, but the recipe is quite sound, and it will be better next time. Thanks!)
Do you think these would freeze well? It seems like the kind of thing I shouldn’t have a whole pan of sitting around my house :)
Yes, I froze mine already! I had made them thinking that something I was going to this weekend was last weekend, and wanted to store them. I ended up slicing them once they were cold, and because I was being extra OCD about them not sticking together, put those little pieces of wax paper around each before freezing them in a container.
Oh. My. Word.
You see, I’m a lover of all things blueberry, and I think it started as a wee child and I hated Strawberry Shortcake (she was such a poser) but was in love with Blueberry Muffin.
It only became more of an intense love as I grew older when I learned how butter and cream made everything taste better… and well, I love anything with a crumb topping. Apples and crumbs. Apples and rhubarb and crumbs. Cookies and crumbs.
And blueberries and crumbs and ice-cream and comfy couch and a good movie and a summer night and an open door. Oh, and no interrupting phone calls.
I totally saw these pictures on Flickr and have been WAITING (read: DYING) for you to post the recipe. Thanks!!!
Oh my word, that looks so ~ SO YUMMY! And to think I’m goin’ blueberry pickin’ tomorrow. Hmmm, I know this will be on the brain the whole time I’m a pickin’!
seriously. you kill me. this is stunning and delicious!
why do I look on here when I’m supposed to be leaving for this boring class that starts in fifteen minutes and goes for 3 hours, straight through dinner time?!
I’m going to be thinking about these the whole time, hopefully I won’t start drooling.
Making these as soon as I get my hands on some blueberries :o)
Yummy! Thanks for the inspiration. I shall be hunting for blueberries here in the desert.
I love allrecipes.com. I go there when I’m looking for something really specific but need to have someone tell me what they’ve done when they experimented. For example, my kids are heading back to school and I wanted to make some granola bars to have on hand for snacks as I am trying to limit all the additives in the store-bought variety. After a bit of research on allrecipes.com, I found a recipe with a bunch of suggestions (”use less brown sugar” and “you can swap out all or part of the oil”, etc) that seemed like it would work. And it did!
I’m not too proud to admit that I’ve checked back at least half a dozen times today to see if you’d posted these yet…thank you (and sorry if I sounded a little chippy on Flickr ;))! I’m so pleased I still have enough blueberries left to make them, after succumbing to my blueberry baked good craving last night and making the Joy of Baking’s Lemon Blueberry Bread instead ;)
I was one of the Flickr viewers with anticipation, too! And I have some sour cherries in my freezer at home, so I can’t wait!
Only 4 tsp of cornstarch and the berries aren’t runny? Ya know..I actually prefer frozen blueberries when I make a blueberry pie. The berries seem to hold up without bursting better. Is it my imagination~runnin away with me? (not singing…no, really)
I literally just finished making Mark Bitman’s no bake blueberry cheesecake from last week’s wednesday food section when I see this post. Makes me think I wasted my blueberries!
They trully look delicious and the recipe seems very easy indeed. Thanks for sharing and to the impacient who couldn’t wait for the recipe!
I’ve just made a blueberry cake and muffins but these look so good I will have to try your recipe also…Thanks!
No wonder the natives were a touch restless, these look fabulous! Glad you saved some for us.
These look amazing! I will be sure to try them soon…
I just made some a lot like these out of Fine Cooking Magazine. They have oats and brown sugar in the crust and topping, and the blueberry layer also has condensed milk with lemon juice and zest. They are deliciously gooey, and the oats make the crust and crumble kind of chewy. Oats also make them breakfasty enough to be eaten at absolutely any time of day. Multiple times a day.
They’re in the July 2008 issue along with some other blueberry dessert recipes.
You know, there should be a Digg that’s just for food. Maybe there is? This recipe would be one of my top choices, I think. :)
My daughter and I started salivating when we saw the pictures. We have fresh blueberries in the fridge. The oven is preheating – ’nuff said!
I just made these off of allrecipes a few days ago, using butter of course! I wish I would have thought about the lemon – I love lemon and I think it would have been perfect. Guess I’ll just have to make them again :)
I wonder if I’m going to use cherries, should I still include the lemon zest?
I was just recently on a Use Up All the Fresh Blueberries I Brought Home bing myself. I went for blueberry ice cream and a blueberry cherry pie. I wish you had posted this sooner so I still had some left to make these a-mazing little ditties!! Wow!
I cannot wait!!!
This is way off the subject, but do you have a recipe for the filling you used for the chocolate layer of the wedding cake? I want to make a layer cake for a shower this weekend and I immediatly thought of the wedding cake. I wanted to do something other than a plain chocolate ganache for the filling. Thanks Deb!
After jellying, jamming, syruping, baking, processing and freezing over 40 pounds of various types of u-picked berries, part of me is very angry with you for posting this recipe. However, when I see the look on my 2 and 4 year old blueberry-devouring monster’s faces when I make these tomorrow, I’m sure it will be more than worth it.
you are a genius. an evil genius.
These bars look like blueberried perfection. And that topping!
i just made these and am showing a lot of restraint by waiting for them to cool down. they smell amazing. oh yeah, and tonight we made the huevos rancheros for dinner. my husband thanks you :)
i have the day off tomorrow and am thinking i need to bake.
OMG.. These look soooo yummy! Blueberries are in season too… I remember going to pick them when I lived in NJ.. They grow all over South Jersey.. I wish I had scratch and sniff for this recipe =)
oh sweet Lord. thank you for blueberries. and butter. AMEN. ok seriously, if i had a functioning oven (probably a good thing i DONT at the moment) i would bake these in a round pan and call it a simplified pie. solely so i would have the excuse to cut it in large wedges and save myself the trouble of bothering with those little squares.
I loooovvvvve AllRecipes.com
It’s my go-to place for recipes for a lot of things I cook or bake. There’s just something about making pie/cake/tortillas/chili/whatever and knowing 2 point 3 zillion people have already made it, posted their results and and assigned a score to it…….
wow, these look to die for! and the pictures are just gorgeous! unfortunately, i dont have blueberries (or any berries for that matter) on my side of the atlantic…. and i guess it’s pretty lucky i dont- what with all of the gorgeous baking you do, my jeans have me panting when i put them on!
Oh! How I wish you had posted this a week ago, when, instead of making probably delicious blueberry crumb bars, I made slightly fishy tasting blueberry crisp which has since sat in our fridge taking up space in my 9×9 pan. So sad.
Also, AllRecipes.com *always* fails me. I’ve given up hope.
::drool:: This is so on this weekend!!
Btw, I have a thing for colanders (which is just a weird thing to say!) and I want your green one!
Four cups of bluberries!!!! That is a pies worth, wow! I have had a blueberry dilemma over at my blog for the past two weeks, picking from the neighbor’s house and at ONE point feeling a little guilty about it! The seson is coming to a close and I feel like I have to hourd them! I will try this recipe but oh it uses a lot!
YES! thank you! I’m pulling ingredients for this RIGHT NOW to bake in a few minutes. My hubby is having a wretched week, and he LURVES him some b-berries. My baby, too (though, her week is just fine). I knwo this won’t make his work woes go away, but I’m hoping topped with a little home made vanialla icecream, it will help him forget the days he’s been having. thank you!
Oh, darn, this means I have to go pick more blueberries, since we’ve powered through most of 3 pounds or so in the past couple weeks. Poor me. (Urgh, sarcasm comes poorly through the internet – let me say that I was a migrant berry picker in a past life and it is one of my very favorite things to do, berry picking. So the poor me is not serious).
Ahh, those bars TRULY display the essence of fresh blueberries – yum!
I worked at a bakery that made blueberry bars in the summer and apple raspberry in the fall. I know it was more involved because you cooked the rasperries down to an almost jam like state, but they were frickin amazing! These look incredible.
Erin — It was a Bittersweet Brandied Ganache. However, the original recipe was intended to coat an entire wedding cake, so I would scale it down substantially. (I used a one pound of chocolate level for each filling layer of the 12-inch square cake, if that gives you any guidance.) 3 1/2 lbs. bittersweet chocolate + 3 1/2 sticks butter + 3 1/2 cups heavy cream + 2/3 cup brandy or cognac. Melt the chocolate and butter together in a double boiler, whisk in the cream, then the brandy. Allow to cool to the right consistency.
Everyone — I brought these bars to my friend Jocelyn’s last night after they’d been in the fridge for two days, the freezer for three and the fridge for another day defrosting. Um, they got a little soft. Now, obviously I did not store them properly–if you’re going to freeze them, don’t wait days to do it–but due to the wetness of the filling, I wouldn’t cook these more than a day or two before you’ll serve them. I’ll update the notes to mention this.
How did you know that I just bought 2 pints of blueberries? Hmm?
I’m so making these tonight!!
Ooh, yum! I have tons of local blueberries around… must try these!
Ok, so I’m guessing you don’t have a good recipe for the beans then! ;) I will forgive you for your fabulous blueberry bars – the colour is absolutely stunning. I too felt like I had to rest after I did a 7 day posting thing but then I just remembered you once did a whole month!! Now THAT is stamina.
Wow! My go-to recipe for blueberries is my blueberry buckle recipe from 1982 but I am dying to try these. Would be great with homemade vanilla ice cream on a hot summer nite.Thanks for the update on freezing and storing, I was thinking they might get soggy unless you freeze right away. @Sophie, I’m not crazy about allrecipes.com either. Some of the recipes are just plain bizarre, like the ones for slow cooker (my fave winter appliance) – onion soup mix, cans of soup, etc. Yuck!
Can’t wait to make these, they look so summery and delicious!
Jeez lord! My mom goes blueberry picking every year. This year I insisted on going with her. It was so much fun and we timed it perfectly-getting to the farm just when the berries were the perfect ripeness and hadn’t been picked through yet…so needless to say that I have a TON in my freezer. I must make these bars!!! I made a devine coffee cake from another site and think that these superb looking treats will be perfect to make for a dinner party that I am going to on Friday. Thanks for the inspiration.
Thanks for bringing them to the BBQ. They were incredible! Yum.
I know your wedding cake project is completely over and done with, but I have a wedding cake question. How did you move each tiers to stack one on top of each other without distorting the icing on the tiers below? To me, this is the hardest part of the assemly process. Thanks!
Awesome, this is just the recipe I’ve been looking for! Can’t wait to try them out, thanks for sharing :)
Hi D — Carefully. Very very carefully. (Oh, and it still gets a bit messed up but life goes on.)
Those look excellent! I’ll be sad when blueberry season is over. I’ll have to try these this weekend
these look soo lovely cant wait to make them for breakfast!
A co-worker just walked by, looked at my screen and said, “What are those and when are you making them!”
I just finished my lunch, and I would kill for one of those right about now!
pretty pretty
what is the link to your Flickr site?
I have just discovered your blog. Everything you make looks so wonderful and yummy!! Keep up your great work. You are an inspiration.
Yeah….uh huh
Recipes like this make my annual blueberry picking jaunt- driving 75 miles one way to haul home 40-50# of the most amazing fruit ever- all that more worthwhile. I am sighing deeply in anticipation.
These bars look insanely good. I would gladly give them a try if fresh blueberries didn’t cost an arm and a leg around here… ;)
I just made a very similar batch of crumb bars with Blackberries…and they were awesome. The recipe I used was indeed fussier than I wanted it to be, so I can’t wait to try this recipe. Thanks!
A little later in the season, try making this with those little tart plums they break out at the markets. I made something very similar last year and it was the best thing I’ve ever eaten. No one believes me, but plum bars are the future of late summer desserts! Meanwhile, I’ll have to go find me some blueberries…
Oh wow, these look so delicious! Thanks for the recipe.
This looks like the perfect “unfussy” dessert for the summertime. I love the idea of swapping in some sour fruits… Emily Kate’s concept for tart plums would be lovely!
Will have to try something like this soon (and then share it with the hungry mouths at work). Oh, if only there were more than just the two of us at home!!
OMG those look so good! I just got some awesome blueberries at the farmer’s market last week, I’m definitely going back to get more and make this! Thanks for the recipe!
Woke up. Saw this. Packed up the kids and ran right out to the store for blueberries (in the pouring rain). Ran right back home. Made these. Have eaten half the pan. Will have to tell hubby it only made half-a-pan’s worth.
Best Blueberry Recipe Ever.
I want to jump thru the screen and eat one! Your pictures are just amazing and the look so very yummy!
I *just* took these out of the oven about a half hour ago and already showed them off on my blog. Thanks so much for sharing them here! However, I only had 2 cups of berries, but I think they came out fine. Oh, and there was no way I was gonna be able to wait for them to completely cool without checking to see if they were, yanno, edible first! Scooped some into a bowl and used a fork. DIVINE!
i was just craving a crumbly, fruit-filled summery dessert. found it! can’t wait to try these!
my arse says”‘DAMN YOU!”
I made a batch today. My whole family is so excited for dessert.
These are pure poetry. I am making sure I have everything on hand and making these tonight. I usually try to convert things to gluten free for the rest of the family, but I may just dive in gluten and all.
GORGEOUS!
Yummy! I’ve been wanting to try blueberry crumb bars like this for quite a while, and yours look excellent!
I just made muffins with our fresh picked blueberries. i am now going to have to go pick more just so i can make these. I’m not always a lover of blueberry treats, but these look do die for!
I was looking for a crumble recipe with fresh berries a couple weeks ago and couldn’t find one!! So thanks for posting, I’ll definitely give these a shot. Yum!
That looks absolutely divine! I must try it. I love blueberries. :)
I’m with Cassie: I love blueberries. I also love a crumb crust and I’m all about easy dessert recipes. Thanks for posting this, I’ll definitely be making it by the end of summer!
Love them..Such vibrant colors in the photos!!!
This could put me back into “flour and butter,” land just like that!! Beautiful shots.
I went blueberry picking for the novelty of it, and had a bag of blueberries I wasn’t really inclined to eat until I found this recipe. The bars were awesome! I’m a little sad I shared them now.
Mmm, I’m going to make these with raspberries! Yum!
Apart from the fact that this is the 93 comment on these beautiful guys, I figured I still ought to mention a little something (knowing of course that it is quite probable that the exact same thing was said 43 comments before!! You know your a food blog phoneme when…)
I to JUST made these, this past weekend! I bookmarked a recipe for hem months ago (Amercias Test Kitchen), but they turned out pretty poorly!! The top was FAR to dry.. now I wished you posted this last friday!!! Those look and sound gorgeous!!
Mine were half a batch of raspberry (fresh picked from my backyard nonetheless – so obviously tasted superior to the blueberry which was the second batch!! But that is simply a biased opinion. I really do prefer blueberry!!! Such as yours.
Ok, far too long a comment. To sum up – beautiful! I’ll try out your version, sound fab-itty-FAB!!
I love bars and blueberries… Yours look terribly scrumptious! I’m drooling now!
Cheers,
Rosa
wow so beautiful. the crumb topping is just perfect and those berries are gorgeously fresh!
Fabulous! I must try these ASAP!
Sorry Deb! This is continuation from Comment #63 (regarding your wedding cake). I guess I should ask the question differently: What tools did you use to move your wedding cake? Did you use your hands, giant spatua, offset spatula, or what? Thanks again!
I am not overly fond of blueberry desserts, or blueberries in general, but the pictures made me desperate to make them. I ran to the store after work yesterday and got the needed ingredients, hurried home and made them immediately, My husband and son watched me and asked what was for dinner.
Dinner? Oh yeah…
So I threw a pizza in the pizza oven for them.
These are absolutely FABULOUS!!! Thanks so much for sharing the recipe and your tweaks to it. Shortening was in the original recipe? Blasphemy! Butter is the only way to go. I also had a cheat in my little jar of Penzeys lemon zest and a little bit of lemon juice from a bottle, since lemons are hit or miss around here.
Sooooooo yummy!
yummy!! Mine are in the oven as I type. I used a box of frozen summer fruit and a punnet of blueberries for mine, apart from that I did exactly as you told me to! I’ll post photos on my blog if they turn out XX Thank you!
bless you Deb…blueberries are a superfood!
Those look absolutely delicious! It’s got my mouth watering.
my mouth is watering- think i’ll make these tomorrow with a little matcha mixed into the topping. then it’s really just delicious-tasting health food.
Those look so yummy! I’m going to run out and get some berries and make tthem today! This is my first time on your site and I love what I see- thanks!
Well, if I saw those mouth watering pictures tempting me, I’d demand the recipe as well! :) Like ELK says, blueberries are a superfood so I’ll take this chance to eat a healthy dessert!
you know- I’m sure I’m not the first one to say it (or even the hundreth) but damn – I think I’ve gained 10 lbs since reading your blog (I don’t cook – I just like to see what other people do…!!)
These look so good!! I want to try with strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, boysenberries…and so forth…
I made these last night and they were completely yummy! Thanks for sharing.
i was having a major dilemma on what to make for dessert for friends who are major chocoholics and instead of a fussy chocolate cheesecake i decided on a whim just to make whatever deb posted next (i was sure it was going to be dessert and i was right). i used splenda baking sugar and don’t know if that affected the taste, but i thought they could be sweeter. next time i’d up the sugar content in the blueberries and add some brown sugar to the crumb topping. my friends devoured it though, and even took home the extras. so thanks!
I made these last night and we (mom, dad and two kids) ate them for breakfast with chicken apple sausage. Bad Mommy – - dessert for breakfast…but they looked so good I couldn’t wait.
I don’t eat dairy, so I swapped the butter for margarine and had to use arrowroot because I didn’t have cornstarch. They turned out great. Thanks for the receipe.
These totally remind me of Starbucks’s cobbler. Its getting on to cobbler season for them. They look almost exactly like that cobbler but its a crumb bar… you are tempting me completely.
You know, I’ve had a long and crappy day at work but just looking at these bars has turned it all around again. I’m off to the kitchen to whip up a batch pronto!
Oh, yum! I have a bunch of blueberries that need eating…perhaps they will find their way into these bars! Thanks!
I made these for a special dessert last night and they were heavenly — rave reviews from everyone, even those family members who claim to dislike fruit desserts. Thanks so much for this recipe. It is a definite “keeper”!
thanks for this recipe – I stumbled on it last night and made it today, it is so tasty! I can see this becoming a regular :)
Oh yeah. I need to make these. :)
Thanks for this one, Deb! I made them today for a picnic & they were fabulous. Everyone loved them. I’m sure I will be making them again, and I loved how easy they were to prepare.
Just made these. My husband and I are impatient heathens, so we ate them while they were still steaming. I’m happy to say that with a small scoop of vanilla ice cream, these are divine warm. Even better, the blueberries didn’t run, so the rest will set fine for bars. I get to have my cake and eat it too! Yay!
I made these the night you posted them with what I had on hand in the house: demerara sugar, and whole wheat pastry flour. They turned out more of a brown color, but were a giant hit at work. The whole pan was gone by 11:00 am!
Oh yum yum yum – my hubby would go nuts for these! Beautiful!! And I love that the recipe is so simple – the best ones usually are!
Made these tonight — delicious. The lemon brings a nice brightness to the blueberries. Thanks!
I made these but cause Ireland isn’t famous for it’s blueberry gluts ( they are so expensive!) swapped in 3 cups frozen cherries with one fresh blueberry.
They are gorgeous. i don’t think my dough was crumbly enough through – can’t do mixing with forks so rubbed it by hand and it was a bit chunky shall we say. but refridgerated overnight and they are yummy today
I’m kinda meh-ish on blueberries, but there were some gorgeous raspberries going ‘neener neener’ at me when I went to the store yesterday. I had every intention of sharing them with friends; now I want to hunker down in my house with a pot of coffee and eat the entire pan myself.
I’m a newcomer to your site and I’ve been sorta stalking it lately, trying to find the right thing to make. This recipe did it for me. I actually went out and bought blueberries and a lemon (I had everything else) and made this recipe immediatly after I read it. Then I helped myself to three big bars. After licking my fingers I decided to share with my coworkers the next day, which I did. They all loved it as much as I did.
I have a feeling this will be the first of many recipes I make from your site. :)
Thank you. Love your site!
Have made these twice already- a huge hit among friends and family!
Goodness, these are amazing. I just picked some blueberries and wasn’t sure what I would do with them. I stumbled upon this and I am sure glad I did! I want to horde them all for myself. Thanks for the recipe.
Err, hoard. As in keep them all. *rolls eyes*
Such a delightful recipe. I threw in a cup of rhubarb too, and I mixed the dough in the food processor—a cinch.
I made these two nights ago to bring to work. While they were still warm, my boyfriend at about an eigth of the pan… grrr. Oh well, he really liked them. I let them cool, then put them in the fridge overnight to chill, then cut them into bars in the morning, but they were still a bit to moist to hold together into perfect bars. They put the crumble in “blueberry crumble bars” but it didn’t matter, they were amazing! Eaten in about half an hour at work by everyone. Plus I had the bar rejects at home to keep for me and the boyfriend. YUM!!
I want to grab one right off the screen! I just love your pictures, always. And blueberries are my favorite berry!
This was frakkin good. oh my gossssh. I made it for a party, and everyone loved em! Had no lemons, but used tangerines. =]
They just finished cooling off and there’s, um, already a rather large chunk missing out of my pan. I honestly don’t know how that happened. >.>
They are super-delicious – and I love a recipe that’s hands-on like this one. I mixed the berries with the sugar by hand and I love getting to push dough around; it makes me feel a little more accomplished, you know? Although I wish I’d made my partner cut in the butter … that was quite a workout!
I just put a batch in the oven. They were really easy to make and they already smell sooo good. Thanks for the recipes (I love allrecipes too..always good for simple recipes). Thanks again!
These look great!
I have had some winners with allrecipes.com but there are a lot of recipes involving cake mixes and rhymes-with-schmischquick, so any search involves a lot of weeding out.
Hi there, I’m new here. Discovered your blog last week just in time to see these little morsels of blueberry goodness. Now I’m here to tell you that they are awesome made with a combination of apricots (from my CSA but not quite tasty enough to eat out of hand) and blueberries (from my freezer, picked by me a couple of weeks ago). I thought about increasing the sugar to account for the tartness of the apricots, but I didn’t and they turned out perfect–really a delicious combination. Thanks!
I was just thinking of looking for a blueberry recipe and here it is! But I don’t have 4 cups, so I’ll have to combine them with another fruit like peaches or something. Either that or I’m off to the store to get buttermilk for the Nappa cabbage salad with buttermilk dressing and more blueberries.
I just made these for a party and by god they went fast! Absolutely delicious, Deb. Good thing I left a few behind in the fridge at home – we just ate them for breakfast and they were heavenly. I only made a few minor tweaks to the recipe (I always seem to do that… just can’t leave any recipe alone): I made the dough in the food processor, and added a whole vanilla bean to the flour mixture before the butter and ground it up until it was just fine brown flecks in the dough (YUM!). I also added a dash of cinnamon to the blueberries which was awesome. Though it seems like a strange combination, I find that cinnamon and blueberries go incredibly well together. But then, I love just about ANYTHING blueberry.
I did make these the other day and they were very very good. I have some leftover blueberries and will mix them with my garden raspberries for another try. I served with ice-cream to guests, but decided a small dollop of whipped cream would have been better. The taste of the bars is so delicate that ice-cream boga down the flavor. The lemon in the bars is essential and what makes them so good (as far as I am concerned). Thanks!!!
They look so lovely! I’m definitely going to bookmark these but might make them with wild blackberries that we have in abundance here in England at the moment. Yum!
Oh these look devine!! I will definitely make these soon. I love allrecipes and forget about using the site also. I”ve been looking for an orange cookie that CH Powdered sugar once put on their box. I’v got a couple from allrecipes that I’m going to try. thanks for sharing.
Hey!
I’ve been oloking at this recipe all week, and thinking… mmm.. maybe on the weekend! It’s not blueberry season in wintery south africa so I used frozen mixed berries instead. YUMMMEEEEHHH!!! It’s soft and crunchy at the same time, and not too sweet. Perf!
Thanks!
D
I just took these out of the oven for dinner @ my mum’s house… and really, my house smells AMAZING right now. If the pan wasn’t so hot, I would have dove in by now. ;)
I made these a couple days ago, and they turned out sublime. I received some unbearably cute spring forms for my birthday and have been going hog wild with ANYTHING that will go into them. They are perfect sized for a little blueberry crumblet and a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Yum! :)
Lovely. Made these just now. I think I would try to make more crust next time, or pick out smaller blueberries. Seemed like my blueberry to crust ratio was a bit off. The lemon taste came out strong, but I kinda like it :)
Darn, darn, darn! I sure wish I had clicked onto this site about 30 mins ago. I have tons of blueberries here and just made plain muffins with them.
These would have been SO much better!
Dana :)
WOW! I’ll have to give these a whirl – look mighty tasty!
Tanya
Thanks SO much for sharing this it looks and sounds scrumptious!
Everything I have made from one of your recipes always comes out great. These took 50 minutes at 400 degrees in my electric oven. I picked up fresh blueberries from the Farmer’s Market this morning just so I could make these, and they came out wonderfully. Thanks!
i’ve been working on blueberry pie and different kinds of crumble bars this summer, so i was super-excited to try this. now i feel like the partypooper here, but i was tremendously disappointed with how they turned out and had to throw the whole thing away. it was a tray of mush instead of crumble and flat-tasting blueberries. since i’ve been working with the same kind of blueberries for the last month and had better experiences, i can only guess that it was the cornstarch flattening out the flavor, too much juice from the blueberries, and the lack of sturdy stuff in the crumble.
here’s what i would try next time:
the oat mix crumble crust from Pioneer Woman’s Apricot Bars (which I usually make with strawberry preserves and hold together really well for the 15 minutes before i eat them all up)
plus
the blueberry pie filling from Cook’s Illustrated June 2008, made with grated apple, lemon, and ground tapioca, none of which you can taste overtly. it involves a little more work (cooking half the blueberries, extra mixing bowls), but the filling holds together firmly, tastes fresh and blueberry, and doesn’t get soggy or runny. the pie is amazing, if you haven’t made it yet.
i think with a sturdy base, filling with more structural integrity, and unmuted blueberry flavor, these would turn out a lot more like bars that could withstand the many long minutes until they were cool enough to eat. hmm. now i need to get more blueberries.
I made these this evening to go with our grilled dinner. They were a hit, but I cheated and mixed the dough in the food processor. I was worried that there wouldn’t be enough “crumble,” but it worked great. They could have used even a little more lemon/spice for my taste, but they were an unmitigated success. We even started to eat them before they were cool and they held together and were sturdy enough to pick up and eat. As always, thanks Deb.
OH my mouth is watering. I MUST try these as well…
Made these at the weekend and loved them. Absolutely loved them.
After summers of picking blueberries in Michigan I’m not impressed by the ones we get here in London, which have been flown in from Poland, so I used raspberries for the crumble and it was delicious! Had to keep my eye on the amount of butter I used since my conversions are always questionable, but it was pretty easy to guess what the crumble consistency should be like. Brought the dish to a pot luck luncheoon and all the girls loved it. Thanks Deb!
I have been meaning to make these for a while now beacuse the pictures just looked so delicious! I finally baked this weekend and they are so yummy! Thank you for sharing the recipe!!!
I just made this crumble – it’s in the oven now. I’ll post the results in the next little while. Thanks for the delicious-looking (and hopefully tasting) recipe!
I just went blueberry picking in Northern MN and came home with buckets full of the best tasting berries around, and this is the first thing I wanted to make with them! They are in they oven right now, I can’t wait!
Just made these over the weekend from blueberries I picked up at the Rock Center Greenmarket and they are AMAZING. So quick and easy. We have been eating it with vanilla yogurt as a justification to eat them first thing in the morning!
I’ve already picked up more blueberries to make another batch. I also plan on adding raspberries for a little twist.
Thanks for sharing a great find!
I made these yesterday. Oh my. My friend called them “like the best Pop-Tart ever” although they are not really poptartlike. I love crumbs, so quick and easy and good!
Perfect timing…. made them, ate them, shared them with friends… planning on trying them with blackberries when those are pickable! Thanks for the great recipe!
Made these over the weekend and they were gone within hours. Wonderful recipe and it will be a mainstay for summer nights! Thanks!
i made these for a bbq this weekend & they were gone immediately! i realized when i was half way through the recipe that i only had about a cup & a half of flour in my kitchen, so i used whole wheat pastry flour for the remainder & it was great… couldn’t even tell. i think i’ll make them that way again
Hi — love your blog. So much so that I’ve listed you on my new blog From the French Kitchen: http://thefrenchkitchen.wordpress.com/
These blueberry bars look delicious!! I can’t wait to try them.
I’m very new to this and am fascinated by so many great food blogs. I hope you’ll have a second to look at my site and give me any tips you have.
Thanks!
oh my_i am eating one now, they really are as easy and delicious as they look!
These were amazing – had a little bite while they were still warm and then they went into the fridge for a day to chill out before slicing. I lined the pan with parchment paper which made it a lot easier to pull them out of the pan for slicing. Excellent with vanilla bean ice cream…
Next time, I might try the blueberry filling with the grated shortbread crust…
I made these for my sister’s potluck and they almost didn’t make it out of my kitchen. Thank you for the recipe.
These look so great I love the color. And anything with a crumb topping is golden in my book. Thanks for sharing.
wow, that looks AMAZING. i’d love to have a bite of that right now
I just made these and they are excellent! And I couldn’t help myself–I had to take a corner while they were hot out of the oven and I’m proud to report they’re delicious warm too!
Wow! You’ve done it again, Deb! These are amazing. Well, my rendition of them is amazing…I didn’t have blueberries but due to organic cherries being $1.99 for a 1lb pack (brag, yes, living in California is awesome), I had lots of cherries. So, cherries it is…I used orange zest and juice instead of lemon (more out of necessity) and they taste delicious. The perfect summer dessert and a nice (I can’t believe I’m saying this) departure from chocolate.
You are brilliant.
WOW!! The whole tray was gone in seconds! They are fantastic!! Had to copy the recipe for everyone who had it!! Just fabulous and so simple to make! Thanks so much for sharing this!!
I made these and found the recipe kind of…boring. Very, very rich. I’d probably only use 3/4 of a stick of butter next time or less. And there wasn’t a whole lot going on. Maybe next time I’ll toss a smidge of nutmeg or allspice in with the berries. I found myself wishing that there was some kind of cream cheesy feeling to go with the bars.
Should these be made with unsalted butter? or regular butter? I’m guessing regular. Just wanted to check.
Unsalted butter. They’re not very sweet, so salted butter would probably throw it too much.
I absolutely loved this recipe- they were perfect.
Hi Deb -
Just wanted to tell you that I made these, loved them, and blogged them. Thank you!
http://blog.masslive.com/valleyvictuals/2008/08/blueberry_crumb_bars.html
I have just found your site in the last month or so-wonderful,
simple recipes….so good. I made these yesterday and we had
them warm with natural vanilla ice cream…Oh my Yum! I had to
use lime juice but the taste was very clean and good. Not overly
sweet and crunchy topping. Thank you.
I just love blueberries. I’m so sad that they’re only around for a short time each year.
I’m making these right now (and the blueberry pancakes tomorrow morning!). Thanks for posting them – like someone else said, you’re always posting “go to bakes” for me :)
Oh Deb – so good. So, so good.
This is about the fifth recipe I’ve made from this seriously inspiring website…and these bars are divine! We are all about local, organic, sustainable in Portland, and this recipe just capitalizes on this season’s amazing blueberries. The touch of lemon is perfect…makes for a great balance of sweet and tart, which is aces in my book. Thanks for providing one of the best food sites-it’s always a treat to see what you’re working on.
These turned out beautiful and delicious. Very simple to make, they are best slightly cold (keep their shape better.) My hubby was in heaven! Thank you, thank you, thank you.
so yummy! thanks.
mmm!! I’ve already made these twice since you posted (well the second batch is in the oven right now). They are so good!
Ok, so I’m late to the party – but boy, what a party it is! Can I tell you how wonderful the blueberries smell in my oven right now? I added a sprinkle of brown sugar (because you just can’t have enough sugar, right?), and I can’t wait to see how my first attempt turns out.
I am SO glad I bought that 2lb container of blueberries at Whole Foods this morning – I’m even happier that I had today off so I could make these! Thank you for making my day. :D
Yet another comment on your blueberry crumb bars…YUM!
I just made these for my church hospitality table…my platter came back to me empty. I guess they were a hit. Of course I saved some for my family…my children couldn’t have enough. :) Thanks for posting the recipe. It is always a pleasure to read and learn from your blog! :)
Blessings!
i made these yesterday -i added a handful of freshly grated ginger into the berry mixture and i added about 1 or 2 T chopped crystallized ginger to the topping. the ginger added a wonderful complement to the berries and lemony notes. yumm.
That is an incredibly gorgeous picture. The color of cooked blueberries never ceases to amaze me.
I am making these amazing treats for the second time in under a week, thanks to an abundance of wild blueberries. I fear addiction. I fear summer (and thus, berry season) ending.
Although, autumnal apples might make for a tasty adaptation. Hmmm.
I had fun making these and my mother and her boyfriend had beyond a blast eating them, as I delivered them for his August delivery from his Christmas gift (homemade dessert a month, with all the credit given to your website as always). They reported that they LOVED them and couldn’t decide if they enjoyed them more cold or heated up with vanilla ice cream on top. They’ve requested another pan to decide :) Thank you for sharing such wonderful recipes!
I just pulled my batch of these out of the oven. I don’t see how anyone could resist tasting them while still warm. I used 2/3 raspberries and 1/3 blackberries instead of the blueberries (the main eater of the household hates blueberries). The butter-lemon dough is heavenly whith the warm blackberries.
Wonderful! Thanks Deb!!
OMG….. I made this on the weekend and it was a huge hit with everyone!! I used frozen blueberries. thanx for the recipe. I love your blog.
I was salivating at the pics and cursing the fact that I live in a country with no blueberries, or cranberries, or sour cherries, and scrolling down lists of fruit in my mind to find a potential replacement, when it suddenly hit me: plums. One of my all-time favourite cakes is a Polish plum cake that uses those dusky purple-skinned yellow-fleshed Italian plums that come round every spring. Inspired by this cake, and a general love breads and cakes with lots of fruit in, I tried slicing purple plums (just any old, not the Italian kind) into pancakes. Delectable. Really much like the aforementioned cake. I think they’d have the same effect on these cookie bars, though I do wonder if the texture would hold up. Will go on the lookout for some plums and start baking.
I’ve made this recipe twice already, it’s that great! Then, I made it again last night, substituting strawberries and raspberries because that was what I had on hand, and it still turned out great! Thanks Deb! :)
I saw these buckets of beautiful blueberries at Farmers Market and wondered what could I do with all of those??? WOW! NOW I KNOW!!! I’m making these! Thanks so much for the great recipe! Just in time! Beautiful photos too by the way! Eye catching!
First of all, I’m in love with your site! I have to wipe the drool off my keyboard on a regular basis. The photos of these bars looked gorgeous, but after making them today I’d have to rate them so-so. They just seemed like they needed more oomph. I even used freshly picked Michigan blueberries from a friend. Maybe a true blueberry fan would feel differently.
Now your smores pie from earlier this summer, on the other hand, was in the top handful of best desserts ever!
Love these! First time around I made them with black berries, now I’ve got a batch in the oven with blueberries. Thank you for the recipe, it satisfies my cravings for fruit pie and is so much easier!
I just put this in the fridge five minutes ago, and can’t wait to have this for breakfast tomorrow :D Thanks for the lovely (i haven’t tried it yet, but it smells delicious) recipe! :)
found out about this blog from a friend and saw the pics for this recipe! i couldn’t resist and i made them! they were absolutely were delicious!
I really want to make these again, but I just can’t. I’ve gained 10lbs this summer from all the beer & bbqing…and these damned blueberry bars! So instead I will gaze longingly at the pictures you’ve posted.
ok, so… i am not a cook. i have always been afraid to try things… but i decided that i would try to make these tonight. i had a FABULOUS time making them, and i think they actually turned out pretty good! i’m excited to keep trying new things… thank you for inspiring me!!
(p.s…. they’re sitting in the fridge right now… chilling… i’m dying to eat them!)
I don’t know if anyone will ever get to comment #201, but I love these bars! They actually have healing properties I do believe! See how they helped me survive a rough month this summer. http://playdaze2home.blogspot.com/2008/08/grieving-eating.html
Made these with wild Maine blueberries while visiting my family last week. HUGE hit. The color and texture were perfect. They will definitely be added to my permanent repertoire. I can’t wait to enter a “bar-off” with them!
Just made these tonight with berries that were on the bush just this morning. Yummmmmy! They cut really well, and we enjoyed a still-a-little-warm bar with a small scoop of vanilla ice cream after dinner tonight (as I see others did, as well!).
Also, like others, I made the dough in the food processor and added a little cinnamon to the blueberry mixture.
Perfect alternative to making a fussy pie on a hot summer day!
let me add my voice to the chorus — these were great! i even scaled the recipe by half and even though more than half the egg fell into the batter (how does one cut an egg in half?), it still came out amazing. i am going to take these to a dinner party my mother is hosting next weekend. thanks for posting the recipe.
I made these and brought them up to the cabin. They were a huge hit! I can’t wait to try them again in the fall with cranberries.
I made these last night and they were 1.) super easy 2.)delicious!!
I used a mixture of fresh blueberries, blackberries and rasberries to equal the 4 cups because they had all three at the farmer’s market and I couldn’t choose favorites. I also used brown sugar in the 2nd mixture instead of white (because I ran out) and that turned out to be great as well.
thanks so much for the recipe, it will be a new staple of mine for parties.
Thanks for posting this recipe! I made them and they were quite delicious. I posted about them at http://o-scientist.blogspot.com/2008/08/blueberry-goodness.html
Karen
Thanks for this recipe! It was so good I made it twice in one week. Yummy!
Thanks so much for the recipe! I seriously can’t stop eating these.
Update: I’ve made these 3 times for picnics and I took home an empty pan each time! Everyone raved about them.
I found your blog through the five star friday post on how to poach an egg. I was looking back through your archives and came across this recipe. I made them for a labor day bbq and they were a huge hit! My kids also really liked them, even though I have never before been able to get them to eat a blueberry. So thanks a lot, and I look forward to trying out more of your recipes in the future.
i just stumbled across this recipe! do you think you could use a mixture of peaches and raspberries? i have been loving that combo lately and made an amazing peach/raspberry/blackberry crisp last night and i think it’d be really good as a bar.
Do you think you could give a tutorial on how to adjust recipe sizes to larger pans or double batches? I have a pan that’s larger than a 13×9, but am unsure if making like a one plus a half sized version of this recipe would go into it well or just mess it up.
Similarly, I made a double batch of your peanut butter cookies, which was amazingly delicious, but the insides were so soft they fell through the wire cooling racks. I’ll make the recipe again despite that, and I’m positive I doubled all the ingredients–so does size matter? Does making a larger batch of some things throw off the chemistry of the ingredients?
Thanks–
Kelly — If you measured everything correctly and your cookies fell through the rack, either the wires were too far apart for the size of your cookie, or they were underbaked. That’s the only reason that should happen. As for scaling recipes, there is no reason most shouldn’t work. However, when considering changing pan sizes, I always like to use the area of the base of the pan for guidance, so the thickness of the cake/bar stays the same. If the base of your pan is, say, 150 percent of the area of a 9×13 (117″), you want to increase all quantities in the recipe by 150 percent. Hope that helps.
So, you can use frozen blueberries? I went to Trader Joe’s hoping to find fresh and they didn’t have any! :-( I picked up a bag of frozen and I d have some frozen that I bought fresh there just last week. These look great! I have never posted here before but I come here everyday and and have tried many of your recipes and loved them. Thank you so much; you’re amazing!
I don’t see any reason why frozen blueberries wouldn’t work. The trick would be if that they let off a lot of liquid (frozen ones are more likely to) to leave it mostly in the bowl, and not transfer it onto the shortbread base. Good luck!
I just made these–I did use frozen blueberries, so maybe that was the problem. Other than that, I followed the recipe completely. They are OK—not very sweet. They need more sugar, I guess. They look good, but taste more like blueberry bread than a dessert. This is coming from someone who does NOT like very sweet desserts. Even my 9 and 11 year old boys were lukewarm about these bars. My husband said, “Maybe you should sprinkle some powdered sugar on them.” I make something called a strawberry jam bar which blows these out of the water. But, hey, I like to try new things. Thanks for the beautiful photos.
Thanks for the tips Deb! The blueberry crumb bars turned out really deliciously, though I’m pretty sure they didn’t turn out the way your recipe did. My larger pan was only an 11×15 pan, so I’m betting the bars turned out a little thicker than yours. In addition, I didn’t have lemon zest so I ended up putting a few teaspoons of orange extract in the dough mixture. It added a hint of orange flavor that really pairs well with the blueberry. They still turned out so wonderful though and I’m going to have to go get one to eat right now. :) Thanks again.
So I just put mine in the oven and then noticed a lone egg on the counter. So that could be an issue. I’m not hopeful.
Wow these look good. I can already image me eating these on my deck while drinking my coffee from my home unit….
They actually turned out just fine even without the egg. I’ve had no trouble eating half the pan of them by myself.
Wow. Normally recipes don’t come out as good as they look (or are promised to taste) in cookbooks or magazines, but these were AMAZINGLY YUM. Thank you times a million. I also pretty much never make things twice, but these are going to be an exception. Clever for thinking of the lemon, it worked great.
I made these last night–they were outstanding warm (although molten, which worried me for a while) from the oven but still quite tasty and much more structurally stable from the fridge this morning. I am taking the remainders as a hostess gift this weekend, but I am terrified to let them come to room temperature before eating, for fear that they will go all squidgy. Thoughts?
I am in love! I found your blog after watching you are Martha Stewart yesterday. I just made these bars and they are so delicious. We love to take advantage of the blueberries at the farmer’s market in the summer. When they get really cheap we load up and I freeze them in bags so I can use them all year. They freeze so nicely and there is no need to defrost before baking. I will definitely make these again and again.
Have you ever tried them with other fruit? I am wondering if peaches would be good.
These turn out exactly as you described! Tangy, Tart, Sweet…mmmmmmmm. It’s the end of September and I TOTALLY splurged on fresh berries just for this receipe all the while thinking, it better be worth it. IT SO IS!
I finally got around to making these this weekend and they are soooo good! I had a bag of fresh berries mom picked in the freezer and sent home with me last time I was there, and I ended up substituting lime juice just becuase it was what I had on hand. Yum! This one’s a keeper.
I made your recipe before with blueberries and they were sooo delicious and incredibly simple. I got so many requests to make them again that I used raspberries for the filling and added some almond paste to the crust. Seriously awesome, and really easy to make multiple variations.
WOW – i will have to try these – they look amazing. Thanks for the great post. I will be a regular reader for sure.
I made these with a friend a few months ago, they are YUMMY!
Awe-inspiringly yum. :)
I made 2 batches of these for a big (informal) dinner and the only disappointment was that there were no leftovers for anyone to enjoy afterwards!
I mixed blueberries and raspberries in about a 40/60 ratio. I used about 900g of fruit per batch and they turned out great. They’re so easy to make and everyone loves them.
Just made these with fresh cranberries and orange zest for a seasonal twist on a huge family favorite. YUM. It’s hard to beat blueberry bars, but these are great too! The red is beautiful at this time of year. My two year old screamed “BARS!” when he saw them go into the oven.
Hot tea + cool cranberry bars = priceless.
How long did you freeze the bars for and after you freeze them do you take them out to become room temperature.
These looked so good that I HAD to make them right away. Decided to use frozen strawberries instead of blueberries. They came out sooo good!!!
Thanks so much for the great recipe!!!
Yum! Just made these today and they’re great. I used orange juice/zest because that is what I had – they came out wonderful and very easy also. Thanks!
My friend Kat has been raving about your site for a while, so I came here to find a cookie recipe to bring to a dinner party. Requirements: I wanted to make ‘em fast (a bar would be better than a drop cookie) and they had to be autumnal. I chose to make a cranberry variation of the blueberry crumb bars. For the benefit of anyone wanting to make them, this is what I did: I used one bag of fresh cranberries which I tossed with a jar of orange marmalade (I use the all-fruit kind), the juice of half a navel orange, and about 1/4 c. granulated sugar. I grated the zest of the whole orange and mixed it into the crust, which was otherwise entirely as written. These suckers disappeared with a QUICKNESS. Success! Thanks for the great recipe!
I did as Heather did and made these with cranberries today! I accidentally dumped WAY too much sugar into the fruit mixture, but amazingly the fruit is still mouth-puckeringly tart (which I love, mm!). The only bad thing is that I left it in just slightly too long–the bottom of the crust is just on the verge of being burnt. Bummer. :( They still taste good overall, but have a slight “burnt marshmallow” flavor to the bottoms.
i just made these with frozen sour cherries i found at a store near my house. amazing!
I made these yesterday and the bars were delightful! I also suggest pouring a little heavy cream on them while still warm and just eating them that way.
Just made these and they are terrific. My husband doesn’t like blueberries however (yeah, and I married him anyway, believe it or not)
Would anything need to be changed if I wanted to substitute cherries for the blueberries? Amount of sugar or cooking time?
I just made these with reduced fat butter and they turned out great. Next time I will add more sugar though, as I like sweet things.
Thanks!
I made these with blackberries this weekend…my family loved them! Thanks for the recipe!
This is my favorite of all your recipes. Have made it over and over and it is perfect and delicious every time.
made these at chrismas time with frozen blueberries left over from summer. I love love these cold crumbly cookies! Made them again las week for a bruch-ish thing with blackberries and organge juice instead of lemon. Didn’t have enough time for it to cool so served it hot, eryone thought it was cobbler and loved it! took the couple leftovers home and chilled them. ate all 5 of my cookies in 3 days! grea recipie for any berrie!
When I first read this post last summer I added these to the never ending must try list. I FINALLY made them yesterday and they were awesome. As always, thank you for another great recipe!
These look really good, and I’m just waiting until frozen blueberries go on sale (hehe) to try this recipe. Btw, about how much zest/juice would you need? I get a little OCD when recipes say ‘juice of two limes’ or something like that because I never know exactly how much they’re talking about.
Ah, these look amazing!
Quick question – if I use frozen blueberries, should I thaw them first? I don’t thaw the berries when I make blueberry muffins, and they bake up nicely.
I made these for Easter using frozen blueberries. I did thaw them out the night before but I used the berries plus the juice and it came out great!
Baked these for the first time last month with frozen blueberries. it was a rich, buttery, lemony blueberry flavored cookie..it was like eating a blueberry pie in the form of a bar.
I just adapted this recipe to use blueberry jam, but I can’t wait to try it with fresh blueberries.
They’re baking right now and I hope they come out well!
I just made these with a strawberry rhubarb filling. I upped the sugar and nixed the lemon to accommodate the tartness of the rhubarb. I also upped the cornstarch a bit because rhubarb can get watery in my hands. They were excellent. The tart bits of rhubarb were great against the sweet shortbread crumb. I’ve made them a few times with the blueberry filling and they were also amazing, but I’m still waiting for blueberry season, while rhubarb and strawberries are in season though I’ll be making a few more batches of the new mixture.
I just put my batch in the oven. I subbed flour for cornstarch… I hope the blueberries don’t turn out too runny. I’m taking them to a bbq tonight. Thank you for another great recipe.
Yum! Made this with raspberries over the weekend. I used half a lemon and they turned out awesome. So easy….
I ran out of blueberries while making this (I didn’t check to see if anyone had eaten them before starting the recipe) and subbed rhubarb. I didn’t increase the sugar, but I was already using agave instead (ran out of sugar as well), which might be sweeter by volume than sugar. I kept the amount of starch the same, and the texture is perfect. The bars were golden and done in 30 minutes, perhaps attributable to the liquid sugar?
I made these with my nieces yesterday. We overbaked them (out of earshot for the timer) so the top was a little darker than I liked but they were still great. I was worried that the crust would be too thin but it was perfect. Foolproof recipe!
Just made these again, maybe for the 7th or 8th time. We just went strawberry picking, so I made strawberry crumb bars instead. My kids are calling them strawberry shortcake bars, when you pile some whipped cream on top – look out!
i made this recipe 3 days ago. i really like the bars and will be making them again.
I made these last week for my parents, but made an uh-oh when I went to the store. For some reason I thought I needed dried blueberries instead of fresh. When I got home and realised the error, I (luckily) had some Crasins sitting around, so I reconstituted them with the blueberries in hot water for about an hour. I swapped and orange for the lemon and they turned out wonderful!! My Mom had me make them again for the teachers she works with before I left for summer classes. Thanks!!
I just discovered your site this morning and spent my precious little free time totally engrossed in all your pics and recipes. I love your site! I ran out to buy blueberries and tried this recipe. I substituted King Arthur whole wheat white flour for the regular flour and cut out a little of the sugar since recipes are usually too sweet for me. Unfortunately, the topping and crust did not hold together and came out a little too “crumbly.” (My husband and I have still already gobbled up half the pan so it wasn’t THAT bad.) Have you tried this type of flour with your recipes and was my problem just too little sugar? I’ll definitely use the full amount of sugar next time now that I know the recipe isn’t too sweet. Also, I had liquid left over in the blueberry/lemon bowl. Was I supposed to pour that over the blueberries in the pan?
Thanks so much for your site! Susan
i’ve been stalking your blog for months now and have finally decided to comment!..i’ve been wanting to make this recipe for awhile, and when i went to the grocery store and realized it was finally blueberry season i knew that now was the perfect time to make them!..they’re currently in the oven :)..i’ve also made (with great success all thanks to you!) your chocolate peanut butter cake (several times actually — everyone is always awed and amazed), chocolate whiskey and beer cupcakes, pink lady cake (amazing!), and now blueberry crumb bars!..thanks so much for all the recipes..since i’m in medical school i’m constantly studying but i always make time for a ’smitten kitchen’ break every day..congratulations on the baby, and keep the recipes comin’! :)
These look scrumptious!
You need to just open up shop! phooey with baking this stuff…you aleady do a great job.
Here is one for ya that I know very few if any know what the heck it is I am talking about and wish someone here had a shop baking them. Kolache’s like these by one of my favorite Texas bakeries http://www.weikels.c4.ixwebhosting.com
Found your site through Pioneer Woman and have been reading through all your recipes for the last few days. After deciding to make something last night to take into work this morning for my colleagues (its been a looong week!) I realised I had all the necessary ingredients. I swapped the blueberries for frozen raspberries since I had them in my freezer. They turned out beautifully and the first box was gone by 9am! My boss told me to hide the 2nd box so there would be plenty left for the afternoon :) It was also my first experience of baking with cups instead of weighing – it was super easy!
I have 4 cups of blueberries that I have to use *today*. This is just perfect. Thanks so much!
I think I will make these, your broccoli slaw and your mediterranean pepper salad for the fourth. Why think for myself when you do such great work?
I tried yet another one of your recipes (two in one week!) — thanks as always for sharing :) For these bars, I 3/4′ed (is that a verb?) the recipe and used a 9×9 Le Creuset stoneware dish for baking. The recipe worked perfectly, and the blueberry flavor was not too sweet, and not too tart, which really means it was perfect. The bars easily came out of the pan after baking one evening, refrigerating overnight, and cutting the next day. Absolutely perfect consistency all around. The use of lemon is critical in the recipe, providing a little more zing and flavor. Thanks again for sharing.
O.K…now that I see these came from Allrecipes I know why they looked familiar. I reviewed this recipe in 2003 and said this: This recipe is o.k. I didnt really like the crust/topping because it had a shortening flavor to it. I wonder how well it would work with butter, because I think it would dramatically improve the flavor. I am officially smart. Not smart enough to fix it myself, but smart enough to figure out the problem anyway. I will have to try them your way! The pictures are AMAZING.
Deb, I made the Blueberry Bars yesterday. I thought they were a 3 out of 5. Easy to make, turned out just fine, especially after refrigeration like you said. I did, however, think that with 2 sticks of butter they might have tasted a bit richer. I wonder if using brown sugar would spark up the flavor a bit??? I cheated and used my food processor on pulse to work in the butter. That worked out just great. Love your site-watched your New York video. Fun to see you “for real” rather than on a blog. Good luck with the soon to be new member of your family. I’m a Grandma of two now, but sure do remember the days of little ones with great fondness. My “baby” will be 34 this December!
Just had to tell you–I cooked these for last night’s 4th of July bash and they were a hit. Everybody loved them. Thanks for a terrific recipe.
I made these today! I was low on blueberries (having made a delicious blackberry/blueberry pie yesterday) so I covered half the pan with raspberries nad half with blackberries. Both sides were delicious! Thanks!
i’ve made this 3 times in the past couple of weeks – added a few blackberries to the last one. all were tasty, tasty. those that tried it said they liked it.
I also made these on the 4th and they were very well-received! Thank you!
I made this for July 4 and a friend said it’s one of the two best things I’ve ever baked. (The other was a chocolate gingerbread cookie from Martha.)
I made these for a potluck at work today, and they were a great success. Everyone commented on the beautiful presentation (they really do cut more easily when chilled) and the fresh taste. Very intense blueberry flavor, just rich enough, not too sweet. Delicious! (You received full credit, as usual…many thanks!)
I made these last night and they are great:) I should have left them in the oven just a little longer though, to have a slightly browner crust. I need to buy a pastry cutter though…I think that would make it easier. Thanks:) I will freeze them too like you mentioned!
Made them!
They are gooooood!
next…. blueberry boy bait
ps
easy as pie!
pss
I will try it with raspberries, like Danielle mentioned above!
what a great recipe. i have been thinking about this recipe since you first posted it, but didn’t get around to trying it until last week. i wait all year for blueberry season, then tend to eat them non-stop as is, until the season is gone. however, this was a great use for them. just the right amount of sweetness.
when i shared this at work, 2 co-workers asked for the recipe, including 1 who admitted that she usually doesn’t like blueberries.
Made these before a trip to the beach & in my hurry I forgot the egg! – Not sure how they would taste had I REMEMBERED the egg…but they were DELICIOUS. And best served cold, for sure.
Interestingly, when served cold you could really taste the tartness of the lemon…when served room temp they were much more blueberry-tart :) My family gobbled them up & requested more immediately!
I made these last night for a party picnic in the park (the philharmonic show) and they were a hit. We hadn’t even pulled out dessert yet and people were eyeing them. I also love the leftover ones today–they softened a little from being in a container and taste almost cobbler-ish.
I made these last night and they turned out awesome, even though I messed up the recipe. I used 3 1/2 cups of frozen blueberries, added the lemon zest to the berries instead of the dough, and mixed the cornstarch and sugar into the berries instead of mixing first and then folding in the berries. Oh and I mistakenly used 1/3 cup of sugar on the berries instead of 1/2. After baking, I stored them in the fridge overnight and for most of the day today. Despite all this, they looked and tasted great. Thanks!
I made these last night also. I think this is a fantastic recipe, and so easy!
These are unbelievably delicious! Thanks so much for posting the recipe.
I plan to make these again substituting different fruit. Can’t wait to try with strawberries and one with peaches.
I added a little bit of cinnamon to the blueberry mixture and added some cinnamon and cardamom in with the crust mixture.
Devine!
I made these tonight and I love them. I cut down the butter to 1.5 sticks because I’m like that, but they were still delicious. The lemon juice and rind really pulled these together for us! Another winner — thanks, Deb!
I have no idea how much every cup is. Every converter says a different thing. Can someone please tell me how much gram everything is?
Omg. I just made these. They sliced beautifully and I couldn’t even wait for them to cool…I used slightly less than 4 cups of blueberries. Perhaps this is why. Can’t wait to try them cold as they are fantastic warm. And I’m one of those freaks who prefer blueberries raw…
Is it really a year ago that you posted this? I can’t believe time has flown by so fast! I just made a scrumtious batch yesterday (for about the millionth time) and took them into the office to rave reviews (for the millionth time). Thanks for making me the office hero, Deb!! :)
I made these last night, my mother vowed that they are indeed life-changing. They lived up to the promise. I loved them. Now I’m at a toss up for which is the best summer blueberry dessert- this one or the fresh open-faced blueberry pie from epicurious… so good.
I’ve made these several times now (there’s a batch in the oven as I type), and they’re excellent; easy, too! They travel wonderfully well, I’m making mine for a work function tomorrow.
I HAVE made these with Tart Cherries and they are Phenomenal. Picked the cherries right off the trees, pitted and made this recipe to test them out. I omitted the lemon zest/juice, and subbed in 1 tsp almond extract in both the crumb base and the cherries, and used ~3/4 c of sugar. I took them to work (gleaning tart cherries for our food bank, actually) and they disappeared in minutes. Lots of thumbs up and compliments. I passed along your wonderful recipe and website to those who asked.
Made these tonight — they’re really, truly lovely! Tasty, pretty and easy. I read in the comments that you used UN-salted butter rather than the regular variety — wish I had known that before I started baking — my results could’ve been even lovelier! Any chance you might change the post to specify the type of butter?? In any event, thank you for sharing your recipes and all the hard work that goes into those gorgeous pics too!
The default in baking is always unsalted, probably why I forgot to mention it. Updated now.
I made these last year and I’m back again. My husband says these bars are the best thing I ever made! Thanks Deb!
Wow deb I made these and they were phenomenal! I truly enjoy reading your blog. You always have such delicious recipes! My bars turned out wonderful. Thank you very much for this wonderful idea!
Thanks for updating the recipe! Very much appreciated. I’m making my second batch of these babies tonight. They present so beautifully — can’t wait to serve them tomorrow . . . !
I made two batches of these because I had ten pound of blueberries to work through. They turned out super tasty and were really easy to make. I had to bake them for an hour before they looked brown enough though
Made this but used 2 cups fresh blueberries and 2 cups mixed frozen summer berries. Turned out great, and not at all tart (though the summer berries might be). It was delish!
I tried this over the weekend for a family BBQ and it was awesome. Loved the lemon flavor. Everyone loved them! Will make it again.
This was a great recipe, thanks for posting! I accidentally added the lemon juice to the crumbs instead of to the blueberries, but it still turned out really well. I guess the crumbs were just heavier/bigger than they would’ve been otherwise.
I used your recipe, but, substituted blackberries for the blueberries because our local farmer’s market in SF didn’t have blueberries anymore. It was still absolutely delicious. Thank you! I continue to use your blog whenever I’m looking for what to make for dinner!
can’t wait to make this recipe, but for “white sugar” do you mean granulated sugar or powdered sugar? Just want to do this right!
Thank you!!
Granulated sugar.
New reader here! Found you through Annie’s Eats. These look fabulous. I am looking to make a dessert than incorporates coconut in it for Labor Day weekend. I was thinking I might add a little shredded coconut/almond extract to the crumble portion? Do you think that would detract from the recipe at all? Thank you!
This has been my go-to recipe all summer and everyone has loved it! But, in late August, I swapped the blueberries for peaches and added a hearty splash of bourbon instead of the lemon juice. The lemon zest came out of the crumb mix and I added some fresh nutmeg and a smidge of cinnamon. They were really fantastic and it’s nice to have such a great, malleable recipe—thanks!
Just picked a bucket o’ blueberries from the back yard, and knew I could check Smitten for something good to do with them! As soon as Mom brings the car home, I’m taking it to get a lemon, haha. Your recipes never fail, and these look amazing!
hi deb! i don’t recall if this is the fourth or fifth recipe I’ve now made from your site, but every one has been stellar, including this one…
i did make one change to your recipe but only because I was going away and needed to empty the fridge… instead of just blueberries, i did a mix of blueberries and peaches…
so regarding the change I made, i still had four total cups of fruit… after peeling the peaches (via the immerse-in-hot-water-for-a-few-seconds method), i diced them and tossed them in with everything else the blueberries were mixed with, plus two extra teaspoons of cornstarch, since peaches can release a lot of liquid when baking… i let the mixture stand as I prepared the crust and topping as I knew the peaches would release some juice… i used a slotted spoon to transfer the fruit on to the crust… i sprinkled just a bit of the fruit with the juice left in the bowl (there was at least a cup!)… i was trying hard to avoid over juicy and hence soggy squares — and I was successful!
the result was super yummy and a delicious treat on our first family road trip with our five month old son maxence… my parents and my son’s godparents got a taste before we left and they were all swooning with delight…
thank you again for another terrific recipe…
this recipe is sooo gooodddd..i just made one tray, and it sell like hot peanuts!!!thank you :)
this recipe is sooo gooddd…i just made a tray, and it sells very fast!!
thank you
could you use cranberries instead of blueberries?
Cranberry version:
I made these with blueberries several times this summer and they were great.
This weekend we were going on a pick nick with some friends, so when I started thinking about an appropriate autumn treat, cranberries, of course, were the first thing that came to mind.
I got two 12 oz packages of cranberries and a couple of meyer lemons. Cooked cranberries with some water and about a cup of sugar (I like cranberry feeling extremely tart, so you might want to add sugar to taste) for about 5 minutes. When the feeling cooled, it thickened. I threw in a couple of handfuls of chopped roasted pecans and just a bit of lemon juice, to thin the feeling. Zested one lemon and the zest to Deb’s short bread recipe.
Except for the feeling, I used Deb’s recipe for these bars. With cranberry feeling, they are out of this world!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Try it!
Thank you, Deb for the recipe and inspiration.
I made these with cranberries for a quasi-thanksgiving feast, and they were quite good. I used orange and lemon zest and just a pinch of cinnamon in with the cranberries. This is definitely a wintery treat, and living on Cape Cod means there are cranberries everywhere!
Thank you for posting this recipe. My gf and I will be making these this weekend as we decorate the house for xmas. They look delicious!
Hi, I plan on making these later today but I only have frozen blueberries. Can someone tell me if I’m supposed to thaw them first or can I use them as is…frozen? Thanks – can’t wait to try this one!
Well..I finally made these today. Son called this A.M. in a panic needing something for a potluck at noon. Blueberries? For a Christmas potluck? Yes. Definately. They were a snap to put together and tasted wonderfully fresh and summery. Everyone loved them and I loved them, too. Kind of went with the sunshine we had today! Oh, and I found out that the 4 tsp of cornstarch worked perfectly to firm my juicy, previously frozen berries. Great recipe find, Deb.
These. Are. Amazing. I’ve made them a bunch of times and everyone always loves them. I’ve tried making them with whole wheat flour instead of white flour and I personally didn’t like them, but several of my friends thought they were even better than the regular ones.
4 Cups of blueberries? a little package of those costs almost seven bucks here in Puerto Rico ): I have seen them like twice in my live and the first time I totally opened the package and ate a few (shh I didn’t have a job then)