I uploaded pictures of this recipe yesterday onto Flickr, but didn’t get to telling you all about it because I was feeling a little lackadaisical after that whole seven days in a row of posting thing. Three hours later, I received this comment: “Omg, post the recipe already!”
Hmmph! I thought. These people don’t sound like they’re joking around.
But who could blame anyone? 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
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!
- 1 cup (200 grams) granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 3 cups (390 grams) all-purpose flour
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- Zest of one lemon
- 1 cup (8 ounces or 225 grams) cold unsalted butter, cut into chunks
- 1 large egg
- Juice of 1 lemon
- 1/2 cup (100 grams) granulated sugar
- 4 teaspoons cornstarch
- 4 cups fresh blueberries
Crumbs
Berries
In a medium bowl, stir together 1 cup sugar, 3 cups flour, baking powder, 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.
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.
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 :)
I was going to ask this too but I see no one responded. Hmmm… It sure would be nice to have these in the winter with the berries I picked this summer.
I just saw a reply that Deb had made several years ago that said she had used frozen several times with good results.
I have made these crumb bars many times, and always use the blueberries from my deep freeze. I do thaw them for awhile on the counter, or in the microwave but that’s not necessary. I also have used them from frozen but then you have to watch when they’re in the oven that the top doesn’t get too brown before the berries start to bubble. If this happens, just cover the pan with tin foil when they start to brown. These are delicious and disappear quickly.
You’ve gotta be careful baking with frozen berries. Your dessert will be pretty watery
I always use Maine wild frozen blueberries and they come out perfectly.
When I use frozen blueberries I put in a strainer and run cold water over until water is almost clear. Then you can use them as fresh.
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 :)
How would these be with GF Baking flour?
I have frozen several cut bars and they are fine – I let defrost slowly in the fridge or x as p in the microwave!
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.
I made a batch of these to give away, and ended up with about 6 more than I could fit on the tray. I put them on a sheet pan in the freezer (unwrapped), froze them overnight and then just dropped them into a ziplock bag. Works perfectly! I learned this from a commercial baker, and use it with anything I want to freeze without the pieces sticking together
I made a batch of these to give away, and ended up with about 6 more than I could fit on the tray. I put them on a sheet pan in the freezer (unwrapped), froze them overnight and then just dropped them into a ziplock bag. Works perfectly! I learned this from a commercial baker, and use it with anything I want to freeze without the pieces sticking together
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)
great recipe….I made half the batch & w/ frozen berries & whole wheat flour (finely groud white wheat), they were wonderul.
I went blueberry picking and we bought 5 kgs of blueberries and they were sitting in our freezer so i decided to give this recipe ago. The lemon scent is so divine. It’s really subtle, and brings out the flavour of the blueberries. I watched it bake quite carefully. It only needed about 40 minutes in my oven. For the last five minutes I turned the heat down to about 100 and put it on fanbake because the top was browning so quickly. The frozen blueberries give off a lot of syrupy goodness, so I cut a slice while it was hot, and drained out all the excess liquid to prevent it from becoming a soggy mess. Thanks heaps.
I did have one problem though, it seemed like the cornflour was a bit concentrated in some places, creating an odd white gloop between the blueberries. How do I fix this?
Lena — Try sifting it first next time. It’s not always necessary, but if it comes out of the box/container a little lumpy, it will help next time.
Lovely. I adapted the recipe to use some new season rhubarb. Worked a treat :)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/caddick/4426162579/
Hi There,
Do you think these would work with frozen blueberries? I have a ton left from the summer, frozen and we are tired of muffins!
Thanks,
Christy
If you skim the comments (or do a word search for frozen) it looks like many people have tried these with frozen. For the most part, it seems to work but frozen do tend to give off more water… some extra cornstarch or draining may help.
I just made these yesterday for an Easter picnic. I used frozen blueberries. I did not make any changes and they tasted great!!
Just made these to bring to Easter dinner…and a corner of the pan is already missing!! Very good! I made the following modifications based on what I had available:
I used frozen berries (maybe 3 cups). I took them out of the freezer when I started prepping and added the lemon juice/cornstarch mixer to the frozen berries. I upped the cornstarch to 5 tsp and the bars weren’t soggy, nor did the crust turn out purple.
I used 2 c. white flour, 1 c. white whole wheat flour..about 2/3 c. vanilla sugar and 1/3 cup brown. Mixed everything in the food processor (I’m lazy that way). Topped it all with some raw sugar – added a nice crunch to the top. Thought they were quite yummy – definitely adding this to my go to recipes. Might add a little zest to the blueberry mix next time…
I made these delish bars last night in efforts to throw an easy post-dinner sweet together and they were perfect! I added chocolate chips to give it a little something extra – my husband and I enjoyed it right out of the oven like a warm cobbler and just now as the traditional crumb bar – yummy both ways! Thanks for this great recipe!
Hi Deb,
I’m making a springtime version of these- strawberry rhubarb- yum! I love this recipe and I’ve used it often. However, this time I’m making them for a larger group and I wanted to double the recipe and bake it in a sheet pan. Should I change the temperature and increase the baking time? Or can I leave the temperature the same? Any suggestions?
Thanks!
I was wondering if I could reduce the butter in this recipe at all. 2 sticks of butter seems quite intimidating for me. :S
I made these yesterday morning. Before I went to the gym I macerated a bag of frozen mixed berries with the half cup of sugar and some vanilla instea of the lemon/cornstarch route. To please my kids I mashed the berries too and the whole family loves them! Thanks so much for being such a dependable resource!
These look absolutely divine.
Also yummy sprinkled with a little powdered sugar and extra lemon zest!
just pulled this out of the oven and waiting to pass the knife through it. oh i cant wait – drooling!!! thanks
Just tasted these bars after letting them cool for about a half an hour….very delicious! I made them for a breakfast meeting that my husband is having tomorrow morning and they will be perfect…not too sweet. Just blueberries and lemon flavor surrounded by buttery goodness. Thanks, once again.
These were so easy to make and absolutely delicious! Thank you for the recipe. I can’t wait see what other wonderful creations you have on your site!
I made these as the non-chocolate dessert at a party we had this weekend. They disappeared as the night went on. :) http://cookingupaphd.wordpress.com/2010/05/18/graduation-party-a-la-food-blogs/
I made these an hour before our cheer banquet and cut and stored them after just a couple of minutes in the fridge- the heat in the container made them so moist and delicious and wonderfully, slightly warm :]. Our cheerleaders are known for their love of food, and the bars vanished instantly, with many, many complements from the stuntmen.
I just made these for my boyfriend last night! They were so good!
Just made them with 1/2 blueberries, 1/2 raspberries (didn’t buy enough blueberries). The best part was that there were so few dishes to clean!! They’re in the oven now and I am planning on taking them to a Memorial Day BBQ, where I am sure they will be a big hit, as everything I have ever made following your posts is amazing!
As the “moral officer” at work (read: person who provides delicious baked goodies), I brought these in last week, and they were a huge hit! Even those who claimed they didn’t like sweets had several. I’ve already received requests for cherry, peach and, of course, more blueberry! If you’ve tried these with any other fruits, I’d love to know how they turned out.
I made these for my family’s Memorial Day cookout and they were a hit! I expected to have leftovers but everyone took seconds. Delicious recipe. I will certainly use it again, maybe with cherries next time.
I made these over the weekend for an outdoor family party and they were a hit! I think they’ll come out even better next time :) Easy to make and naturally sweet! YUM
I have an abundance of fresh blueberries (Big problem, I KNOW!), so I decided to do a triple batch and freeze! These turned out great!
I saw your recipe just today and had to make it right away hehe! It’s midnight right now and it just came out of the oven. It looks amazing!! I did a little taste and it’s wonderfully tarte and sweet :D THANKS!
I made these today to bring to a barbeque, but they didn’t come out as expected. The top crumbs were almost burnt in a 375 degree oven in less than 30 minutes while the bottom was soggy; and the whole thing is just too jiggly to be cut into bars. We ate it cobbler style with ice cream and it was tasty, but any advice on what went wrong and how to fix it?
OH WOW!! Just cut them into bars and not too sure whether or not they are going to last until the dinner party tonight!! They are delicious~ Thanks for sharing! I’m already imagining the other flavor possibilities! Strawberry rhubarb comes to mind~ YUMM
Just made these last night and they are fabulous! I’m sure they won’t make it beyond this evening. Thanks for another great recipe!
OH MY GOODNESS. Okay, so I just took the firsst bite of this and WOW it is soo delicious! I’m not really sure how i can’t go in for another piece. It tastes like blueberry pie, but with a better crust and not so runny. Oh how i wish i had some ice cream for this because that would just push it over the top.
Oh and baking note: I cooked these for about 35 minutes and am so glad that i checked on them then because I think they would’ve been too dry had i baked them for another 10 minutes.
Delicious! I brought them to work and they were a huge hit. I was really worried that the crust wouldn’t turn out properly because I had a heck of a tough time cutting the butter in with a fork (note to self: obtain pastry knife ASAP), but they turned out beautifully. (I left them in the oven for an extra 8 minutes or so to get them to brown on top). I’ll definitely be making these again. Thanks, Deb!
I’d had these in the back of my mind ever since I discovered your site in December…as soon as I saw blueberries, I was on it! Everyone loved these, like a blueberry crumb pie in bar form. I cut half of them into little two-bite bars, froze them, and am bringing them to a 4th of july party this weekend, perfect!
I made these on Monday using blackcurrants rather than blueberries, because that’s what I happened to have on hand. They’re fantastic – I’ve kept them in the fridge and it’s only now (Thursday morning) that they’re starting to soften a bit. Can’t wait to try a blackberry and apple version in late August when my blackberries are ripe, and then the cranberry / orange version at Christmas.
These are so good! Really, a pie that you can bite into! So fresh. And something that any baker can add her/his own thing to in order to “personalize” it. Next time I make these, I just might add sliced almonds to the crumble that goes on top. Mmmm. I know Deb hates the food processor for cutting butter into flour, but perhaps when her hands are a little more – shall we say – weather worn, the push-of-a-button ease will call to her. I used my fp and the crumble was fine. Took just 42 mins in my oven to get golden brown.
Hey Deb!! This is way late but just wanted to say thanks for this – took these bars to a July 4th fireworks-watching party…and the people?? Well, they just loved them. This has been on the list of dozens of Smitten Kitchen “must make” recipes that I catalogue at home. SO glad I finally did. Amazing and came out perfectly – didn’t need any extra oven time at all! Thanks!
just made these with some blackcurrents and a bit of elderflower – so yummy! thanks!
I made these yesterday and they are the bomb! So simple and satisfying. Used fresh blues and frozen huckles. Thanks for the killer recipe!
Made two batches of these last weekend for a cook-out and a party that we were invited to celebrating July 4th. They were delicious, and very easy to make. I did half brown sugar/half white, and added some cinnamon (maybe about two t?) to the blueberry filling mixture as some had suggested above. Not sure if either mod made much difference, really, but at any rate they certainly were good. I’d make them again for sure. Next time saving more for myself, of course.
Found this recipe 3 hours ago. I mixed up the crumbs in my Kitchen-Aid (perfect!), went out to my backyard and picked 4 cups of blueberries. I added a little vanilla and almond to the blueberry/lemon mixture. They came out of the oven at 44 minutes and they are heavenly. And I thought I had a good blueberry bar recipe; this tops all. thanks!
Oh Deb, these are amazing. My brain was so overwhelmed! I kept thinking “these taste like blueberry muffins! but they are bars! except it is coffee cake! but these are BARS!” Oh, everyone that tried these (I brought them to work, shared with friends – oh I was so magnanimous) ooohed and aaaahed over these, just as they should have.
When summer comes and I have fresh produce in abundance (we do a CSA) you are my go-to girl. Thanks.
hi from germany!
thank you for this recipe..i just made it an hour ago and phew did they come out delicious!!..at first i thought gosh, they are not sweet…(that is because i could not wait and tried them hot out of the oven)..as they cooled YUM, so delicious!!!!!! the pan is already half empty!!
Hi Deb,
Oh, this is my new favorite blog!!! I just found it last night and couldn’t sleep thinking about waking up and running to the store and making both the apple cake and blueberry crumb. I decided on the blueberry crumb. I know it is going to be fabulous. Because I am a crazy cinammon-pecan crazy person, I added just a touch of cinnamon in the crumb mixture and sprinkled chopped toasted pecans with a little brown sugar on top of the crumb mixture before baking. Yummy! Thank you.
Hi Deb,
I’ve been a fan since I came across this site last fall, but this is my first time posting. I just made the blueberry crumb bars yesterday and they turned out great! I added a dash of cinnamon to the blueberries and only ended up baking them for about 30 min (my oven runs pretty hot). They’re even better today after being in the fridge all night. I can’t eat them all myself (or at least, I shouldn’t), so I’m going to be a very popular person at work tomorrow! Thanks so much!
These are fantastic! I only had 1 c blueberries left-over so I made a half-batch which is a good thing because I’ve eaten almost the entire dish!
I’m gonna try them with a mixture of strawberries and blueberries. Both are awfully expensive where I live cos we only get imported blueberries.. good thing I got a tiny box before they disappeared from the shelves last week!
Just made these tonight… they turned out great! I used lime zest and juice instead of lemon, which worked out well, and frozen berries instead of fresh (trying to empty out the freezer before I fill it up again with this summer’s berries!). I did throw in a little extra cornstarch to balance out the extra juiciness from the frozen berries. Super good!
I am sitting here at 10:00 at night in Washington State for the first time in a couple of years. last time I was here was to attend Ammachi’s Seattle Retreat. Such Bliss. This year I am here looking for a place to live with my sis and we are house-sitting. Tomarow is a Celebration of the Hindu holiday, Guru Purnima. Seattle Satsang and all her Glory will be celebrating one of the nost Famous Satgurus of India’s history. AMMACHI! I wanted to bring something very special and different to celebrate, and I just popped it out of the oven. It looks Heavenly, smells divine and after reading all of these comments, I am sure to see smiling faces when I show up at The Seattle Satsang’s special potluck tomarrow. This dessert Is gonna be DELISH for DEVI!!!
THANK YOU FOR THE RECIPE!
This was an amazingly easy recipe, truly a snap to make and they turned out to be almost as beautiful as the pics. A word of warning , though, to people with a sweet tooth. These seemed more like breakfast pastry to me than dessert. I would significantly increase the sugar if I were to make them again.
The little parchment holders looked elegant, were very helpful keeping fingers clean, and were much-commented-upon by guests. Thanks!
I’m no baker, and I found making these to be super easy. The bars turned out wonderfully when I followed the recipe to the letter–I did use a small lemon, though, and next time (and there will definitely be one!) I think I’ll use a bigger one or the juice of two to get a little more lemon flavor. Thanks so much for the great recipe–I’m off to explore the rest of your site!
I love your OCD-ness with the little wax paper pieces for each bar. :) Also, I laughed out loud at “Hmmph! The natives are getting restless.” I think you’re channeling my grandmother– and that is definitely meant as a compliment!
My husband loves these, but my sister-in-law goes ga-ga for them, so naturally, I make them whenever she visits. I’ll be making them this weekend with fresh-picked berries and I’m sure everyone, especially her, will rejoice.
You rock Girl! These were seriously good – made them last night and they got devoured at work today. I sifted some powdered sugar over them this morning before bringing in, and they were absolutely perfect. I also used my food processor to mix the crumb base, and it worked beautifully. Keep up the good work!
I am wondering how they would freeze…. I need to segregate half the pan before I do something I will regret….
They freeze well. I had to do the same!
These were brilliant – super easy and the lemon zest gave it a classier kick.
I even managed with frozen berries (not in season here in Australia at the moment). Only a matter of time before they make a come-back, they were such a crowd pleaser!
Easy recipe to follow and my bars taste amazing!
I made these for a vegan friend of mine by substituting earth balance for the butter (and omitting the salt) and 1/2 a banana for the egg. Delicious!
I just put them in the oven. lets see how they turn out!
Darling…I am an American living in the middle east right now. I have 6-10 people visit my house everyday. So in 106 degree heat I still need something fab with out all the work. THERE ARE PERFECT. I couldn’t get blueberries, I used cherries and some other fruit I have no idea what it is but it was sour. 7 people NOTHING left. My mother-in-law thinks I am a rock star. THANKS!
turned out AMAZING! unbelievably good
Lovely, except I had only a lime, no lemon on hand, and now I realize lime+blueberry flavor might be the secret ingredient in fruitloops. Next time I will follow your recipe exactly! Still, the crumble is a delightful texture, and the blueberries gelled up just perfectly.
“I realize lime+blueberry flavor might be the secret ingredient in fruitloops” — You are a genius! Brilliant.
Bought 10 pounds of blueberries (fundraiser for Kiwanis club) so i am trying lots of recipes! Used miyoko vegan butter and spelt flour (food allergies are a pain) and they are in the oven so cross your fingers!
These came out exactly like your pictures. Spectacular! I used 1/2 stick less butter than the recipe called for and couldn’t tell the difference. Next time I might try to fool myself further and cut it down to 1 stick…
these are the bomb- who doesn’t LOVE these. Thank you!
I just found out about your website and I saw the picture of these and went home and made them that night. I made half a recipe since I only had 2 cups of blueberries. They were gone the next day. Really good and I tell everyone about them. Thanks. PS: The pictures are the best!
just made them and they came out great!
I’ve brought these to work a couple of times and now they’re an office legend! Great recipe!
I’ve also mixed in blackberries to mix it up (also, I only had 2 cups of blueberries), and it was so good. Mmm.
Good day deb! These lil devils look like they’d make my family and friends cry for joy! You are always so super :D I do have a question, my oven can only fit an 8X8 pan, how would you advise a person in such a situation to adjust accordingly? Sorry to trouble you deb :)
I apologise if i sounded like i didn’t take the effort to skim through. I did see the post where you did for kelly on adjusting by area. If 8X8=64, while 13X9= 117, it means that 13X9 is 55% more, how do i reduce recipes by 55%, thats what i’m unsure of heheh
I tried halving every ingredient, didn’t have enough left to cover the top entirely. Deb, is there a chance of overmixing it from crumbly to smudgy? At the end when i’m topping off the top with crumbs, they weren’t so much crumbly as smudgy
I am very excited to make blueberry bars with my mom.
I think emma rose will like ’em and daisy also!
I am helping make them and I also made rice
today.
Loved these. For a picnic I put them in a container between parchment. Traveled very well. Maybe I’ll cut down on the lemon next time. I want the blueberry taste to shine a bit more.
I made this yesterday and was left a little disappointed. to be honest. Surprisingly my picky boyfriend doesn’t seem to share my criticism. So maybe it’s just me?
The blueberry layer has a gel-like consistency and the crumb layer is rather tasteless. I used a little less sugar than the recipe calls for and 1-1/2 sticks of butter instead of two. I’m not sure sticking to the recipe would have changed the outcome? Sorry, Deb – I love all your other recipes that I have tried!
these were so beautiful when i pulled them out of the oven…the smell in the kitchen had my two girls going nuts…we were going to be patient and cool them to take them as dessert at a neighbors later that evening but could not resist and plunged right in with a fork…they were so good warm…that we reheated them at a very low temparture after dinner and served them with homemade vanilla bean ice cream…..what a treat and a very big hit…
These blueberry crumb bars are Ah-Mazing! So easy to make, too. Perfect sweet&sour dish to use a bunch of blueberries. Thanks for the recipe – My coworkers appreciate it as well. :)
I am going to use this same recipe- but with the HUCKLEBERRIES some friends and I picked last weekend! :-D
Great,
I was looking for something like this receipe on the web.
Your images of the bars are making me so hungery (LOL)
I will definitely try this when I get home tonight,
Thanks for sharing,
Aanee xxx
Just wanted to say that I made these a week ago for company and everyone loved them. My own family liked them so much that I made another batch today! Perfect dessert for summer (especially picnics!)
I just made these yesterday and they were great! I was looking for a simple summer treat to make for my family and friends, and they were exactly what I was looking for. I compared your recipe to the original All Recipes version, and knew yours would be what I was looking for. I kept hearing from people that they looked “expensive”, it’s nice that they weren’t though. Big bang for my buck!
I just made these tonight and my kitchen smells amazing! I made them for a company potluck tomorrow, so we’ll see what everyone thinks.
Thanks for adding the zing of lemon. I’m very much a fan of adding a slight citrus edge to my desserts as well! Great recipe, thank you!
Do you think these bars could be made with pears?
I posted an update on these this week with peaches. I think pears would work, but I might use the thinner approach I do there.
i just made these. fabulous recipe. next time i’m going to try it with peaches!
I am in love with this recipe and want to give it a shot this week. All I have are dehydrated blueblerries… do you think they will work? Or what else should I add to make it work with those. There are no blueberries in my country but I want to make these so bad!
I just made these with 4 cups of fresh dices peaches, they were PERFECT, but they kind of start disappearing if you leave them on your counter top to cool off… I think I might have a couple of crumble bar thieves in my house! HMMMMM…
Any suggestions for healthening these up just a bit- anyone try cutting down on butter- using whole wheat flour?
Hie Deb, I would like to try out this recipe of yours.
One question though, is cornstarch the same as corn flour?
Depends on where you are. In the UK and Australia, what we call “cornstarch” in the US is labeled as “corn flour”. But here, corn flour is typically flour made from corn, and not just the starch of of it (which is flavorless). In general, if you can get arrow root powder, it is interchangeable with corn starch in recipes. At times, potato starch is too.
Just want to say that I made these with only 3 cups of blueberries and they turned out fantastic! I actually can’t imagine them with more filling, as the balance between gooey and crumble was *just right* with only 3 cups.
I made these this weekend but used whole wheat flour and raspberries. They are so delicious! Thank you so much for the recipe and the printing feature that made your recipe really easy to read.
After my success with the Peach Shortbread, I decided to make these bars for the office. I think I love the Blueberry Crumble Bars even more, so another recipe for the keeper file!
Made these for my book club — HUGE hit! Many requests for the recipe. The only changes I made were substituting lime juice for lemon (what I had on hand; worked surprisingly well) and swapping two cups of frozen blueberries for two of the fresh. Will make this again and again. Thanks, Deb!
These are absolutely delicious/delightful/addictive. They do keep wonderfully in the fridge, and (in my opinion) even taste better chilled. Thanks for the recipe, I can’t wait to make more!
This is the first time I’ve tried a recipe off your site (or any site, really) because I only developed an interest in baking recently. I substituted raspberries for the blueberries, but everyone still loved it. Thanks, and keep up your amazing website! :)
I’ve made the original blueberry/lemon version as well as the cranberry/orange version that Deb suggests at the bottom of the recipe (for Canadian Thanksgiving this past weekend). Both turned out great and were a hit!
just popped my batch in the oven! can’t wait! blueberry and lemon is one of my favorite combinations
Made these the other day! Went down well! I used wholemeal flour and cutting the butter in was taking forever so I added a tablespoon of melted butter and it brought it together. I also had no corn flour so used plain flour and it worked fine. WIN
Next time will try blueberry and orange and cut down on the sugar a bit. Would this change the texture too much?
Just tried these with cranberries and orange. The flavor is great but you definitely need more sugar – the cranberries are way too tart! I think I will try using 1 cup of sugar with them the next time.
I went out and bought unsalted butter for this recipe, and arrived home to find I’d been too forgetful to buy a lemon. I nixed the idea of using limes as too strange (I wish I’d read all the comments; I love Froot Loops!) and instead used bottled lemon juice and Boyajian lemon oil. My bars came out slightly bland with a floor-polish aftertaste. (seriously, nothing I’ve ever put lemon oil in has ever come out well)
The bars are delicious when sprinkled with kosher salt, and I think (at least for my tastes) they’d be much better with salted butter.
These bars were just perfect. The lemon is perfectly subtle. I love your recipes because they are never overly sweet. I did have to use frozen blueberries instead of fresh, but they were still great! Thank you for yet another success!
Hi Deb!
I made these last week for a family get together and the bars looked and tasted amazing!I sprinkled them with cinnamon before putting them in the oven and also decorated them with a thick lemon glaze once cooled to RT.
I am new at baking and I have used your website twice for recipes, and both times it has been a wonderful experience. Thank you so much for sharing your recipes, you truly are an inspiration for me :)
For the bars, my sibling are not big blueberry lovers, and when they ate the bars, they found them to be a bit too tart. But when they had leftovers 2 days later and loved them! It seems that leaving them in the fridge for 24-48 hours makes the bars soft and chewy.
Thanks again!
What do you think about scaling down the recipe? We’re having some friends over for brunch and I wanted to make these but also don’t have 4 cups of berries. More like 1- 1 1/2 cups. Thanks!
I just made these tonight and they were absolutely perfect in every way! I didn’t find them too sweet at all, and was expecting them to be more tart from the comments, so I’m glad I didn’t add more sugar. I did use frozen blueberries, since that is what I had on hand and they turned out great. I will be making these all the time and they will be a regular staple recipe for me! I felt like I was eating something from a bakery. I did have to bake them about 10 extra minutes. This is the first recipe I have tried from your blog…I will definitely be back for more. Thank you!!!
I baked these the other night and brought them in for my co-workers (so I would not eat them all), everyone loved them. I had people still coming up to me the next day raving about them and thanking me. I followed the recipe exactly as it was. Mine only took about 40 mins to bake. Thanks so much for the wonderful recipe!
My friend and I made these last weekend, briliant recipe! We added cinnamon after it was done cooling which made it divine!
i made these last week and ended p taking them into a pot luck for work! Everyone loved them! This week I am making them for a bake sale we are having at work to help a team member out. I did let my mizer do the work of mixing the dough. I just used he dough hook and used low while I was mixing the blueberries. This time I made them I used parchment paper in the pan for an easier clean up. And they still came out delicios! I think I am going to try some other fruits. Love these!
I didn’t have enough blueberries, so I subbed part blackberries. The bars turned out beautiful and smell divine, but the bottom crust is kinda dry and tasteless. They weren’t overdone, they are just kinda blah. The lemon flavor didn’t really come through and what I thought would be a tender shortbread bottom is closer to a powdery russian tea cake (don’t get me wrong, I like RT cakes). Kinda disappointing.
These are amazing and I am making them for my boyfriend and I this weekend for our lake get away! I was curious though, Can the same recipe be followed but baked in a cupcake pan?
Also great pictures of the cake!
Yumm!! I just made these. So good. I only had about two cups of blueberries, but it worked just fine. Thanks for giving me the courage to try things like this Deb.
I am living for a short while in Brazil and could not find blueberries or lemons here so I made these with chopped fresh mango and lime. They were delicious! Thanks for the versatile recipe!
These were excellent! We used frozen blueberries without a problem. Didn’t have a lemon on hand, so used bottled lemon juice and had no lemon flavor, so I guess I didn’t use enough. They still went over very well with the family!
Hi!!
I’m a blueberry lover and I have TONS of blueberries right now sitting in my freezer. Can I use frozen blueberries for this recipe? The frozen one seems to have more liquid than the fresh one, so do I need to add more cornstarch?
Thanks a bunch!!
I seem to have lost my sweet tooth! The original recipe was far too sweet, so I halved the sugar in the crumb topping and nixed it in the berries. Still too sweet. I’m thinking one third cup sugar in the crumb topping the next time :O I also reduced butter by a quarter, and substituted half almond meal and a quarter ground oats for the flour, and the crumbs still came together nicely.
I know this is an old post, but I wanted you to know how I used it, and how wonderfully it came out.
I took this recipe, as well as a recipe for lemon bars and combined them. I halved the sugar in this, as ash did, and before putting on the crumb topping, poured homemade lemon bar filling (VERY tart, because lemon things can NEVER be too tart for me) over the blueberries.
My boyfriend said they are the best thing I’ve ever made, and I’ve even given them as gifts.
Made this over the weekend with strawberries (blueberries at this point would have cost me $24 for the amount needed in the recipe ~ yikes!) and oh boy ~ you weren’t kidding when you said these were great and nearly any berry will work. Will definitely try this with MANY varieties of fruit. YUM!
I love this! I found that blueberries can get kind of pricey so I substituted strawberries and orange zest and they came out great :)
so good! i replaced blueberries for blackberries due to cost at the grocery store. turned out amazing and love the lemon zest and juice in the recipe. and even better the next day with a cup of coffee!
I made this and your mom’s apple cake for dessert for Easter, and my oh my,they were wonderful! I used frozen blueberries since fresh ones would have cost me $30-$40!! I didn’t drain them (I forgot) but I didn’t find them liquidy at all. I froze half of them so i’m hoping they hold up well this week! Thanks for another amazing recipe!
It may be 306 calories a bar (if you cut it into 15), but I still eat it! Delish! My bars came out wonderfully. Eat cut was clean because I placed it in the fridge before cutting. I wrapped each square in parchment paper, and they went fast.
I tried these – they were delicious! But just wanted to note the changes that I made: I used 1/2 white sugar and 1/2 brown sugar of the quantities mentioned in the original recipe. Also, I added a cup of oats to the dough and used 1 1/2 stick of butter and 1 Tbs of oil (instead of the 2 sticks of butter). It turned out great!
I made these yesterday in my 82 degree kitchen. I guess the recipe was just that compelling. They were quick and easy (so I could retreat back into an air-conditioned room shortly) and came out just as beautifully as yours did! My butter, of course, was in no way cold, but I stuck the bottom layer of crumb in the pan in the freezer, and and then chilled the rest in the fridge before putting it on top of the blueberries. Thanks for this recipe! It’s a keeper :D
Just put the tray in the oven. Looks great! Can’t wait to taste them later today. Thanks!!!
Any suggestions/recommendations on making this with rhubarb or perhaps a rhubarb/strawberry mixture? I’ve got a craving. . .
I was planning on making your peach shortbread – but my peaches went mouldy. So I made these instead, using a pile of stewed apples instead of the blueberries, and adding some rolled oats and cinnamon to the portion for the top. It’s lovely! I look forward to trying again with blueberries.
Made these last night-I used these awesomely huge blueberries found at Trader Joe’s and they are amazing. The most exciting part is that they looked just like yours did, in AND out of the pan.
Thanks for your great blog-it’s my absolute favorite-going strawberry picking this coming weekend and can’t wait to make that cake of yours!!
i made these for part of my son’s 2nd birthday party brunch. i (and others) could not stop eating them! so perfect- thank you!
thank you so much for posting this recipe! i have had it bookmarked for ages and finally got around to trying it tonight–the crumb bars are delicious and i plan to keep this in my recipe repertoire for years to come! they are going to be the perfect afternoon snack this week!
First, I love you blog very much! I’m not a big cook but with your helpful directions, notes, comments and lovely pictures I deicded to tackle my first recipe from you blog. I made these blueberry crumb bars for my sister’s bridal shower and they were easy and everyone liked them! :D thanks!
I had extra blueberries I bought on sale earlier this week- what to do…what to do…you know what I did?
Went to your amazing blog and searched for blueberries. Came up with this recipe. It is divine! I just finished making it and my home smells fabulous! Thank you for the amazingness! Keep it up!
heyyy i love the recipe … saw it and jus ran to the kitchen to try it… its in the oven now n m soooooooooooooo excited .. fingers crossed…. :) thanxxx a ton
This has become my go-to recipe for spring and summer picnics. I made it for Easter brunch, the teachers’ luncheon, and again today for the Brownie scout picnic. Perfect! Cooks up great with either frozen blueberries or fresh, by the way, no problems. Oh, and I forgot the egg until after the cake was assembled – but I beat the egg with a little of the topping scraped off and poured it over the top and couldn’t tell in the finished product. I love a recipe that is so forgiving!! Thanks.
I made this last year on my yearly visit to South Carolina and now im back again, they are the best thing you will ever taste…. I change mine up a little by adding brown sugar instead of white sugar and i add a little more lemon to the crust and topping, i also ad a little bit of oat meal to the topping… its the best
Just made these and I am having such a difficult time waiting for them to cool! Can’t wait to eat them. Thank you so much for such a crazy simple recipe.
So great and easy. They turned out perfect.
http://www.aworldflavor.com/2011/06/blueberry-crumb-bars.html
These are so delicious! Swapped out the 3 cups of flour for 2 cups of whole wheat pastry flour and 1 cup of old fashioned oats and added a 1/2 tap each of salt and cinnamon to the crumb mix. Can’t keep my hands off them! Thanks!
These are ok, but I agree they need more sugar and for me, they need to baked less.
made these for a picnic, turned out great and taste soooo good chilled, especially when it was super hot out! mixed some almond meal and whole wheat flour with the ap flour :) thanks for sharing!
Yet another of your recipes that has become a staple for me – they are excellent with blueberries and lime. Had a ton of raspberries & peaches that needed using up last night, so I pulled out the recipe again – they are a winner. Thanks for all the work you put in!
Took these to the kids’ swim meet and everyone LOVED these…great way to use the 5 gallons of berries we pick annually (and freeze). Will definitely be making these for the 4th of July. Once again, thanks for the great recipe!
These look SO yummy.
Will they be just as good if I use thawed blueberries?
Thank you so much :)
Please help! I’ve got to make a triple batch today.
LisaJ: scan the comments, this is addressed.
I made these for a vegan friend using coconut oil instead of butter and it worked really well.
IC it, thanks Beth!
These are in the oven as i type…..Im so excited to come across your site this morning! Many other recipes i can t wait to try! thanks!
I made these for a July 4th BBQ and they were delicious. If you like blueberry deserts they are a must try. Super easy too. Thanks Deb!
I made these with half sour cherries and half blueberries and they were great! I didn’t add any additional sugar and we really like that bit of tart that came from the cherries. I will definitely make these again, thanks for sharing!
I love it that even after 3 years (and 5 for some of your posts) they can still excite :)
I’m going to get some blueberries tomorrow after work and send some of these gorgeous blueberry crumb bars to my boyfriend, he’ll love them (as will I)!
I also made the chocolate sorbet last night and it was gorgeous (I had it for breakfast as I just couldn’t wait)!
Another thing, your cheese straws! I grew up on these as I live in the UK, the smell evokes so many childhood memories, specifically of doing some day-day shopping with my mum :)
Loving your site, recipes, writing and photographs :) Great x
I saw these and made them the very next day. They are fabulous! I added Grand Marnier along with the lemon and in my oven, it took 42 minutes. Loved them so much, I made the Peach Crumb Bars today. They are just out of the oven and look and smell delicious. Thank you!
oh my god this looks amazing!! i absolutely love your recipes!! I have one quick question though..is it possible to substitute cornstarch with something else or not use it at all? thank you!
Oh.my. I made these tonight, but replaced the blueberries with raspberries. Tart and crumbly and delicious! Thanks!
Tammie — Potato starch and/or arrow root powder are usually good cornstarch substitutes. In this case, however, you could also use flour, but I’d probably double it.
This winter I made blueberry sauce with lime and lime zest instead of the traditional lemon and it was divine. Soooooo when I saw this recipe after my friend brought me a bunch of blueberries from her farm, I just had to try it with lime and lime zest. All I can say is yummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
I just went blueberry picking early this morning and this is EXACTLY what I want to make this afternoon…Holy Happiness, Batman! Thanks for the recipe!
I just made these today. They looked so scrumptious on your site! One question: the crumbles on top of mine are pretty dry – what do you think the culprit for what would be? I don’t think I overcooked them but, hey, I’m no baking expert. Just wondering what I can do differently next time.
Thank you so much for this recipe! I made it last night with what I had on hand — blackberries, and a little balsamic vinegar in place of the lemon, though I still wished I’d had a lemon for the zest. They are SO good and I’m inspired to try many more of your recipes! Thanks for the wonderful site.
These are fantastic and my friend tried them with an interesting twist that was great. She put a layer of lemon curd with bits of ginger between the bottom layer and the blueberry layer. They were amazing!
Has anyone used self-rising flour instead of all-purpose flour for this recipe? If you omit the baking powder will it still turn out OK?
Made these last week with bueberries and cranberries. I know, I know – cranberries are not summery. But my DH came back from the supermarket with a bag of them to use (I said “any frozen berry” and apparently, he doesn’t have ESP) . So, I cooked them in about 1/3 cup sugar first, let them all soften, and then mixed them with blueberries (also frozen). I used a bit more sugar than recommended, to soften the bite of the cranberry. In all — PERFECTION. Seriously, they were the perfect summer treat – not too heavy, not to sweet, but just indulgent enough. Thanks Deb!
Made these twice and both times they’ve been devoured. The second time I only had one pint of blueberries so I used a pint of strawberries as well. These bars are definately a keeper.
These are SOOOO delicious! I agree with one of the posts, that I needed an extra 15 minutes in the oven, at 45 minutes they were way too pale, and not golden enough. I baked them for 63 minutes and they looked great. I wonder if maybe these should be cooked at 400, so they brown easier? I may try this next time when I make them.
Also, it would be nice if people did not post until they make them. Yes they look great – but its not useful feedback to say “wow I cant wait to make these”. I much rather read peoples commentary on it.
Tasty and delicious! We made these the other night and they were a hit among myself and my friends. These bars weren’t too sweet and the lemon complimented the blueberries wonderfully.
Wow …. this will be my go-to recipe for blueberries from now on. A great hit at work late last night. The filling is nice and moist and very flavorful. DIdn’t get as much of the lemon flavor coming through as other posters did but it certainly enhanced the blueberry anyway.
I’ve made these as written a number of times and they have always turned out very tasty. The last time I made them I replaced 2/3 cup of flour with a 2/3 cup of graham cracker crumbs which made them stay crispy in the fridge overnight and added a lot of flavor to the crust.
http://www.clockworklemon.com/2011/08/berry-crumble-bars.html
Just stumbled on this recipe today. And just receiving 3 pints of fresh blue berries I feel compelled to use another of your recipes knowing it will be good.. They are in the oven now baking up. I can not wait to sink my teeth into these bars. Thanks Deb for all the great recipes, I always know where to direct my browser for something new, refreshing and delicious :)
just made this last week. it’s being requested again! thanks!!
I just made these with fresh picked blackberries! I also need extra time in the oven and also excluded the egg for friends who are allergic. Delicious and beautiful!
Just made these and they turned out perfectly! I only had 2 cups of blueberries and I think more would’ve made them a little too..berryish (Blasphemy, I know). The crust was terrific! Not too soft and not too hard; they were pretty easy to cut up after cooling.
Thanks for this recipe!
do you think these would do ok in the mail?
Delicious! I used Meyer lemons, which gave the bars a slightly savory flavor. Really nice addition.
I just got back from Wolfeboro, NH where they make a blueberry crumble tart with a shortbread crust at Stellaloona Bakery. I live in Seattle. This bakery is too far away to deal with my cravings. Happily I found recipe for blueberry crumble bars. I will be trying to get something close to what I had back in my stomach ASAP. Thank you!!
Just made these with 2 parts blueberries and 1 part peaches; they came out AMAZING. They were gone in the course of one evening with my family. The peaches gave them a nice little tartness.CANNOT wait to make them again! Thank you SK!!
Deb, I made these last week and they are ABSOLUTELY DIVINE. my cousins from france at 5 just at dinner!! these bars are heavenly =)
These squares were amazing. I had to bring them into work so that I wouldn’t eat the whole pan. I followed the recipe exactly as you wrote it. Amazing!
Also, I have to admit I was greedy, and I did not wait for the squares to cool before cutting them. The squares didn’t look very square-like, but my coworkers didn’t really care because they were SO GOOD.
You are killing me. These look delish! I’ll give it a go this weekend while I’m stuck inside cause of this hurricane that’s coming
Ridiculously good! And easy . . . it doesn’t get much better than this. Best crust EVER!
Very easy and yummy. I made the crumble in a food processor and it was done in a flash and came out perfectly.
Thanks!
These look so yummy! I’m just about to make them. Thanks for sharing the recipe!
I loved these! And so did the guests I made them for. At least one person asked for the recipe. I’ll definitely be making these again. Thanks!
three years later and this is still our favorite end-of-summer treat! however, I’ve made a dangerous discovery… our plethora of blueberries actually was gobbled by an obsessed toddler, so I had to reach into our freezer for most of the berries in the recipe this time around. frozen blueberries, blackberries, and raspberries made a totally amazing batch of these in a pinch—which means that we might just be making these all year long.
thought I would be making the Raspberry Breakfast Bars to bring to our daughter’s Back to Pre-School night potluck, but have been thoroughly won over by these! (Was thinking the oat aspect of the Breakfast Bars might be more ‘Montessori’…) Have a case & a half of peaches in the cooler, SOO excited! Thank you, again!
I made these and they were absolutely wonderful! They were so delicious, I couldn’t stop eating them, so now I need to call them Yummilicious Blueberry Crumb Bars! Check them out! http://mary-making.blogspot.com/2011/09/yummilicious-blueberry-crumb-bars-and.html
Thank you so much for an easy recipe like this! I am studying abroad right now in Italy, of course there is a ton of food inspiration around me but on rainy days like today nothing makes me feel better than baking some American classics! This recipe was wonderful given my limited appliances (no kitchen aid :( ) and ingredients (who knew oats were so hard to find in italy?). Please post more recipes like this!
Whoa! My son sent this recipe to me today after just sending a text saying simply, “Blueberry crumb bars”. Do you think he’d like me to make some? Subtle hint I would say,wouldn’t you? Of course I asked him to send it along via email. Great site, I’ll have to scout around a bit.I have also been into All Recipes many times.I would like you to know I am here if you ever need another sampler to help you! Blueberries are the best! Thanks so much. ~ Holly
Can I add a P.S. to my comment above? I Love you Steve! Thanks for sharing with me.xox
I always make these in the summer and made a fall version this weekend- 2 cups each of chopped pears and cranberries (halved), an extra tablespoon of sugar with the fruits, 1 less teaspoon of cornstarch, and replaced the lemon in the recipe w/ orange. Turned out sweet and tart, perfect. Thank you for the recipe!
best recipe ever! this is my 4th time making it in a month and everyone cant seem to get enough of it! but i put less sugar and i substitute the blueberries with pears. this is one hard recipe to make it exactly like the picture. everytime i made this, none of the times did the crumbs look the same. sometimes more hard and sometimes its just one clump and i would have to pinch it or dice up the batter. but overall, this is a great recipe if done right! =)
I’ve been making this every week for the last 2 months. Everybody loves the crumble. In fact, i’ve been changing the blueberries to strawberries to peach to apple to rasberries.
a really yummy treat. thank you so much for this recipe.
Just made my first batch and they are delicious!! I am not a cook. I am actually known for messing things up in the kitchen but, these were super easy to make. I can’t wait to try different variations of this!
Hi, I’ve been reading and cooking your recipes, and loving your blog for weeks now.Made these yesterday and was amazed at the emmediate rush for more. I used salted butter so added just a dash more, frozen blueberries with an extra tsp of cornstarch and a blend of lime/lemon juice and zest. The blueberry flavor sparkles, so much so I just had to say thank you. Thank you!
OH MY LORD. Currently eating my results. My brain is giving this recipe a 10 out of 10, but my stomach is giving it a 12 out of 10. It’s tangy and sweet and a little bit salty tastes mix together in beautiful harmony. I replaced 1 of the cups of blueberries with 1 cup blackberries, which I think made it each more dimensional and perfect. Such a great recipe Thanks!
I know I’m late to the party since this was posted in 2008, but… I’m SO making these this weekend! I play roller derby and, seriously, my skate name is Blueberry Clobberer! This is too perfect :)
I was wondering if gelatin or 1 banana could be used as a substitute for the 1 egg?
just made these beautiful bluberry crump bars..yum yummmmm!!!!!!!
can you use canned blueberrys?
These are so yummy! I agree, we like them best chilled.
Thank you so much for this website!I have never considered myself to be a baker until I came across this site,the recipes are so very easy to understand and every time I try a new one I always know it’s going to be delicious!my husband requests these blueberry bars EVERY single week!and he brags to all of his friends about how good my baking is now! I ONLY use your website! I can’t wait for your cookbook! I am pretending you are my Julia Child and I am going to cook my way through your website!(except unlike the movie I have an 18 month old that keeps me busy so I won’t be blogging or doing it all every single day) but with time I will do it! :) thank you so much I am so happy I stumbled across your site!
????????? : Look Yummy.. I will try this recipe, Thanks :)
Hi Deb
Am very fond of your Site. Can I sub real blueberries with blueberry filling? Blueberries cost a bomb in my country. Would so appreciate your advice. Thanks a bunch!
Hi Judy — Do you mean frozen blueberries? I’m unfamiliar with blueberry filling — would that be like premade pie filling? If so, I think it would be too wet. Frozen blueberries can be used, but it might be best to let them defrost first and drain off a little of the liquid so the bars don’t get soggy. A bunch of people (122, 141, 191, 234, 238, 244, 248, 249, etc.) in the comment have done this so if you scroll through, you should see some advice.
YES. I just made this! Clumsy as I am, I added the lemon zes AND juice to the dough :( But oh well! I had 2 lemons so just added the juice from the other lemon to the berries. Extra sourness, mmm. Haha! (Dough was too wet, obviously! Added extra flour!)
I love this recipe! It’s sweet and sour at the same time.. And nice and moist! After my fair share of tasting, I wrote down this recipe in my old-fashioned handwritten cookbook! :) <3
I made these yesterday and served them to a few friends –Yum… They held together wonderfully. I let them cool on the counter (uncovered) for about 2 1/2 -3 hours. I served them straight out of the pan. I don’t know if this made a difference or not but I used a glass pan.. Again, not sure of a difference, but while making the crumbs, I cut up the 2 sticks of butter in 1 inch or so pieces on a plate first and put that back in the fridge a bit to cool down before mixing. Also, as I was mixing this, using a pastry cutter, I put the whole bowl in the freezer every now and then for a very short time, just to keep it cool. I cut all the butter in first with the flour etc., and then mixed in the egg. There should be some little whole pieces of flour covered butter (for those of you who have never done crumbs). For the berry mix, I dried the berries well first. I also added 1 Tablespoon or so more sugar (because I wasn’t sure if all of my blueberries were so sweet). I think next time I will also add a tiny bit more salt to the crumb mix since I added a little more sugar. My daughter and her friend asked if they could have them for breakfast today. Of course! Thanks, Deb- you are a gem!
I just made these last night. They were not only incredibly easy, but absolutely delicious! They flew right off the plate when I brought them to the office. Thank you!
This is seriously one of the best desserts I’ve EVER made. Delicious! The kids wanted more and more. I’m sending the rest to work with my husband tomorrow to earn him some points with his chain of command;)
My blueberries were swimming in the lemon,sugar and cornstarch mixture so I drained them before adding. Did I do it wrongly? Should I have added the juice as well? They are cooling as I write…they look ok. Hoping they taste as good as everyone else’s!
These are in the oven now… A friend made the peach version last weekend and they were delicious (really good refrigerated). My husband is a blueberry fanatic so I’m giving these a shot this weekend. Can’t wait to taste them!
For the person who said their filling turned out gel-like: I’ve had that problem with baked berries before if they are squished too much/too juicy and/or if there is too much thickener in the filling. You have to be really gentle when you mix these with the sugar/cornstarch/lemon juice. I used very firm blueberries in this recipe, so we’ll see how it turns out.
I love these bars so much. I have been making them the last couple years. I’m actually surprised I haven’t commented here before now. I made them this past weekend for my bbq and finally decided try a variation. Made one pan of blueberry and one of peach. For the peach version I used 4 cups of chopped canned peaches (2 large cans) and added 1/2 tsp of almond extract to the filling. Also, added 1/2 cup chopped almonds to the crumb mixture. I think the peach might become my go to flavor now! They went fast at the bbq.
I’m tracked it down! I remembered swapping plums for blueberries in some delicious recipe last year, this was it, took a while to find the right one. I’m going to give it a try with blueberries now, but I highly recommend plums with a little clementine juice (what was on hand at the time).
This comment thread does not really need one more comment, but then i dont really need to eat just ONE mor of these bars right now.I thought I’d add that after making these bars twice with blueberries in the last year (to rave reviews) I just made a batch with rhubarb compote And some sliced strawberries as a filling instead of blueberries. Since the compote is already jam-like it doesn’t need extra sugar or cornstarch, so you can just substitute the whole blueberry mixture for 1 and a half cups rhubarb compote and a cup or so of sliced strawberries.They are like mini strawberry rhubarb pies and I think will be a big hit for a potluck tomorrow. If so, these are definitely coming back soon for a fourth of July party.
I have made these twice in the past week and they turned out great. I crumbled the butter in by hand. I found that much easier and reduced the heat to 350F and baked them for about an hour. Both times they turned out fabulous. The second time I used them for catering a Retirement Tea. Thanks so much for the great recipe. Your site is fantastic. I am going to add these to my Mouth Watering Mondays post this Monday so come on over to see it. Cheers, Tara
These things are like crack. I made some and brought them to a meeting and people swarmed them like I was giving out twenty dollar bills.
So I’ve taken the original recipe and hacked it a bit. I’ve been making it with a combination of blueberries and sour cherries (while they last!) and using a combination of the dough here and the almond crumble from your sour cherry pie. So much crumb action – I love it!
I am going to miss making these with sour cherries, but in the meantime, simply divine!
First of all.. YUM! I just pulled these out of the oven a few minutes ago and, of course, couldn’t help but try a corner as they are cooling. Delicious. The only change I made to this recipe is that I added a little extra lemon juice and a couple teaspoons of cream cheese to the filling. Because, let’s be honest – there are very few things in life that can’t be improved upon with a little cream cheese!
Yummmmmm!!! Made these for my 4th of July and everyone was raving about them. So delicious!! Super easy to make as well. Mine ended up taking a full hour in the oven. I also chilled the entire pan for the night in the fridge and they were really easy to cut the next day (all clean cuts!!). Definitely making these again!!
I headed out in 98 degree heat to pickup flour so I could make these today! What an awesome recipe. Simple steps with fantastic results. Added a half-teaspoon of vanilla, and 1/16 t. of cinnamon to the berry mixture. Not sure why… but I’ll be making this again… and again… and again. May buy/wash/freeze a dozen quarts of berries so I can make this throughout the winter months, too. Thank you!
I’ve seen this on Mennonite cooking blogs. They call it Platz and make it in acres. I think your recipe is about doable for me. :)
Thank you for this recipe. I just picked up 10lbs of hand picked fresh blueberries and needed an idea of what to do with some of them. :)
Thank you for this recipe! Haven’t made these since last summer but am hopping that they turn out just as delicious as I remember! Thanks to you and your recipes, I have been earning increasing amounts of popularity among my coworkers at my new job.
I just made these today for the first time using raspberries and they are TO DIE FOR good!!! Thanks for a great recipe and easy to do!
Oh goodness – my boyfriend and I just pulled these out of the oven! Can’t wait until they cool! Delicious dessert/snack/probably dinner awaits us. I want to try this with other fruit combos for sure. The cranberry one sounds right up our ally! Love that it makes heaps too!
Outstanding. We picked about 50 lbs of assorted berries on Saturday and after jamming most of them, I wanted something easy and delicious to throw them into for dessert. This couldn’t have been easier (even after a full day of canning). Took all of 5 minutes to prep and they are so very, very good!
I made these last night and they came out a little grainy, I could feel the sugar grains while I was chewing. I’d like to give them another shot, but does anyone know what I could have done wrong? I had to dip into my roommate’s sugar that has been sitting untouched in the cupboard for the whole time we’ve lived together (2 years). Does sugar go “bad”?
Got some free blueberries yesterday and had to make a dessert for a dinner for migrant workers a friend is throwing. Since they are so poor dessert is a luxury to them and I wanted to make something that would be a real treat. I found this and it turned out wonderfully! Now I just have to keep my kids from eating all of them before the food drop off ;)
I too got some free blueberries from the grocery store on the weekend, and my husband feared they were going to be wasted because we had a fridge full of fruit already, so he suggested that I bake with them. So I came upon this receipe and knew I had to try it out. It turned out well, but I do have 2 things that I’ve noted to be changed next time. First is to make more dough, I ended up with not enough left for the toping; second is I found it to be too tart even though I sprinkled more sugar on top of the berries before putting the crumble on top, so I must add more sugar to the dough and berry mixture next time. Thanks for the recipe!
Loved these. Such a quick and easy treat to make and they look great. I put them in the fridge for a while before cutting them, and it really helped give clean cuts. I’ll definitely be making these again with the kids.
Holy cow, this is DELICIOUS. Call me dumb, but I didn’t realize it’s essentially shortbread on the bottom. Shortbread and blueberries, two of my favorite things. I get the feeling from reading your recipes that you like your fruity things on the tangy/tart side, unlike me, so I used the lemon zest and then just about one tablespoon of lemon juice, which turned out perfectly for my taste.
Next time (and there will be a next time!), I might use 6 cups or so of blueberries for a deeper fruit layer. Fantastic.
It’s the photography that grabbed me in; I can hardly wait to make these!!!!
These are so great, I think we got ourselves addicted. Too bad that blueberry season is so short here in British Colubmia
Do you think you do a combination of blueberries and peaches in this recipe?
Mary — I think it would be delicious.
If anyone is wondering about using plums instead of blueberrys as was suggested a million commetns ago, I gave it a try. I used a mix of small Italian, black and red plums, sliced fairly thinly to make 4 cups. The result tastes a little like rhubarb – tart, but quite tasty if you’re looking for a tangy, not-too-sweet treat.
AMAZING! I was searching for a good fruit bar for a work potluck and stumbled upon these (And your blog which is now one of my favs!) Worked just fine with frozen blueberries. Very, very good. I will def’n keep this recipe on hand for furture use! Thank You!
Any suggestions for using blackberries? I have both fresh and frozen. Thanks.
I was looking for a dessert for my family’s Rosh Hashana meal and came across this beauty of a dessert. I decided to try it! I know it’s not the traditional apple route, but it’s sweet, so it does the trick! I’m a beginner baker, and the recipe was really easy to follow, your detailed writing made it so. And my Safta was proud of my achievement, what more can I ask for in a dessert? Thank you!
I made this just now and it is cooled ^.^ sooooooo good. <3 thanks perfect for my date
Hah! Here you are! Can’t believe I didn’t save this in blogs I follow the day I made this recipe! So yummy! Another recipe just … wouldn’t … be … the … same. I will never lose it again. I promise!
Blessings,
April
Would you add extra sugar when using cranberries instead of blueberries? I tried to look through the comments but didn’t see that anyone tried this. I love these blueberry bars, they are highly requested now!
Have you heard of the haskap berry? Sounds like a perfect recipe to try it out on!!
This was a great recipe and very easy to assemble. Im a pretty good cook, but when it comes to baking im a little shy because everything used to burn! I’m a little more confident now (due to the jacked up banana bread recipe you posted- which is one of the few that i found that actually uses cinnamon!). Anyways, this was a simple recipe, and my first attempt at using frozen berries at all. turned out great and not cloyingly sweet- just a bit tart and sweet, with a lovely hint of lemon. (my kitchen smelled amazing after zesting, btw :) ) Will make again, but maybe with blackberries next time- my fave berry!
A new favorite recipe! Love, love, love it! The lemon zest gives it a delightful tang!
Easy to make and I am making it for the third time this season for our family potluck!
Made these tonight for NYE tomorrow. Of course I ate 1/4 of the pan already. They are so, so good!
I baked these last night and they came out awesome! I had some Granny Smiths that were leftovers from an apple pie, so I decided to test things out and replace the blueberries with them. I chopped them and mixed them with some brown sugar and cinnamon and they were absolutely delicious. Thank you for such a awesome, easy to follow recipe!
I made these tonight and they are FANTASTIC! I used orange zest because I had no lemon, and… I’ve eaten a quarter of the pan… in 4 hours. I can’t wait to try your cranberry version next!
We only had enough blueberries for muffins, but had a bog full (yes a literal bog, not misspelled) of cranberries in the freezer, so in went the cranberries. My brother had also given me an orange the other day saying it was the most amazing orange in the world, so that went in too. Well, only the juice and zest went in. I followed your recipe exactly and it made the most amazing cranberry crumb bar in the world (with help from my brother’s orange I’m sure). Thank you for this perfect recipe! We are looking forward to wolfing down more of your recipes and salivating over wether to purchase your recipe book on iTunes.
Wonderful! I had fresh blueberries that were a bit on the tart side and needed to be used. I made them as a thank you for some outstanding work my assistant did. Thanks for letting me spoil her.
Just made these. Just what I needed. Thank you for your glorious recipes. They are inspiring and rewarding.
Thank you so much for this amazing and easy recipe. I didn’t have blueberries so I used cranberries and red currants and used some orange in place of the lemon. It
turned out great! I will definately add this to my recipe box and try out some more fruit combinations. Thanks again! :)
I just got your cookbook on Saturday and I made the cranberry version of these for some gifts today. My daughter had almost everything that was left over and begged me to go buy some more cranberries to make more tomorrow. I am not heading to the store today, but wilI definitely be making these again and I want to try the blueberry ones next. Of course, I also have to get through a lot more recipes in your book, but what an amazing start!
Hello, I know this is an older recipe on your site, but I just made them and I had to comment. They are super simple and super delish! My chubby two-year old has been asking me for a “cwumb bah” every morning since. You are the BEST!
I just made these in preparation of a camping trip this weekend, and not only were the completely delicious and easy to make (my first time making any sort of crumble!) but they held up great and were raved about by all the campers! These are DEFINITELY going on my camping trip list for next time!
Making these now with blackberries from last Fall’s harvest. Thank yoU!
These are very good, but the recipe could probably use some development. My thoughts:
I, too, had trouble getting them to brown. I wonder if 400° would be a better oven temperature.
Next time I’ll add more salt in the dough, and probably a bit more sugar (which would help browning, too.) And how about ground almonds? And I might up the zest a bit, too.
What’s that egg doing in the dough? Clearly the dough is meant to be more scone-like than shortbread-like. But still. Be interesting to try it with and without egg. (Be interesting to go closer to a good cream-scone dough, too. Or to go in the shortbread direction. If I were a test kitchen, which I’m not.)
The blueberry filling works to spec, though. Really good.
It is rhubarb season. My rhubarb crop is excessive this year, if it can ever be said one can have too much rhubarb (it’s debatable). I was wondering if I could use rhubarb instead of blueberries, and how I should adjust the sugar? Would the rhubarb juice be runnier than blueberries, and best to stick with blueberries?
I think rhubarb would be heavenly here. I think they’re probably almost equally runny? I think of blueberry as very juicy, too. You might bump up the sugar slightly (a few tablespoons).
omg, Deb. I made these last week for a birthday and they were fantastic! I always make blueberry cobbler in the summer, so as a nod to that I added cinnamon and brown sugar to the top and it was perfection.
What if I wanted to add an element of cheesecake to these bad boys? Would it be as simple as mixing up a small batch of cheesecake filling and pouring it over the shortbread base, and then adding the blueberries and topping? Or would you need to somehow briefly pre-bake/set the shortbread base?
Hi Deb,
I have these in the oven right now and I seem to have messed them up somehow… The crumble on top has not browned, it’s still a little flour-ey even after an hour. The mix itself isn’t all that crumbly either, did I perhaps over-mix it all? Up until that point I only had lumps of butter, so I just mixed the crumble until the butter was mostly mixed in (eg not lumpy). What could I have done wrong to prevent the crumble from browning up?
Apologies, I am such a newbie baker, and I wanted to make this for a baby shower I am throwing. :/
Chris.
Christie — Browning can often have more to do with ovens and pans, so I wouldn’t worry if they’re not enough. I suspect they will taste good even if the topping seemed worrisomely floury. The most common thing that leads to flouriness is not measuring flour lightly enough in cups. It helps to really gently scoop or spoon flour into cups, rather than scooping with them, which leads to dense cups of flour. (You might know this so feel free to roll your eyes at the baking lesson if so! But just in case that rang true…)
Mmmm…so yummy and summery! I added a little cinnamon and nutmeg into the filling mixture, to replicate my favorite blueberry pie recipe. I have a feeling that I will be extra popular at work tomorrow when I bring these in.
Was it good with the cinanamon and nutmeg? If so, how much did you use? i liked the baking lesson!
I made these using regular frozen cherries (couldn’t find sour cherries!) but as a heads up for others you might want to reduce the sugar in the lemon/fruit mixture as these turned out super sweet, thanks to the cherries. That said, my roommates and I ate 2/3 of the pan in one sitting so it’s not like they were bad! Also, if your oven bakes on the extremely hot side, like mine, these were completely done and nicely browned closer to 35-38 minutes.
Made these with blueberries gathered during a picking expedition (subbed lime for lemon, as suggested by a couple of people) – and they turned out amazing! Definitely glad I followed the direction to refrigerate for a substantial length of time prior to cutting these beauties.
I’m thinking another batch may be in order in the near future… although I’m wondering how these bars would fare with streusel crumbled on top instead of the crust. :)
I didnt have lemon zest so substituted orange zest and also sprinkled some cinnamon sugar over the top. And I just realized I forgot the egg. they were still delicious and super easy to cut. maybe leaving the egg out helped.
http://qzs20064.tumblr.com/http://qzs20064.tumblr.com/
Made those today for my goodbye-party at work. Colleagues loved it!
Though I replaced the blueberries with plums, since the blueberries are still quite expensive here in Holland, due to a very late start of summer. Nevertheless a delicious treat. Thanks so much!
Blueberry season just started, again, and this big treat is just inside my oven, right now..Can’t wait!
Mine are in the oven now but I’m a tad nervous…they’re not as crumbly as yours. In fact, the flour mixture isn’t really crumbly at all. Any idea why this is? I followed the directions exactly. Hopefully they’ll still turn out! I’m making them again tomorrow for a party so any suggestions are appreciated!
These were absolutely amazing. They took a bit more time than the average crumble, but the outcome was phenomenal. My family loved them.
Just made those…. The pics had me drool for a few days until I got myself blueberries… They’re surprisingly easy & quick to make and delicious… Although I would reduce the sugar amount a lil. A tad too sweet for me but otherwise delightful!!
Made this morning and just had a taste…WOW…good stuff. I substituted 1c of oatmeal for the flour and the consistency is perfect. A bit more crunch than with just flour. Everyone should make asap!
These are awesome. I am on my second baking. My first was a hit with my very picky friend from NYC. She always has a comment and this time it was “Wow you made these, these are FABULOUS!” Now making them for my son’s theater group. The best way to use those CSA blueberries no one wants to eat raw.
I’m making these now with those 2 pints of blueberries that have been just hanging out! Can’t wait to try them! I added a sprinkling of crushed walnuts and cinnamon sugar over top. Thanks Deb! Oh, I also want to thank you for the spaghetti squash and black bean tacos recipe that was in your cookbook. I made them (and my own version of pork carnitas for meat eaters) at our apartment warming a few weeks ago! It seems that your tacos were a hit for both the vegetarian and meat eaters! Thanks again for inspiring us home cooks when our creative juices aren’t flowing!
So easy to make and impressive to look at! The bars are perfectly rustic, crumbly, and delicious looking. I packed a couple for my BF – who is a self proclaimed “fruity” dessert hater – and he gobbled them up with his morning coffee! I even offered to sub the lemon for cinnamon next time to suit his tastebuds a little better but he refused. Can’t wait to try this with different fruits!
I have a batch of these in the oven as I’m typing this. It’s the second batch I’ve made for potlucks in the past couple of weeks. The bars hold up so well and the combination of lemon zest and blueberry is perfect. They’re so simple to put together and work really well with either fresh berries or frozen ones (just add a little extra cornstarch if you’re using frozen). The batch I’m making now has a bit of a twist– I used frozen blueberries and raspberries and lemon and lime zest– hopefully the altered fruit mixture works as well as the original! Love these– and any good potluck dessert with ingredients I have on hand in the pantry/freezer!
These bars are delicious — they are one of my favorite desserts that I make with the small Maine blueberry. Whenever I make them, I find that one egg just isn’t enough to hold the dough together. I have tried adding an extra small egg and even some milk. I know another comment suggested adding 1 T. melted butter. Other suggestions?
Made these a week or so ago. My first Smitten Kitchen recipe! The great thing about this recipe is the simple ingredients and instructions – so easy and quick! The bars came out beautifully. The taste was good/ok (not ‘smashingly awesome’ – especially the crumb part came out a bit boring. Maybe I didn’t bake it long enough? A bit more sugar?) It is still a perfectly lovely summer baking with lots of fresh blueberries. From my side I recommend i) Have a nice thick layer of blueberries – for me 4 cups was a bit too short.. ii) Bake until nice and golden brown, like in the pic above (not when just slightly brown) and iii) SERVE CHILLED!
Wow! These bars are so fabulous that I’ve made them two weekends in a row. This weekend I served them warm with homemade Madagascar bourbon vanilla whipped cream. OMG!!! This is sure to be one of my top blueberry recipes for life.
Just made half a batch of these with 1/2 c almond flour and 1 c gluten free blend (in an 8×8″pan). Managed to completely forget the egg. STILL delicious, and they still hold together, especially when cold.
used the food processor…. so easy and delicious! As always, Smitten was the perfect source for a new dessert! Thanks!
Just made them with the sour cherries we picked in July and froze. They look fabulous and were very easy (esp. since I mixed up the flour and butter in the pood processor). Waiting for them to cool…
Not good for my blueberry habit. You know, blueberries are expensive in the UK – $10 for a pound.
So, one suggestion…..i’m pretty sure we are not above blending the dry ingredients with the butter……..with our hands! it was much easier than a spoon or fork :) just a suggestion
Hello Deb,
I love all things crumble, crisps, fruit bars, and cobblers. I especially loved your addition of lemon zest to the dough. Mine is oozing and goozing in my oven as I type. I added a “fairy dusting” of cinnamon to the dry mixture and another dusting over top of the crumb once put together in my 9×13.
The fragrance in my kitchen is lemony, caramelizing, blueberries, salty sweet dough roasting in my oven.
A premature Thank you, I thinkst not!
Smooch!
Gabrielle
That Chick Can Cook
I was trying to think of a dessert to take to the beach for dinner that didn’t involve a trip to the grocery store. Blueberries in the freezer. All else in the pantry. Perfect August day. Perfect dessert. I melted the butter before mixing in -seemed easier and all looks well in the oven. I just peeked. Thanks for another solution Deb! You are the best.
Thanks so much for the recipe. I made these for a winery event last weekend. They were a big hit. The bars were delicious. We will be thinking of you every summer, when we make the bars with fresh picked blueberries.
These are delicious, especially once chilled in the fridge. I’ve made this recipe many times now. This time I had only 2 cups of blueberries, so used PEACHES to fill in the rest of the fruit – – – GREAT! I brought them to a class I was teaching and everyone was asking for the recipe. The peaches brought a pop of fresh taste, I loved the combination.
Finally made these today…..they were incredibly awesomely delicious! I’m excited to try these with mixed berries as well. Also, very impressed with my ability to make a dough with no pastry cutter; it was not as difficult as I thought it would be.
It was very delicious.The crumbs were very crunchy that my sister ate them all.i thank The Lord to give me the materials to make this delicious blueberry crumb bars.thank you.
These were a huge hit with my husband’s colleagues! I loved them too. The colleagues only got some because if I kept them all at home I would have gained 5 pounds that week. Here’s how I adapted them http://marianhd.com/2013/11/25/blueberry-bars/
Thought I’d chime in with another cranberry suggestion. I tried subbing fresh cranberries for the blueberries in this recipe and my family found it way too tart (even with a half cup extra sugar). I mean, they still ate them and everything, but the kiddos complained. The next time I used a double recipe for the cranberry filling part of the Cook’s Illustrated Apple-Cranberry Pie recipe and it worked deliciously! I think cooking them down first with the sugar helps distribute the sweetness more thoroughly. A bit more time-consuming, but the result was a raving success.
I just made a half-batch of these bars in an 8″ square pan to bring to a talk I’m giving, and they smell and taste heavenly! Since I have a freezer full of blueberries and little patience, I rinsed the ice crystals off my blueberries and just doubled the amount of starch in the filling. They came out perfectly, not soggy at all! (It’s a shame I have to share them now…)
Deb, I’ve made these wonderful bars several times – I always add a tsp. of cinnamon to the crumb mixture. I needed a snack to take to my niece’s wedding dress selection marathon & she loves blueberries so they instantly came to mind. When I went to get the berries from the freezer, I noticed a bag of Bing cherries which she adores. So that’s what I used – thawed with a little cool water & left halved. They received oohs & ahhs. Thanks for a great recipe.
This is the first recipe I have tried and I am deliriously happy with how these bars turned out. The marriage between lemon and blueberry is definitely a happy union! I served them up to the workers who are currently installing a new floor in the laundry room. From the sound of the happy groans I heard as they were enjoying them, we will have the most substantial laundry room floor in the county! Thanks for a great recipe — and happy workers! I’m looking forward to using more of your recipes in thefuture.
I made these for our family reunion, my husband was kind of leery of bringing them because not a lot of people like blueberries, but they are my favorite so I didn’t care. I gotta say my pan was gone a lot quicker than everyone else’s, I look around and everyone is just thoroughly enjoying them. So if you have some blueberries on hand, this is a must recipe to make and if you don’t have blueberries on hand what are you waiting for go out and get you some so you can enjoy this delicious recipe.
Frozen blueberries work very, very well. Also, you can try putting the crumb into a pie pan and end up with a crumb pie. Great recipe! :)
These are delicious and super easy to make — my twelve year old son has made them three times! The third time we made them with raspberries and we liked those even better than the blueberry ones!!
I only hand 2 cups of blueberries on hand so I’m thinking of making these with half blueberries and half strawberries. Anyone tried that yet? I need a yummy treat for teachers tomorrow :)
Just wondering- what should the consistency of the cornstarch/sugar/lemon juice be? Im afraid I miscalculated the amount of sugar and made it too thick…
Daniella — Don’t worry about the consistency, as it is inconsistent (will start out thicker and then thin as the fruit macerates).
This is my first time commenting on your blog but this recipe was so amazing I couldn’t not comment. Although mine never really got very crispy they still tasted wonderful
Made these for work and they were devoured. I even had some colleagues ask for the recipe and I’ve passed it on. I also made them with frozen blueberries, no difference, just as amazing!
I’ve made this probably 6-8 times each with a different fruit including raspberry, strawberry, peach, blackberry-peach and today will be raspberry rhubarb. I can’t wait to try with cherries. I’m not sure I’ve ever even made it with blueberries! It always turns out amazingly good. Sometimes I use orange zest instead of lemon. It’s incredibly easy and basically foolproof. I couldn’t find my copy of this recently and nearly had a panic attack. Thanks for this great recipe.
I’ve made these for years, they are very popular on the kids’ swim team circuit…This recipe always gets compliments and once someone from another team even asked how much they were per bar :) Since swim season starts on Saturday, I’ll be making these again on Friday night.
I recently discovered Smitten Kitchen, and am almost embarrassed to admit how many of your delicious recipes I have made over the last three weeks. So far, they have all gone seamlessly, and turned out fantastic – you are amazing! I made your blueberry crumb bars last night, and well, maybe it was the glass of wine I enjoyed while making them, but I forgot the egg!! Realized while they were in the oven. I had no hope that they would be edible, but chilled them overnight nonetheless, hoping for a miracle. I am happy to report that I just finished a heavenly eggless blueberry crumb bar for breakfast. I will still an the egg next time I make these, but wanted assure anyone else who forgets to add the egg that it is not a disaster.
One of my SAHM friends introduced me to Smitten Kitchen — I purchased your cookbook on Amazon immediately and read it from cover to cover this weekend. Needless to say, I am smitten. I made these bars today (delish!!) and I am making the Black Bean and Spaghetti Squash Tacos for dinner tonight!
Thank you for your straightforward writing style and your delectable, down to earth recipes that provide a touch of glamour to everyday meals. As a Mom with a toddler with an attention span of 2 minutes or less — I commend you for following your dream! :) We all appreciate your hard work. Keep the recipes coming! Way to go, Momma!
I was worried due to some of the comments about these being bland or boring, so I almost added cinnamon, nutmeg, brown sugar, something. Glad I didn’t. Some things are delicious because they are simple and let the main ingredients shine. Blueberries and lemon are flawless together. Note that you can taste the blueberry flavor more when they are room temperature, though they lose a little crunch. I mostly used my hands to incorporate the butter and egg into the flour, my laziness took over very quickly w/r/t the fork.
The ONLY thing I might do differently is add even more fresh blueberries. I think it could accommodate 5 cups or more.
This was simply delicious!!! Especially with a scoop of ice cream on top ;)
I just saw this amazing looking bar on Pinterest and when I clicked it, it took me to an almost unreadable recipe. At the bottom of it all it said ” this recipe has been pinched from another site, click here to go to the original” and it brought me here. I laughed so hard because it only makes sense that it’s your recipe, Of COURSE it’s your recipe! LOL. I’m makin’ it tonight and you get all the credit:-)
A Loyal Fan
I’ve made this recipe several times to great acclaim. Low effort, high impact. My only suggestion is to combine the zest with the sugar, then add to the flour. Otherwise the lemon zest clumps the instant it touches the flour, for me anyway.
Made this on a whim last night, delicious breakfast bars to wake up to! Slightly less sweeter than I expected, but they are delightful…
Made these vegan for the roommate by subbing in vegan vegetable shortening for the butter, and replacing the egg with a scant half-cup of Stonyfield’s O’Soy. Probably not as glorious as the original, but had a nice shortbread-y texture on the bottom and browned a bit on top.
Addendum: Some O’Soy products apparently contain trace amounts of non-vegan cultures, which my vegan doesn’t care about. But your vegan might.
So very delish! Easy to make and hard to mess up. Made with a 6 year old who actually danced after her first bite, she was thrilled to be such a terrific baker. Thank you for such wonderful, inventive, and gorgeous creations. :D
Your directions are, as always, clear and easy to follow.
The friend I was baking with and I ended up having a complete failure of math/volume figuring, so we measured the 2 points of blueberries I had and decided they were 2 cups of blueberries (they were more. I only discarded 3 unfit blueberries when I sorted through) so we scrambled to find more, and I had an 8oz jar of blueberry butter. Added that in with the blueberries.
results: the bars were a little wet, but the still lifted out of the pan in distinct bars – yay! And they were so delicious. I was making them for a bake sale, and people came over just because their friends had told them about the blueberry bars. They were the first thing we sold out.
Yum, Yum and Yum. Loved these bars. Thanks again.
Made this today, and it is really good! Liked it with and without ice cream. :)
They’re in the oven now! Can’t wait!
Oh my, this is so good. We had it for dessert tonight. Last night I made the sticky sesame wings and they were awesome!
Can the bars be frozen?
I just made these bars and as I came to comment about how rad they are, I looked at the date of your original posting and realized that you posted this recipe exactly six years ago!! Jeez, time flies!
Anyway, I just wanted to thank you for posting this recipe cos even now, six years later, people are making and loving it. It looked Way Too Easy to taste as good as it does but it’s amazing and perfect and I can’t stop eating the bars and thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you =)
Can the dough be made in the food processor or mixer? I never do well with a pastry blender. thanks! Louise
Hi! When you swap regular flour for whole wheat, do you typically stick to swapping half at max? I thought some whole wheat would be nice in these for breakfast but I don’t want to ruin taste. And have you tried using raw sugar in place of white? Would that jack with the texture?
I made these yesterday and they turned out perfect. I cut the recipe in half and used my fancy 9 inch tart pan with the fluted edges and it is really beautiful. Thanks for a recipe that turns out right the first time and doesn’t skimp on the fruit.
Maggie — I do when making something for the first time. I would do the same with raw sugar. You can always increase the proportion in future batches.
Darn! Just put these in the oven. My first time making them (with blueberries straight from Maine) and I forgot to put in the egg (found it whenI started to clean up). :-( Hope they will still be edible, but really disappointed to have made such a silly mistake.
Ate these beautiful bars at a homeschool planning meeting last night and they were beyond delish! I e-mailed the gal who made them to get the recipe, but she has little ones so I decided to, yes, google….5 star blueberry bars made with butter…
As I scanned through ingredients and pictures I came across your recipe and I thought these are it. Later today, my girl friend e-mailed me back and guess where she directed me for the recipe? smittenkitchen-Pretty
Well I’m smitten and I can’t wait to try out more of your recipes.
I’m making these for church tomorrow.
hi, deb!
thank you so much for this recipe! it looks delicious & i’m so excited to try it!
i was wondering if you could let me know how long these can be frozen for? and when taking them out of the freezer, can you just thaw at room temperature or do you have to thaw in the fridge?
thank you so so much :) you’re truly an inspiration!
christine — Most baked goods, well-wrapped, can be safely frozen for a few months if not longer. It’s much more about whether stuff in your freezer absorbs freezery smells that would make it unpleasant. I prefer to defrost things in the fridge for a day — they seem less likely to get soggy.
This looks so much like a buckle. I have my great great grandmothers blueberry buckle receipe, but I’m going to give this a try to see what the true differences are with the end product. I’ll post the differences and the buckle reciepe if anyone is interested.
Definitely followed tips.
Instead of 1 cup of white sugar used ½ (dark) brown sugar and ½ white sugar
Added 1 teaspoon of vanilla to egg (beat with egg prior to adding)
I used 3½ cups of fresh blueberries and 1½ cups of frozen (did not thaw). Just because that is what I had.
For the top layer, I sieved out excess flour mixture and clumped small pieces together and placed that on top leaving open areas of berries. – I did not use all of the Flour mixture. I would almost say use 2 cups of flour not 3 and maybe 2/3 cup white and 2/3 cup brown sugar.
Baked bottom layer 10 minutes at 350
When add blueberries and top layer, bake about 40 to 45 minutes until top is golden brown.
I used jellyroll pan (smaller than 9 by 13).
For work event – they flew on the plate!
Martha,I love all your recepts. Congratulations.Tanks so much. They´re delicious inspiratios!I´making this, to my husband,children & granchildren
This is my go to blueberry recipe! It is delicious. I do a lot of catering and my clients love these bars! Thanks~
2 questions:
* Can I use half or more ground hazelnuts ( hazelnut flour) for the regular flour?
*If I make this with cranberries (frozen, fresh berries) do I need to increase the sweetening of the recipe, and if so, how and how much?
Thank you! Looks great!
Hi Nan — I haven’t made these with a nut meal, but a couple comments (see: 425, 449) suggest that they have and offer tips. Commenters #471, 499, 557, 560, 561, and 603 offer tips for using fresh cranberries. Enjoy!
My sister-in-law introduced me to this recipe (and your blog), and this has since then become my favorite blueberry crumb bar recipe! Thank you so much!
I made these bars and the next day they were soggy. Still delicious but curious if you’ve ever had this problem? And how to avoid it?
Julia — Did you use fresh or frozen berries? From what I’ve gathered from the comments over the years, this can be a bigger issue with frozen ones. But, I do find that they all eventually soften, but it can take a few days. I like to store them in the fridge to help keep them firm.
Hi,
Thank you for this simple and delicious recipe. I would like to make this bars in advanced for the coming chinese new year. I have a few Q if you could kindly assist me:
– can i use all frozen blueberries
– how many days max in advanced i can prepare this bars?
– if i were to freeze it,is it better to freeze d whole bars o individual squares wrapped with baking paper?
-due to Malaysia humid weather, is it best to thaw in fridge overnight and serve immediately to guests? I hope it wont turn soggy o out of shape. I want mine to look as appetizing and beautiful like yours!!
I made these a few weeks ago and shared most of the bars with friends, but wisely froze a few for myself. They taste even BETTER than the day they were made! I merely defrosted a bar at a time in the microwave on the defrost setting for about 20 seconds. Luscious!
Trying these with last summer’s wild blueberries, from the freezer. I’m sure they will be delicious, but the dough seemed very dry. I was expecting it to come together in clumps to some extent, but it didn’t. It seemed to pat into the pan okay, but I felt like I was “sprinkling” the top layer on, more than “crumbling” it. I’m wondering if anyone else has experienced this – maybe related to regional differences in flour, or perhaps the egg I used was too small?
Fantastic treat! I made these gluten free by subsituting the flour with 1 cup almond meal and 2 cups gf flour, they turned out perfectly. A massive hit at a recent bbq. Thanks for this recipe, its a keeper!
I LOVE this recipe. It is my go to for “cookies and bars” that I offer my catering clients. I have scaled this recipe to serve over 120 and I have made just 1 batch. It is by far, the best recipe I have come across and it will continue to be my #1 go to! I refrigerate them overnight, pull them out the next day and then cut them. It ensures a really nice, clean cut. I use frozen blueberries almost evey time.
I made these yesterday – they’re amazing! Soft and slightly sweet, I can’t stop eating them!
I made them with sour cherries and blueberries (1:3). I also subbed 1/2 the cornstarch for tapioca. Yummy! I think I’ve found a new favorite fruit bar!
Is it okay if i omit the lemons?
We made these for supper club tonight (5 gals get together and bring new dishes) with sub gluten free flour and to my surprised they were great!! Sure they may not have held together as well as regular flour and were more like a crumble than a bar, but served up for dessert with ice cream over the top = excellent!! Thanks so much.
I just made these (and am currently eating one) with a mix of blueberries and cherries. I included the lemon juice but skipped the zest and added a tsp of kirsch. I had to bake mine about an hour as well but they came out very nicely! I’m freezing the remaining squares for a party this Saturday and hope they’re as good then as they are now. Off to make your peach shortbread!
Deb, I was wondering, do you think I could mix up the crumb mixture, freeze it and use it later? I imagine if I let it defrost in the frig and used it from there it would be okay. My issue is I am going away for a week and then returning and heading out again as soon as I get home. I can bake them off at my destination. I never have very good luck with freezing things that have a lot of moisture in them. They just come out of the cold soggy. Doe this sound doable????
Cindy — I’d expect the crumb mixture to keep just fine if frozen, but maybe not for too long since there is already baking powder in there and you don’t want it to weaken too much.
Thanks. It will be in the freezer for about a week so it shouldn’t break down too much. I’ll let you know how I make out. Hope all is well and you are able to get some sleep at least every other day. My son was two when our twins were born. Sleep was a distant memory for a long time. But it was fun. I am amazed you have the where with all to cook, let alone document it. Amazing! Thanks again.
Fantastic! Used a third wheat flour and frozen blueberries and it was fine. I did wonder why this recipe doesn’t mix the crumble in a food processor, like the lemon bars or other shortbread-like bases on the website? It did seem like a bit too much flour to fit in mine, and so I tried my mixer instead. It seems fine, although I may be missing out on texture and not realizing it.
Deb, my family ABSOLUTELY LOVES these blueberry bars! They are pretty much expected at every summer gathering now! I would like to make the cranberry orange variation that you mentioned for Thanksgiving this year. Would you do anything else different with them? Thinking more sugar somewhere or something? Or would you just follow the recipe exactly, substituting cranberry & orange?
Melissa — Not trying to press you to buy the book, of course, but I did do a cranberry crumb bar with mulling spices in the Smitten Kitchen Cookbook (years after this). I grind up the cranberries to make it bake into a jamminess more quickly. I’m sure you can find the recipe around if you look.
Just wanted to chime in that I made these with cranberries this afternoon for tomorrow’s Thanksgiving dessert bar. 4 C cranberries, boiled with 1/3 C sugar till they started to break up a bit, extra sugar here and there, and lemon zest but clementine juice. Excellent! Also, this was a great one for my almost-4-year-old to help with. Thanks for the recipe!
How different are these from the Austrian Raspberry Shortbreads?
Liz — Those are a rich shortbread, mostly butter; this is, well, a crumb bar with a tighter streusel. These are casual, almost like pie and a little messy. Those are a bit more elegant, definitely a cookie.
These were perfect. Received so many compliments that I have made them several times for the home, women’s brunch and to gift. Yum!
I’ve made these blueberry bars several times, the last time being for New Year’s Eve. They were all gone within minutes! A must for those who haven’t baked them yet.
OMG, I made these yesterday for our “fruit night” for dessert, lol, and I couldn’t stop “testing” an entire strip–DELICIOUS! My husband and my young boys LOVED them, too, and we can’t wait to eat another round tonight (the rest is in the freezer–for our safety). Oh, I’ll be investing in a pastry cutter for my next batch! Thank you!!
Easy and delicious. Love it!:)
Easy recipe and they came out great! Everyone in the house loved them!
Great job!
Finally made these using a frozen berry medley from Trader Joe’s, and they came out looking exactly like your photos. They are a perfect texture, easy to hold, extremely delicious, albeit a bit sweet for my taste. Still even sweeter considering my unintentional inclusion of the juice of one lemon along with the zest in the crumble/crust in addition to the lemon added to the berries. “How strange! Lemon juice mixed into the flour?”, I thought to myself as I reread the recipe…properly. Oops! Did not adversely affect the recipe though, I’ll just reduce the sugar a tad next time. These were quick to whip up and loved by everyone who tried them. Thanks for another great recipe.
I made these using coconut palm sugar & whole wheat flour to keep things a little healthier. They turned out great! I also added 1T lemon juice into the berry mixture & it was the perfect tangy-sweet bite!
These blueberry crumb bars are amazing. I have made them before, but this week sub’d peaches for the blueberries for M-I-L’s preferred fruit. Everyone loved them including folks who said sweets “weren’t their thing”
Thanks for another great recipe!
I’ve been wanting to do a blueberry version of your raspberry breakfast bars. What do you think about this filling in that crust?
And so now an experiment with ingredients! I forgot to add the egg because I was talking to my Mom. So I had pressed in the “dough” – egg, put down the blueberries, and then had half my “dough” left. So I added the egg to the top dough. In about 20 minutes we’ll see how bad that works!
Quick question- I’m terrible at “cutting in” cold butter. Do you think I could do it in the Kitchenade? Many thanks
Connie — Should work just fine, just keep it cold and don’t overblend it.
I am going to a Gay Pride Cookout in West Hollywood during LA Pride and my hostess is a writer and a chef and runs the Test Kitchen for the Local Paper. I mention all this because I am competitive and love surprising her with stuff. This is an annual event of hers and hundreds of people show up. I had been looking for something that could easily be quadrupled and didn’t need me to purchase much more than I already have around the house and of course she just published an article on In Season Blueberries. I first seen this on All Recipes but then I seen yours and it was much more detailed and easier to read on my tablet in the kitchen. Needless to say I will get a gross of cookies out of this. The trick of browning a little longer and cooling and refrigerating before cutting really worked, I placed each into a paper cupcake holder and they are wrapped in the fridge waiting for Saturday. They look and taste so wonderful and I did it all in under 2.5 hours, mind you, 4 times the amount, and am finished. :)
Yum, just made this with red currants & jostaberries
Can’t wait to try these. Can I use coconut oil instead of butter (my bf doesn’t do dairy)? What about whole wheat flour instead of all-purpose?
Thank you!!
Big question about sugar. I don’t know why I have an aversion to white sugar, but I do. I usually use brown sugar (I know, same!) or turbinado or coconut sugar or maple sugar (and would use this all the time if it weren’t so expensive!) My question is…as I’m about to make this recipe…when a recipe states ‘white sugar’, is there a reason for that, or can any sugar be substituted?
Not sure if you will see this…but, thanks!
So, took my clutch (2.5yo, and 1m) to our local pick your own farm. Well, now I have “smitten+blueberry” in my search bar to conjure what to do with my $40/4+# of blueberries. Thank you; I now have a game/bake plan.
But here’s a general question on baking pans. What is the reasoning/results if I choose to bake in glass, aluminum, glazed (Le Creuset) or unglazed cast iron, and how do these pans affect bake times?
Thanks Deb!!
ok, I’ve already made these 4 times, did a variation with peaches and dried ginger, and just made a batch using raspberry jam as the filling. This is my new favorite recipe!!! :-)
I didn’t love these as much as I wanted to. Maybe a streusel or something on top, to give them more flavor? They were very easy to make and very attractive, I just didn’t think they tasted like much, which is not to say I wouldn’t make them again for a potluck, because they certainly were pretty and easy.
I agree!
really disappointed and surprised that there wasn’t more flavor.
Salt is the missing ingredient. I used a scant 1/2 tsp. in the dough and 1/8 tsp. in the berries. I also added 1 tsp. vanilla to the dough.
Some raspberries perk up the flavor. I used 3 cups blueberries and 1 c. frozen raspberries, added two extra teaspoons of cornstarch because raspberries are juicier, and halved the sugar in the filling. They were sweet/tart and perfect.
I love your website!! I am trying to forward a recipe to someone who will appreciate it but the security box that makes sure we are not robots is asking for 2 words to be entered but there is only one number that is being displayed.
Thank you
Is this on the email form? I will take a closer look and see if it can be adjusted.
I made these today and they are fantastic. The lemon zest in the crust is what makes them sing!
Hi, YUMMM ! I wonder if I could sub blackberry’s ? I’m on my way out to pick some.
What is the difference between “white sugar” and “granulated sugar”?
They’re the same.
Disappointed in this recipe. Expected more of a crumb and flavor missing something. Would make again. Lots of other blueberry recipes to try.
Made these for my Bridge group on Thursday and got rave reviews. Put my own mark on it by substituting a little whole wheat flour for the white flour and using only ½ the blueberries but adding cherries, a plum and a peach, Also did not overtake and it was yummy.
I also saw AllRecipes’ blueberry bars while looking for a way to use the three quarts of blueberries I bought to make a pie, after my daughter said she hates pie.( How is this my daughter? If I hadn’t been oh so present at the birth, I would wonder.) Anyway, I swapped out 1 cup flour for 1 cup oatmeal, only used 1/2 cup butter and 3 tbsp of 0% fat Greek yogurt, instead of one cup butter. I am hoping these changes won’t affect the quality or taste. It’s in the oven now, so I will let you know.
I have made these bars twice now after blueberry picking and they were a hit both times. This is becoming my go-to summer potluck recipe. The instructions are very easy to follow and it doesn’t take a lot of time. I highly recommend it!
These are great. Have made the blueberry ones twice this summer and then did a riff on them – once with rhubarb and once with rhubarb and strawberries. Would suggest that the quality of fruit makes all the difference in the taste.
Just made this last night. I thought the topping was way too sweet, so if I made it again I’d cut at least half the sugar in the topping (dough). But it was a hit with people! I also cut some of the butter out and that was fine too. Very delicious recipe.
I forgot to add, here to say I didn’t have cornstarch so I used a bit less than 1/2 cup of flour for 4 cups of blueberries and it worked out well! Here to say it works as a substitute for cornstarch; just use a bit more.
I have a huge lot of blueberries in the fridge and this looks like a great way to use them up. I have a silly question: how do you get the bars out of the pan? Do you cut them in the pan itself and remove them piece by piece?
These look SO delicious. Running out to get blueberries….
I went rogue and made this in an 8×8 pan (because I like taller desserts). I also used about 1/4c brown sugar for the blueberry filling instead of 1/2c white. It baked for 1hr and took forever to cool down. After 3 hours of waiting. we just dug into it slightly warm. We suffered through it ;)
This is a perfect, simple treatment of blueberries!
(I’ve also made this as written, years ago, and it was perfectly delicious–if you like tiny servings :o)
Just made these and Oh. My. Gosh! These are so delicious. Can’t stop eating them. Will make these again and again and again!
I have made lots of batches of crumb bars with and without oatmeal. I find that every batch the bottom is overly greasy, almost like the recipe has too much butter. Any tips for a crispy, dry crust instead of an oily crust? Fingers crossed.
Wait, were these oily at the bottom?
I have made several batches of crumb bars with and without oatmeal. With almost every batch, the bottom comes out oily/soggy, not crispy like the top. Any tips? I usually use cold butter in my recipes and mix the ingredients in a standing mixer with the paddle attachment until medium crumbs form.
I made this as listed, except I was cooking with Lavender that day so I added some to the blueberry mix. Really, really good. Breakfast or dessert-appropriate sweets are my favorite.
I made these using frozen blueberries because I was in a pinch, and they still turned out great!
Hi Deb – Long time lurker and lover of your blog!
1 – Thank you for the babka recipe; after I made it everyone hailed me as a hero. 2. Going to a tailgate in SUNNY southern CA this weekend – I was thinking of bringing these bars or slab pie. Which do you think will hold up better? Also any room temp savories you think would work?
– Lauren
Sorry for such a slow response — apple slab pie is more work but probably sturdier. Keeping the crumb bars in the fridge makes them even more portable/firmer.
I made this a while back and actually forgot about this recipe until my bf asked me to make it again. One time I made it as is and another with a mix of white peaches since I didn’t have enough blueberries (I cut the nectarines into cubes, drained them for a bit, and added a wee bit more cornstarch). Both results came out great although I prefer going the mixed fruit route for flavor diversity. Big hit!
Oops, peaches not nectarines.
I make these every Thanksgiving with a package of fresh cranberries instead of blueberries (with a couple extra tablespoons of sugar with the berry mixture to compensate for the extra tartness) and orange juice/zest instead of lemon. So good! And it’s nice to have something a little different along with the traditional pies on the holiday table.
I make these at least three times a summer for group feeds. I use a sheet pan so they are much thinner with a perfect crust – fruit- crumble ratio. When refrigerated for a day they are the best blueberry bar of all time
Hi, would this recipe still work with just 2 cups of blueberries? Or would it not be as good? Thanks
What I meant to ask is, Would it be better to split the recipe in half and use 2 cups of blueberries or would using less blueberries with this recipe still be good? ^^
Use the full amount of blueberries and halve it.
They look delish, I have a question though it says white sugar and granulated sugar is there a difference? ??
Nope, they’re the same.
These are amazing. The perfect cake to bring to work events, picnics and potlucks. Sturdy, very easy to transport, and extremely tasty, not to mention quick to make. People love them.
This was so simple and came out so delicious!! Thank you! I will def make this again if I find myself with a surplus of berries.
Should I defrost blueberries before using in this recipe? If using frozen, will I increase baking time? If defrosted, do I drain before using? Thank you!
If defrosted, definitely drain. Probably the safest bet. Otherwise, baked while still frozen isn’t usually a problem.
I just made these for the first time with frozen, not defrosted, and they turned out great.
Hello Deb, I have been reading your blog for years, and I love your writing style. However, this is the first message I am leaving here. I had bookmarked this recipe years ago, and got around to trying it only now. I used strawberries, as that is what I had in plenty. The bars tasted quite sour on the first day, but the next day, they were simply superb! Thank you so much for the recipe..it’s a keeper!
I have made this recipe many times and it is by far my favorite. I have substituted fresh blackberries, frozen blackberries, frozen blueberries and raspberries and it always turns out.
I made it last night and it didn’t turn out. I think the dough would be better without the egg? Maybe?
It was almost like a play dough consistency and didn’t crumble at all. I want to give it another try and make it today. Hopefully it will work
Ooh this was a hit. Made it as the recipe stated but with frozen blueberries. Super good cold.
Sugar both in crust AND with the blueberries?
how much each?
Now fixed. I think the ingredient sections got merged at some point. Hope it’s more clear now.
Thanks!!
Great on Easter, used frozen berries
LOVE your site and love this recipe. I have made these for a few years with whatever is in season – strawberry, cherry, blueberry, cranberry, peach … the list goes on. They always turn out excellent! Thanks
Today will be the 4th time I’ve made these bars. They’re so easy to make and delicious! I love to cook, and often share my bounty with friends and this is a favorite for both them and me! Don’t hesitate – when the blueberries are sold by the pint for a reasonable price, make everyone happy!
Deb, Thank you for the foolproof recipe! I had only a cup of raspberries on hand so I halved the recipe, added raspberry jam instead of half of the berries, forgot to add the lemon and I didn’t hear the oven timer go off when they were done. I made so many mistakes and yet they were still delicious :) Thanks!
Can the blueberry crumb bars be frozen?
Another beautiful recipe to try – with my first successful crop of backyard blueberries! My question is how easy are these to remove from the pan? Would you recommend using a parchment paper sling (ala brownies)? Thanks Deb, and keep those pics of the children coming.
You definitely can although they’re a little soft and may remove more easily if you chill them first.
I made these using huckleberries and they were delicious. I did cut the sugar to quarter cup in the filling and it was good. They were a big hit my niece took some on her flight to calif and shared them with her aunt and uncle and they were hooked.
These may be my favorite fruit bars/cookies/baked good, be it this version or the cranberry version in the cookbook. This time I used same amount (4c) of pitted sour cherries, upped the cornstarch to 6 teaspoons, kept the sugar at same measurement and skipped the lemon juice. Flavor was great, as usual. Bottom crust survived the juicy cherries well, but bars definitely needed the full 45min baking time (and could have even done a tad more time, as my crust wasn’t over-browning). May try this with sweet cherries soon and dial down the sugar a bit.
These are always a hit when I make them. Only tweak to the recipe I make is adding a little cinnamon in with the blueberries – about 1 teaspoon. Otherwise, perfection.
I made this recipe several times last summer with blueberries and looooooved it! It’s now strawberry season here in VT, do you suppose I could make this with them? What would you suggest for that? Still cornstarch? Thank you!
Absolutely. And here are comments from people who have made these with strawberries:
https://smittenkitchen.com/2008/07/blueberry-crumb-bars/#comment-842176
https://smittenkitchen.com/2008/07/blueberry-crumb-bars/#comment-901127
https://smittenkitchen.com/2008/07/blueberry-crumb-bars/#comment-634877
https://smittenkitchen.com/2008/07/blueberry-crumb-bars/#comment-634918
https://smittenkitchen.com/2008/07/blueberry-crumb-bars/#comment-635112
AMAZING!I made these with frozen blueberries.the dough was pretty difficult to blend without a pastry blender,but i was rushed for time so settled on big chunks of butter.Turned out awesome.
I like to put the butter in the freezer for about 30 minutes, then grate it into the topping mix. Seems easier than a pastry blender. Pastry chef (not me) trick.
I just made these today and they turned out amazing! However I think I made the crumble too fine as I don’t have the chunky appearance. Taking them to a dinner party tonight and planning to serve with lemon ice. Should be a hit!
I made this for a party tonight. I just had a tiny bit from a corner. It’s good but I think it can use more salt than the 1/4 tsp in the crust and crumb even after using salted butter. I also added a pinch of salt with the blueberries. Some people found this recipe meh. This may explain it. I will make adjustments next time and probably add a nut to the crumb topping.
I served this more than 24 h after I baked it and it was a hit! I thought it was meh, but I guess it gets better with time. I used 5 cups of fruit instead of 4 and adjusted the tapioca starch to 5 teaspoons. I might try the 8×8 pan as one commenter to make a thicker slab next time.
I have wanted to make this for a long time since I reviewed your post. I finally did and it is good and makes a lot. Maybe it was the quality of the berries but mine didn’t look like your post. I will make this again but will use more berries. Thanks for sharing.
These were amazing. I did add a touch of almond extract to my berries. I think the quality of butter makes a difference in the flavor. Overall an excellent recipe. Plan to make again, half blueberries and half with cherries.
I made this a lot when the blueberry picking was great a couple of years ago. the picking is good again this year, so I’m looking forward to treating friends to them once again. But if I wanted to make a vegan version, what could I substitute for the butter?
I came across this recipe this morning as I was looking for things to make with the huge box of blueberries we picked yesterday. I’m so happy I did! The recipe is so easy and it just came out wonderfully. The taste and texture are perfect and my family is raving about them, so that’s a win.
Hi there! Once again you’ve come to my rescue, looks great.. My question is, do you think mangoes would work instead of berries? I have an over-abundance at the moment..
These are incredible! Quartered the recipe to fit a small pan (and to avoid eating the whole thing) and now we regret it! Even being a little short on lemon juice this is amazing. Paired it with some fresh peaches while warm – heaven!
I love making these; thank you, thank you!
They come together in a snap, go great with coffee, and coincide nicely when I need to take my frustration out on the pastry blender for a few minutes. :)
this is great for the left over marmalade I made the only difference is I added a little bit of tea in it instead of lemon juice
I made these with a combination of blueberries, blackberries and raspberries because that’s what I had on hand. I baked in a 11 x 7″ pan and they were PERFECT/AWESOME/DELISH.
I tentatively put them in the fridge overnight per your comment and you were right (duh), they were fabulous for breakfast (ssshhhh).
Thank you!
Perfection! I made these with three cups frozen blueberries and three overripe nectarines that were almost on their way to the garbage. I love how crispy the crust got and I’m glad I gave it an extra ten minutes to brown up a little. The blueberries carmelized perfectly. The only thing I’d change is to use a larger bowl to cut the butter and flour because my medium bowl was too small.
Deb! I have had this recipe bookmarked for weeks and then today you made them on your instastory and I knew it was time. So I made them. And my husband ate one and said “I have the best wife of all the wives. Even better than tv wives.” So thank you for inspiring me!!!
I made this. I think your recipes are great Deb, and how can I criticize this? For me the 1/2 cup of lemon juice to the blueberries was too over-powering. I make a blueberry crumble- no crust, just a sweet crumbly top and blueberries with a little sugar and flour, and the blueberries cook down and taste…I kid you not…almost like chocolate, the flavor of the blueberries is so deep and mellow. I was missing that scrumptoisness. I put them in the fridge and they were better cold, almost like a lemon bar, which is nice. But it didn’t fulfill my blueberry love. But, it’s always nice to try something new! Thanks!
Oh wait, it wasn’t a half cup of lemon…sorry…it was the juice of a lemon. Maybe my lemon was too juicy? Next time I’m cutting out the lemon entirely.
Would frozen blueberries work for this recipe?
Works just fine.
I just made this (hooray for google right?) and I am dying to cut them up and try them!!
Great recipe that I’ll make over again and again! I made these with fresh blueberries a few weeks ago and they were “Yum!”. I made a batch yesterday with fresh wild blackberries and they were “Yum Yum!”. I took them as dessert to friend’s and served them with a dollop of vanilla ice cream on top (plate and fork). Everyone raved about them, ate every morsel, a some had seconds. Six people, ages from 16-63, all generations approved (their Mom is an exceptional cook and baker so her approval meant a lot). I love blueberries but don’t find them to be ultra flavorful when alone in baked goods so preferred the blackberries (blackberry version took longer to bake, around 60 mins). I’ll definitely be trying other fruits and fruit combinations throughout the year.
P.S. I heard about this recipe on our local NPR station. Also, I used a little extra fruit making a solid fruit layer between the crumb layers
How well do these bars freeze (after baking)? Thank you!
I haven’t frozen them but would expect them to freeze well.
I made these with Pillsbury Gluten Free flour and they turned out amazing!
Love these bars – always delicious! Also really looking forward to new book. Are you coming again to Britain to launch it here like last time? I was wondering whether you could recommend a gluten & nut free flour to use in this recipe or should I just grind up more oats? Thanks Joce
Oh my god! Sound racist or what?! Whos land are you on?! Native land!… if you dont like natives i suggest go back to europe! See how your people comment you there!
This means YOU, personally, really should weight your words SERIOUSLY d r a, and I strongly advice you to delete this written defamation y e n w of both characters and a huge group of people who do not take slander and character assassination like this easily a t s k c. I do not know which organization you have got to back you up, but if you do not care about lawsuits in the multi-million dollar range, fine, just keep on what you are doing q a o p h. If you DO care about spending x-amounts of money to try and defend this CLEARLY written libel, then take my DELETE-advice. Your “Post” is now officially taken both copies and screen-shots of and digitally stored for later use and evidence. This is just a warning. We are antifa, we do not forget. alexis.bourquard@outlook.fr
These look amazing! I LOVE blueberry bars with crumb topping. Do they need to be refrigerated or can they sit out (wrapped individually) on counter for more than 6-8 hours? Can’t wait to try this recipe!! Thanks!
Yes. I served this at a 4th of July cookout on the beach in hot and humid Maryland. These are quite good at room temperature, that is, better than chilled.
These turned out GREAT! Used orange juice & zest because I didn’t have lemon. I baked it for about an hour and eventually hit it with the broiler for a few minutes to brown the top. BIG HIT! 10/10 will make again!
I’m just wondering how much is juice of one lemon? I read several comments and didn’t find an answer to that, plus I’m really wanting to make them tonight. They look so scrumptious 🤗🤗
I would say 3 to 4 tablespoons.
It’s a long time ago, but revisiting how much we enjoyed this recipe. Want to send you an overdue thankyou!
Looking forward to summer!
Karen
I have made these Blueberry Bars and also the Cranberry Bars from your new book. Both of them are fantastic and I received many compliments.
Since rhubarb and cranberries are very interchangeable would this recipe work. I was thinking that I would use the same receive for the blueberry bars except exchange with cranberries. What are your thoughts/ suggestions?
How do you think this would turn out with a layer of sweetened cream cheese underneath the berries?
Definitely takes more like 60 minutes in the oven to get the top slightly golden brown! Might also be because I used a glass baking dish instead of metal, too.
My family gave these the big thumbs up! They’re asking for me to make more. We all agree next time as soon as they come out of the oven we’re trying it with ice cream. How naughty is that!
I made this just like the recipe, chilled overnight, and they were a big hit. Thanks for another recipe success!
Strawberries are really nice right now because of how hot a spring we had. Would they work?
Yes, absolutely.
Agreeing that the phrase “the natives are getting restless” is now understood to have racist roots.
Can you delete it Deb? 2018 & our understanding has really increased as to the harm done by even unintentional language. (People of color and other marginalized communities have always understood.) And to all who might say “this is a FOOD blog”…..can’t separate food & cooking from life, can we? And the world we want to live in.
with love
Gah, of course. I hadn’t realized.
These were absolutely delicious. I substituted the 3/4 of the blueberries for cherries and it was a huge hit. Will definitely be making them again. Thanks!
I made these last night to bring to work today and they were a HUGE hit. I added a little bit of cinnamon and some vanilla extract to the dough, and used in-season locally grown blueberries – SO, so good. I’m already planning to make this again for the Fourth of July… it’s a total winner!
So I would really like to use cherries w this. The frozen giant bag from Costco. Thoughts on the lemon flavoring in the crust? Maybe almond extract instead?
I haven’t made these with cherries but here are comments from a few people who have with what they did/used. (There are even more if you word search for cherries.):
https://smittenkitchen.com/2008/07/blueberry-crumb-bars/#comment-634806
https://smittenkitchen.com/2008/07/blueberry-crumb-bars/#comment-634853
https://smittenkitchen.com/2008/07/blueberry-crumb-bars/#comment-634922
https://smittenkitchen.com/2008/07/blueberry-crumb-bars/#comment-634971
Hi – Love this recipe and am wondering if there’s a way to incorporate strawberries or raspberries into the bars or if they’re best left a part of a topping?
You can really use a mix of fruits in the filling without trouble. Just swap it in.
Oh Em Geeeeeee!
These were so incredibly good & easy.😀
You had me at melting the butter instead of laboriously (okay, really not so bad) cutting it into the crust mixture.
The finished & chilled crust is awesomely buttery & oaty & a wonderful platform for the berry filling. I used fresh blueberries & plan to try with sour cherries, peaches, plums & whatever.
Could you use frozen blueberries?
Yes, no need to defrost first.
what would be a good substitute for sugar for a diabetic to use?
I haven’t baked with any substitutes and don’t see any comments from anyone who has use Stevia or the like, but perhaps someone will pipe up.
After picking 10 lbs of blueberries last weekend i decided to make these. They were such a hit with my family! Making another batch tomorrow for company. This will be my go to recipe from now on!
I made this for breakfast this morning. I used a slotted spoon to transfer the blueberries because there was just so much lemon juice in the bottom of the bowl. I think I would prefer adding blueberries to a lemon crumb bar than this recipe of adding a lemon to the blueberry bars.
I made this recipe and added a powdered sugar glaze. Excellent!
Bars tasted wonderful! Nice texture, good balance between sweet & tart. I used my home grown frozen berries, thawed. Baked for 45-50 min.
Hi Deb,
Can these blueberry crumble bars be frozen?
Yes.
I find freezing softens the crust, which I like better when it’s crunchy
Simple and superb. In convection oven at 350, it took 45 minutes to bake. Next time, I will decrease the sugar in the blueberries, for more of a contrast with the crust. Deb, in the last year I have baked many of your sweets for the Friends of the Library in Ithaca, NY, who adore them. You have a cult following here upstate.
Aw, thank you! Glad it was a hit.
Simple and superb. With local fresh blueberries, they were full of flavor. In my convection oven at 350, they were done in 45 minutes. Deb, for the last year I have baked many of your cookies and other sweets for the Friends of the Library in Ithaca, NY. All of them unmitigated successes. They never last more than 90 minutes, not even the double batches. I keep explaining to the people who tell me that I should write a cookbook that you already wrote it. You have a cult following upstate. Thank you for the delicious and reliable recipes.
I made these today and both my husband and I loved them. Just as my preference, I’d probably use a 1/4 cup less flour next time as the crumb was very fine.
The flavour and texture of these is lovely – full of lemon, not too sweet with a gooey blueberry centre and crunchy base.
Oh and for the record, I used frozen blueberries without defrosting them and it worked beautifully.
I can’t get enough of these blueberry bars! So much better when cold (or even frozen!) and a day or two later (if they last that long…) once the lemon takes hold. I never seen to have corn starch so substituted Birds Eye Custard Powder. Sooo good!
Can these be frozen?
Yes, absolutely.
I confess… I made these with freezer burnt frozen blueberries that I was trying to get rid of. IT WAS STILL AMAZING! It took an extra 10-15 minutes to cook but it was so worth it for the convenience.
oh! I forgot to say that I added quite a bit of vanilla to the second half of the dough. It was a nice addition and next time I would add it at the beginning
These are so unbelievably good. I had a variety of fruit to use up so mine had blueberries, raspberries, and thomcord grapes
How do I search your comments? I am interested if anyone tried using peaches instead of blueberries in the Blueberry Crumb Bars.
Thanks
Sue
I usually do Ctrl + F for a word search to find what I’m looking for. I found 43 references to peaches! I think a lot of people have done all or partial swaps with them. Just dice them the size of the blueberries, or thereabout.
Hoping you see this question! I made the cranberry bars from your book. While delicious, the bottom was not as crisp as I would like. Do you think parbaking the crust for 5 minutes or so would do the trick? Thanks!
It might do the trick.
I love this recipe! Not too fussy at all. Reminds me how much I used to love blueberries, used to pick them when I was little.
I loved this! Thank you for recipes that are consistently delicious and easy to adapt. I used half the amount of sugar and it was still sweet and satisfying, I used maple syrup for the blueberries instead of sugar and loved how it turned out. Also used spelt and rice flour instead of all purpose. I couldn’t wait until it cooled down and they’re good warm too, would be perfect with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
I would like to make these for a friend that’s gluten free—what flour do you suggest? Thanks xx
I haven’t made these gluten free, but here are comments and tips from people who have:
https://smittenkitchen.com/2008/07/blueberry-crumb-bars/#comment-971653
https://smittenkitchen.com/2008/07/blueberry-crumb-bars/#comment-635339
https://smittenkitchen.com/2008/07/blueberry-crumb-bars/#comment-635277
Due to my husband’s dairy allergy and great love of anything blueberry, i made these with Earth Balance unsalted baking margarine. The bars came out beautifully. I cannot thank you enough for this recipe!
Love this recipe but my crumbs are not that ‘crumbly’. They more remind me of sandy with little stones lol. Do I need to possibly add more butter?
Do you recommend par baking the base? Just made them and it turned out a bit soft and chewy.
You definitely can, although I don’t usually.
Yeah bookmaking this wasn’t a bad determination great post!
I’ve been making these with frozen blueberries and frozen rhubarb – probably more like 5 cups total because I cannot help it. They’re wonderful. I wonder what the egg does? I can’t really detect its presence but it must have a purpose.
Can you use frozen blueberries?
Would these work without the egg perhaps with an egg replacement? My daughter is allergic but these look so good and I have tons of blueberries.
Angela, I would guess that you could definitely use an egg substitute for this recipe. It is used as a binder, and doesn’t have to rise. Go for it!
Well how fortuitous for me….I picked 6# fresh blueberries and will be making these asap! Thanks Deb!
Deb, would self raising flour work for this recipe?
I want to make these but substitute the blueberries for fresh strawberries and rhubarb. Do you think that would work?
Made this…..loved it! Got a little desperate 2 days later when I thought I had lost the recipe.
Deb,
I made these and it’s awesome. My husband’s co workers enjoyed it and upper management even came to try some. If I were to make an apple one, do you think vanilla essence will work so there is no egg smell. Or would you use lemon juice
I’m not sure because maybe I’m weird but I’ve never noticed an egg smell before. Both could be nice here. Also, just to note, my mom’s apple cake is my favorite, ever. But it makes an epic cake.
I did try the mom’s apple cake last year. It was a hit! I SO love your recipes and made the cranberry crumb bars yesterday but added more sugar for the fruits. It turned out great. I’ll have to try the strawberry summer sheet cake. For sure I’m going to put back on those 5 lbs I lost or I better get a job soon. Thanks for all your wonderful recipes Deb, you are amazing and super talented
Do you think I could sub 1 cup of the ap flour with whole wheat flour … for that nutty taste whole wheat flour gives? The recipe is divine and was very tasty. Thankyou for all your great recipes … and I enjoy your monologue.
I think that would be fine.
I know this is an old post, but just made these with tart cherries today and they were really, really good. After I put them in the oven, I worried that I should have upped the sugar in the filling but they are really perfect as-is.
Definitely better the next day! I made these on Saturday to share with friends in the evening. I followed the recipe mostly, though I parbaked the crust for 15mins and to the topping I added a scant 8th tsp cinnamon and some chopped walnuts. The finished bars cooled completely and crumbles only a little when I cut them. I initially thought they were, ok, tasty enough, but after chilling overnight and cutting into the next day, delightful!!! I agree that these are definitely best after a good chill in the fridge. The flavors and texture come together nicely, more so than on day one. I will plan accordingly in the future. And quick/easy to make! Thank you!!
I have made this recipe several times now. Fresh berries, frozen berries, mixes of different berries, and, most recently, I made strawberry rhubarb which are my favorite. I find that they are a bit too cloying if using just a sweet berry and the full amount of sugar, so I halve it in the berry mix and use 3/4 in the dough.
For the rhubarb, I cooked chopped rhubarb on the stove with 1/4 water and 1/4 sugar until jammy. Then I spread that on the bottom crust and used strawberries, sliced and sugared and corn starched. They are my very favorite.
The crust is a great base for any fruit. I like to make it in my food processor- but be careful not to over mix :D
Thank you Holly! I have made these in the past with blueberries as written, but am thinking about making blueberry/rhubarb this morning. I woke up and read through all of the comments hoping that someone had experience using rhubarb in this recipe. Yours was the very last comment. Glad to hear it turned out well.
I made these bars for the 4th of July this year and used fresh apricots. I added some powdered ginger and cut the lemon down a bit. They were great and my guests gobbled them down.. Huzzah
These are amazing! I used frozen blueberries and it was delicious.
I made these for the 4th of July and they were a huge hit! Easy to make and everyone loved them – thanks for a quick and easy recipe.
I made this recipe last week with 2.5 c. of fresh blueberries and 1.5 c. of thawed frozen mixed berries. My whole family liked it. YUM!
I made this and it was super easy. My kids loved it with ice crean or whipped cream. I would have liked it a little sweeter so i added a glaze over the top. Power sugar, vanilla, and milk. I made it super runny so it wasn’t a frosting just a little sweeter. Thanks
These bars are so terrific. I used frozen blueberries and followed the recipe as-is and they worked great. Will make these over and over again.
I made these last night and thought they were delicious! I needed to use up quite a few ripe blueberries and this was perfect. I didn’t have a lemon, so I used the juice of a lime instead (and didn’t use any zest). I accidentally used 1/2t of salt instead of 1/4, but they didn’t taste salty at all, so I would probably use the same amount again next time.
I used an 8×8 and halved all ingredients. i really like the subtle flavor that gives center-stage to the blueberries! i only had frozen lemon juice from my tree but no zest so i missed the zip the lemon zest would provide.
We didnt have fresh lemons so I used almond extract instead. We are in love with anything almond right now and this was just another excuse to eat that almond flavor. This was the easiest recipe ever and I cant wait to try it with other fruits. The blueberries seemed to form a jam… it was impressive. I did have issues getting the sugar to stay with the blueberries (since I didnt have the lemon juice) so next time, I would add the berries to the pan and then sprinkle the sugar mixture over the top.
Just made these but using half the ingredients and using an 8 by 8 pan. Was so excited I left out the lemon juice. They are in the oven, hoping they’ll be ok!
Can you freeze these? I’m after blueberry recipes to take up to my fiancé’s family, but we don’t have much time to cook before hand, so the more I can make and freeze the better…even if we cant freeze them they are going on my to-bake list!
Yes, they should freeze well. If they seem soft once defrosted, you can warm them in the oven until they crisp again.
Hi! Would I be able to make this recipe with cup for cup gluten free flour instead?
My family really LOVES this recipe, it’s gold!
I haven’t made these gluten free, but here are comments and tips from people who have:
https://smittenkitchen.com/2008/07/blueberry-crumb-bars/#comment-971653
https://smittenkitchen.com/2008/07/blueberry-crumb-bars/#comment-635339
https://smittenkitchen.com/2008/07/blueberry-crumb-bars/#comment-635277
I made these with frozen blueberries. Instead of cornstarch, I used 2 Tablespoons of arrowroot powder, and it worked just fine as a thickener.
The next time I make them, I think I may add a little allspice or some other spice to give the fruit an extra dimension. Otherwise, a relatively easy treat that will please a crowd.
I’ve made these several times and everyone loves them. I finally made a gluten-free version using King Arthur’s gluten-free flour and they are so good, one cannot tell the difference in texture or taste. I highly recommend this small substitution for anyone with Celiacs.
Can this be made with dairy alternatives and for gf?
I made these for Memorial Day, and I was a bit skeptical at first. The cookie dough part seemed way too dry (and maybe it was), and they didn’t very golden on the top. But then the next day they were magical! Kind of like blueberry coffee cake without the cake– all crumbly bits and gooey blueberry filling. Amazing, and they were a big hit.
These are excellent! So good that I am making another batch now to freeze. After mine baked and cooled I put them in the fridge overnight- they were better and held together better.
So I was wondering, do you think this recipe would work if I baked it in a 9″ removable-bottom tart pan and served it in wedges as a tart? Of course I’d either halve the recipe, or make two tarts with the same recipe amounts.
I just made these with blackberries and yummmm! I added some ground ginger to the berries for a little zing too. So good!
how would there bars hold up with strawberies and how much strawberries would I use.
So good! I made 1/2 the recipe (except used the whole egg) and baked in an 8” metal pan; they were perfectly done in 45 minutes. Used frozen (not thawed) blueberries.
Had to make a few substitutions because Covid: used white whole wheat flour, used flour instead of cornstarch, and I used 1/2 white and 1/2 brown sugar.
The bars were fantastic and so quick to make. Thank you SK all the delicious recipes.
Could I cut the recipe in half and put in either an 8×8 or a 9×9 pan? Which size would be better?
Sheri, I was wondering the exact same thing…did you try it?
So that’s totally happening this weekend….
I make a very similar recipe but use half flour and half old fashioned oats. So good!
Thank you Deb! My 13 yo daughter is always looking for cooking adventures. This was a brilliantly straightforward recipe that delivered an amazing product. Success in early baking is crucial. For any plant based friends we used earth balance “butter” and a flax “egg” to great result. None of our friends will know the difference. ;) Terrific recipe. Thanks!
This was delicious! I added a tiny bit of cinnamon to the dry ingredients and subbed 1/4 brown sugar instead of all white sugar. I held off cutting and eating it until it had spent several hours in the fridge. Perfect cookie bars!
I’ve made these a few times, and they are always a hit. Today I made them with raspberries, used a Meyer lemon, used half brown/half white sugar in the crust/crumble, used 1/2 tsp salt in the crust/crumble and 1/4 tsp salt in the raspberries. Divine! It’s a great recipe to get creative with!
I can’t have seeds… I like using seedless preserves. How many cups can I swap?
This was so easy and so delicious! It was a great summer recipe. It was even delicious when it was warm and with a top of vanilla ice cream!
These are easy to make & incredibly delicious! They freeze well too. I will be making them again & will try using frozen berries this winter.
Red Currants gave these an extra tang. 2 cups red currants, 2 cups blueberries, no other changes. Well-chilled = delicious.
I made these over the weekend they were just what I needed and wanted!! I’ve been craving something jammy and fruity and this hit the spot. I literally had 90 minutes between deciding to make them and walking out the door, and I got it done! I used 1.75 cup Cup4Cup GF all purpose flour, 1 cup oat flour, and 1/4 cup almond meal (all based on what I had around and the fact that I needed them to be GF). I cut the sugar in whole recipe by 25% and nothing suffered. I also was short about 1/4 cup blueberries so I added a big scoop of blueberry jam and that worked just fine. Clearly, a very flexible recipe that is pretty hard to mess up which is exactly what I like. Definitely a keeper-thank you!
Okokokokok. I FINALLY made these bars. And WOW – I get the hype! Even with the mistakes I made (put less than half the dough in the bottom, and I think I cut the butter too small for good clumping), they turned out wonderfully. It seems like a foolproof recipe! That FLAVOR – so perfect! Thank you Deb.
Could you use blackberries?
Yes
Is it possible to leave out the citrus? I can’t have it right now but I would love to make these bars! Could I add a splash of vinegar instead?
Just made these again, this time spreading a layer of last summer’s peach butter (https://smittenkitchen.com/2011/09/peach-butter/) on the bottom layer before adding the blueberries on top. I didn’t think this recipe could get any better but to be honest, the peach butter was a bit of a game-changer!
Hello-
Would strawberries be ok to use here? I have 2lbs that need to be used up.
Thank you.
Yes, they should work.
Great recipe
Is this akin to the peach shortbread recipe which is my husband’s favorite of all time?
I made these, stuck the pan in the fridge overnight, and probably did not grease the pan enough because it was really hard to get the first piece out–I had to literally chisel it out and shove it into my mouth. But it was DELICIOUS (and I probably should have cut pieces at room temp).
These came out absolutely delicious! They lemon gave the blueberries even better flavor . They were very moist. Everyone loved them!
Absolutely delicious! The whole family loved my blueberry bars! Thank you so much for the recipe.
I would like to make in a 8×8 square pan. How would u modify the recipe?
I’d halve it
Just a note to say I made these in a 8×8 without halving and they were lovely! Covered the tin at the end to ensure the middle was cooked without overdoing the top. Also subbed in a cup of oats for a cup of flour with success.
Question— do you beat or whisk the egg before adding it in or no?
I don’t but I do make sure it’s mixed well.
I’m so sad that I have to wait for these to cool now.
I made a ½ batch (not enough blueberries on hand) in an 8×8 pan with one small egg and it came out delicious! Cuts cleanly when cool and still tastes delicious although a bit crumbly when still warm.
I mad these a couple of days ago. So easy and Yummy results. Will definitely make for my next get together.
Thank you for sharing!!
Jon
These were loved by the family. I was reading your post about frozen blueberries and will try that next time. My store bought berries were bland and the bars needed more blueberry flavor. Frozen from TJ’s are wild and from Canada and are super sweet.
Have you ever made these with strawberries?
Has anyone made these with vegan butter and/or gluten free flour?
There are comments from people who have done both and it seems to work well/be flexible.
LOVE these! I made them with blueberries and raspberries and even though I didnt have the full 4 cups of fresh berries, they are still irresistible. Thanks for another great recipe!
I doubled the fruit, and these were perfect. Blueberries are now the star. They still hold together as bars. I might add some oats next time.
These are a new favorite in my home!
So delicious! I don’t have a 9×13 pan so I halved the recipe (used a whole egg) and used an 8×8 pan. I also didn’t have cornstarch so I used a couple tablespoons of flour instead and had no issues. They turned out great!
Dear Deb,
I scrolled through all 920 comments but could not find info regarding
a measurement (in grams or ounces) that would be the equivalent of 4 cups of fruit, either blueberries (since some are tiny and some are huge) or any other fruit you could use in combination with blueberries, or on it’s own. ( i.e. raspberries, peaches, strawberries, etc.). I know I am being OCD about this, but I can’t help myself :0). Thanks in advance!
I find that blueberries clock in at about 170 grams or 6 ounces per cup. So, for 4 cups you’d want to estimate 680 grams or 24 ounces. Other diced fruits and berries will work.
Adding a bit of candied ginger to the crumb is great. I used 1/4 cup less sugar for both the crumb and the blueberries. Still sweet enough!
What amounts would you suggest if I want to use cranberries? Should
I give them a rough chop before spreading in the pan? Any advice will be welcome. Thank you.
I made this in July following the recipe exactly and it was delicious and a hit at a family gathering. Yesterday I made it again but used raspberries since I had a lot to use up from picking our own. I also used salted butter as that’s what I had on hand. They were AMAZING! I loved them so much more than with blueberry, though that might be because I prefer raspberries to blueberries. Also, I think the recipe benefitted from a little extra salt from the butter. Yum. Thanks as always, Deb! You’re always my first go to when looking for a recipe.
I made this in a 8×8 pan and used 1 cup of ground oats and half cup of all purpose flour. It turned out so delicious and crunchy; perfect for breakfast. By using oats you can easily use half sugar.
Made these with a package of frozen blueberries, blackberries, and strawberries and one honeycrisp apple because that’s what I had on hand, reduced sugar by about 1/4 cup, and they are wonderful. Agree with others that lemon zest is the MVP here.
I made these with the last of the frozen cherries! We had one bag remaining and it was perfect. Now we have room for this year’s cherries.
YUM.
I swapped out a quarter cup of the flour with oats.
Is there any reason I can’t cut this recipe in half? (we are only two people.) What size pan should I then use? would that affect the timing?
I’d use an 8×8-inch pan. You can definitely halve it.
Do you think you could use Almond flour or another gluten free alternative?
can you do this with fresh apricots.
just picked some and need to use them ASAP.
Thanks,
Lyn Price
These were great and so easy could not believe they would hold together so well and not be runny! Plus they tasted so good… well done!
OMG!!! I made these for 4th of July (in addition to your luscious strawberry cake).. both were so easy ! And thank you for the heads up/ made the strawberry cake in a springform pan!!
You are definitely my go to for all
Things delicious!!!!!
I forgot to add the egg first time but it really didn’t seem to make a big difference ! Both were devoured! Thank you
These are insanely good. I had to hide some in the freezer to save because my son was away and the others found it and could not resist.
I added about a teaspoon of almond extract to the crumb and it is definitely my favorite sweet treat of the summer!
Smitten Kitchen almost never disappoints me and this recipe is no exception. I left the unbaked but pressed in crust covered in the fridge overnight with the remaining crumble in a separate, sealed container and everything came together well the next day. They are definitely at their absolute best shortly after baking when the crust is crisp, but no-one was complaining the next day when things had softened a bit.
I see an egg in the recipe but it doesn’t say where to add it.
Right after the butter
These were delicious! Made them for a potluck with requests for recipe. I used Maine wild blueberries and did add a smidge of salt to the batter. My husband (who usually requests blueberry pie) preferred this!
Wow! I made this with the changes and I am here to report it was wonderful. Instead of fresh berries, I used 4 cups of Trader Joe’s frozen wild blueberries. I cut the sugar in the crust and berries by half (so 3/4 cup total in the entire batch), added several teaspoons of cinnamon, cardamom, and vanilla extract, and subbed 2 of the 3 cups of AP flour with 1 cup almond flour and 1 cup rolled oats/grains.
https://www.traderjoes.com/home/products/pdp/gluten-free-organic-rolled-oats-with-ancient-grains-and-seeds-072073
I made this today and it is wonderful. My sister has an egg allergy so it is difficult to find recipes that do not require an egg or 3. This is just perfect!
Loved these! So crazy-easy to bake! I was concerned that they wouldn’t firm up after letting them sit out to cool for an hour. Still too soft to cut neatly. Refrigerated for about two to three hours and that made a big difference! I certainly don’t mind eating them cold. I’m taking some to church tomorrow for a meeting afterward and I plan to just leave them in the church fridge til the meeting. I bought paper muffin cups (shallow-ish ones) to put them in to make for easier serving off a platter.
Am I missing where the egg goes? Assuming into the crust/crumb mixture after cutting???
It’s after the sugar and flour:
I Inadvertently bought only one box of berries so I had to come up with a fruit extender from my cupboard. A can of peach slices did the trick. Diced them and added them to the blueberry mix. Sweet and moist and the blueberry flavor prevailed. (and 79 cents vs $3.99 made them taste even better!)
These came out delicious! They were best eaten warm from the oven but tasty at room temp and still delicious from the fridge. They’re rich and let the blueberries sing! I used freshly picked blueberries, Kerry gold butter, and followed the recipe precisely. I think they’d be the perfect treat to drop at any summer get together and a fantastic use for fresh blueberries. Thanks for another hit recipe Deb!
A rare disappointment. This recipe is not terrible, but it really does need more salt. Maybe less sugar, too, but without the salt, it’s hard to tell.
Are they better to make the day of party or can they hold just as well the next day?
Next day is fine. I think they keep best in the fridge.
This is a fantastic recipe. So easy and so tasty.
For anyone in the UK – these are really, really good with blackcurrants. I put 1 cup of sugar in with the currants, and they are still deliciously tart. I make these every year when blackcurrants are ripe and look forward to them!
Wanting to halve this…..so how 1/2 egg?
You can whisk it up and pour half into the dough — just eyeball it.
I am allergic to corn-would tapioca starch be okay or would you suggest something else? I may want to freeze them too.
Tapioca flour/starch is just fine. I find you usually need less, maybe 1/2 to 2/3.
Wonderful recipe! We love it. I have lately been substituting the blueberries for fresh peaches, and it has turned out amazing. I add a little extra cornstarch, since peaches are juicier, and also some cinnamon and nutmeg to the filling.
Wonderful recipe! We love it. I have lately been substituting the blueberries for fresh peaches, and it has turned out amazing. I add a little extra cornstarch, since peaches are juicier, and also some cinnamon and nutmeg to the filling.
Just made these and they’re awesome! I was worried about the dough being very crumbly but they held well after baking. I also used frozen blueberries but I let them thaw a bit and ran them under some water as I saw recommended in other posts. Thanks for the recipe!