Blueberry Crumble Bars
Tart and juicy blueberries paired with a buttery cookie base and crumble is a perfect summer treat. Blueberry crumble bars are a great way to enjoy the summer harvest.
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Why You’ll Love These Blueberry Crumble Bars
Tart and juicy blueberries paired with a buttery cookie base and cookie crumble is a perfect summer treat. Baking up blueberry desserts is a great way to enjoy the blueberry harvest. These blueberry crumble cookie bars are a favorite of mine and my family!
Blueberry Season
Here in the Midwest its blueberry season from July to August. I love getting fruit from the farmers market and baking up all the blueberry desserts (because I bought too many blueberries as usual ?). I try my best to purchase produce in its season. This doesn’t always work, but getting fruits in their growing season truly have a much fuller and true taste.
Of course if its not blueberry season at the moment, frozen blueberries will work with this recipe too. Just make sure to let them defrost and pat dry. That extra water will make the cookie base soggy.
What Is A Cookie Base?
We’re making a cookie dough that’s buttery and delicious which is perfect to pair with tart blueberries. The cookie base is not overly sweet which means the blueberry filling holds all the sweetness in this recipe.
We split the cookie dough into two parts so that the base is made with half of the dough and the crumble is made with the other half of dough. Using the cookie dough as a crumble makes this recipe super easy because we aren’t making an entire separate crumble topping!
Ingredients
To make these blueberry crumble bars we’ll need a few things:
- all-purpose flour
- brown sugar
- granulated sugar
- baking powder
- tsp salt
- vanilla extract
- unsalted butter
- fresh blueberries
- granulated sugar
- lemon juice
- cornstarch
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How To Make Blueberry Crumble Bars
Have all of your ingredients prepped. Make sure you have washed and dried your blueberries. Cut the butter into small cubes and set aside.
In a bowl, whisk together the egg and vanilla extract, set aside. Then, in a separate mixing bowl, add the dry ingredients: flour, brown sugar, granulated sugar, baking powder, salt and whisk together.
Add your egg and vanilla mixture to the dry ingredients and the cubed butter. Use forks or a pastry cutter or your hands to gently knead the mixture together until it looks like large crumbs.
You don’t need to knead this into a ball of dough because we are pressing it and crumbling it up. You also don’t want to overwork the dough too much or the cookie will be tougher. Stop kneading when you have everything incorporated (shown above).
Add parchment paper to your 9×13-inch pan. Press 1/2 of the mixture into the baking tray and make sure to press the dough into the corners.
In a bowl, whisk together the remaining sugar, lemon juice and cornstarch. Add the blueberries to the bowl and evenly coat them using a spoon. Pour this blueberry mixture over the cookie dough in the baking tray and spread the blueberries out evenly.
Then, take the leftover cookie mixture and crumble any big chucks of dough in-between your hands to sprinkle over the blueberries. Bake for 35 – 40 minutes until the top looks golden brown.
Cool them for 1-2 hours before cutting into bars. You can cut these into 15 medium sized cookie bars. These bars also taste great warm with ice cream!
Storing
Blueberry crumble cookie bars will keep for 5 days stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator. These bars are delicious at room temperature, warmed up, and cold from right out of the refrigerator.
RECIPE CARD
Blueberry Crumble Bars
Ingredients
Cookie Dough
- 3 cups all-purpose flour (360g)
- 1/2 cup brown sugar (100g)
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar (100g)
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 egg, room temperature
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature, cut into 1 tbsp sized cubes (224g)
Blueberry Filling
- 4 cups fresh blueberries (or frozen blueberries that are thawed and patted dry) (545g)
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar (100g)
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tbsp cornstarch
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 375℉. Line a 9×13-inch tray with parchment paper.
- Wash your blueberries and pat dry and set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, add the flour, brown sugar, granulated sugar, baking powder and salt in a large mixing bowl and whisk together. Set aside.3 cups all-purpose flour, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1/2 cup granulated sugar, 1 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp salt
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg and vanilla extract.1 tsp vanilla extract, 1 egg, room temperature
- Add the butter into the dry ingredients. Use forks, a pastry cutter or your hands to bring the mixture together until it looks like large crumbs. Add the egg mixture and whisk together, or use your hands! Stop mixing when the dough looks like large crumbs. Don't kneed to knead the dough into a firm ball.1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature, cut into 1 tbsp sized cubes
- Press a little more than half of the dough into the baking tray. Make sure to press it evenly and into the corners. It will thin, so make sure the dough is pressed evenly. Bake for 5 minutes.
Blueberry Filling
- In a mixing bowl, whisk together the remaining 1/2 cup granulated sugar, lemon juice and cornstarch. Add blueberries to the bowl and toss them to evenly coat them.4 cups fresh blueberries (or frozen blueberries that are thawed and patted dry), 1/2 cup granulated sugar, 2 tbsp lemon juice, 1 tbsp cornstarch
- Pour the blueberry mixture over the warm cookie dough, making sure to spread it out evenly.
- Take the leftover cookie dough and sprinkle it over the blueberries. Crumble any bigger pieces in-between your hands.
- Bake for 35 – 40 minutes until the top looks golden brown and the filling is slightly bubbling.
- Cool the bars for 1-2 hours before cutting into 15 medium sized bars.
Notes
- Frozen blueberries are okay to use. Let them thaw and drain any excess water. Too much water creates a soggy cookie base.
- Always wash your fruit or soak for 5 minutes in cold water. Pat the blueberries dry as best you can.
- Freeze blueberry crumble cookie bars for up to a month but note that the texture will not be crisp after thawing.
- These bars taste great at room temperature, cold straight from the refrigerator, or warm (served with vanilla ice cream!).
Yummy!