Blueberry Crumb Bars

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These Blueberry Crumb Bars are so sweetly delicious. Made with fresh blueberries, a shortbread crust, and crunchy topping, you’ll love the textures and flavors of these awesome bars.

Table Of Contents

Recipe Details
What You’ll Need
Ingredient Notes
Add-ins and Substitutions
How to Make Blueberry Crumb Bars
Recipe Tips
FAQs
Serving Suggestions
Make This Recipe in Advance
More Yummy Fruit Desserts!
Full Recipe Instructions

Recipe Details

Every summer, my family and I go blueberry picking in easter Washington. We come home with buckets of juicy ripe blueberries, so we make the best fresh berry dessert recipes. These amazing blueberry bars have become a staple in our home and I think you’re going to love them, too.

TASTE: Buttery, fruity, and sweet, these Blueberry Oatmeal Bars taste heavenly. They have the most delicious buttery-sweet crumb on top.
TEXTURE: The crust is made of a buttery shortbread, and the mix of juicy berries and crunchy topping is unbelievably good.
TIME: These bars will take a little over an hour, but they can be made ahead and frozen for a snack or breakfast on the go.
EASE: Even with three different components, this recipe is super easy to follow. It’s a simple treat with lots of flavor.

What You’ll Need

Ingredients for Blueberry Crumb Bars: blueberries, rolled oats, baking powder, cornstarch, vanilla, flour, lemon, sugar, salt, butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon.

Ingredient Notes

Unsalted butter– We use unsalted because we can better control the salt content this way. Make sure your butter is cold so it holds its shape in both the crust and crumb topping.
Brown sugar– This richer, darker sugar adds a complex sweetness to the dessert, in the crust, topping, and blueberry filling.
Vanilla extract– This adds a touch of vanilla that enhances the flavors of the blueberries and buttery topping.
Egg yolk– The yolk not only helps the other ingredients incorporate, it also adds lots of moisture to the crust.
Fresh blueberries– These are best for this recipe. Frozen and thawed berries tend to get mushy, which releases a lot of moisture into the filling. You want to avoid a soggy crust.
Fresh lemon juice– Fresh juice is so much more tasty than concentrate, so go with a fresh lemon for adding this ingredient to the mix.
Old-fashioned oats– These oats give the crumble topping a delicious crumb that is a little chewy and lot yummy. Old fashioned oats have more chew than instant because the oats are larger in size.
Flaxseed– This helps bind ingredients as well as add fiber and protein. It also has a little nutty flavor.
Sweetened coconut flakes– These are sweet and nutty, which goes deliciously with the berry filling and butter crust.

Add-ins and Substitutions

Substitute frozen blueberries- If you have only frozen berries, you can use cornstarch to thicken the juices in the blueberry mixture to avoid there being too much moisture, causing a soggy crust.
Add other berries- For a fruitier bar, add raspberries, cherries (pitted), or blackberries. Just take out as many blueberries so the proportions stay the same.
Add nuts- Try these with chopped walnuts, almonds, or pecans for more tasty texture and flavor.
Make them vegan- Just substitute vegan butter and ground flaxseed (or your favorite vegan egg replacement) for the butter and egg yolks in this recipe.

How to Make Blueberry Crumb Bars

Make the dough for the crust. Combine the flour, cold butter, brown sugar, vanilla, salt, and egg yolk in a medium bowl and mix them into a dough.
Mold the dough. Press the flour mixture into the bottom of the prepared pan, a greased 9 x 13-inch baking dish. Then puncture it with a fork about 30 times.

Steps to make Blueberry Crumb Bars: combine flour, butter, brown sugar, vanilla, salt, and egg yolk, then press the mixture down into the pan to form the crust.

Make the filling. Add the blueberries, brown sugar, flour, and lemon juice to a large bowl and mix together.
Add the filling to the crust. Spread the blueberry layer over the dough.

Pro Tip: You can press the dough into the baking pan with your hands, but a spatula or the bottom of a cup works really well, too.

Steps to make Blueberry Crumb Bars: combine blueberries, brown sugar, flour, and lemon juice in a bowl and then layer over the crust dough.

Make the oatmeal topping. In a bowl, combine the cold butter, flour, oatmeal, flaxseed, coconut flakes, vanilla, and brown sugar. Mix until the dough can easily be pressed together in your hands.
Add the topping to the berries. Evenly press the oatmeal mixture on top of the berries.
Bake. Bake it at 360 degrees Fahrenheit in a preheated oven for 40 minutes, or until the top turns golden brown. Let it cool before cutting into bars.

Steps to make Blueberry Crumb Bars: combine butter, flour, cornmeal, flaxseed, coconut flakes, vanilla, and brown sugar, top the berries with the crumbles, and bake.

Recipe Tips

Use cold butter- To get the right texture and consistency in the crust, make sure the butter is cold. This will keep the shortbread from becoming sticky or too soft.
Don’t skip the lemon juice- To get the right texture of the filling and also balance the sweetness of the fruit and sugar, remember to add the lemon juice. It is an important part of making these oatmeal bars delicious.
Poke the dough- The crust needs to be poked before it’s filled and baked because if you don’t, the steam created during baking will have nowhere to go and will create bubbles in the crust, leading to uneven baking.

FAQs

Can you use frozen blueberries instead of fresh?

Yes, you can. However, frozen blueberries will have more water in them, so to avoid a soggy crust add an extra 1/2 to 1 Tbsp cornstarch to help absorb excess water and allow them to distribute evenly within the filling mixture.

Can these Blueberry Oatmeal Bars be made gluten-free?

It’s very easy to make this recipe gluten-free. All you need to do is substitute the all-purpose flour with gluten-free baking flour (such as Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-Free Baking Flour) and make sure that the old-fashioned oats are certified as gluten-free (otherwise there is a possibility of gluten in them because of cross-contamination during processing). That’s it!

Are Blueberry Oatmeal Bars healthy?

These bars are absolutely delicious, with lots of fiber and vitamins from the fresh blueberries and oatmeal. But if you want to try a lighter version, you can make some changes to lower the sugar and incorporate healthier options, like using whole wheat flour, pure maple syrup in place of the sugar, or substituting applesauce or mashed banana for the butter.

Close up of a Blueberry Crumb Bar, missing a bite.

Serving Suggestions

These Blueberry Crumb Bars are delicious and can be enjoyed as a sweet breakfast or dessert. Enjoy them with pancakes, eggs, fruity favorites, or smoothies.

Pancakes: Enjoy these bars alongside Buttermilk Pancakes, Chocolate Pancakes, Blueberry Ricotta Pancakes, or a German Pancake (VIDEO).
Eggs: Pair a blueberry bar with some Egg Bites, Eggs Benedict, Easy Poached Eggs with Caramelized Onions, or Egg Sandwiches.
Fruity favorites: Try this recipe with some Creamy Fruit Salad, Fruit Kabobs, Berry Chantilly Cake, or Blueberry Crisp.
Smoothies: Wash this tasty treat down with a smoothie, like this Tropical Smoothie, Mango Smoothie, Mandarin Banana Smoothie, or a Blueberry Smoothie Bowl.

Make This Recipe in Advance

Make ahead: To make these bars in advance, wrap them individually with plastic wrap once they have cooled and been cut. They can be stored in the refrigerator or freezer, depending on how long you want to keep them.

Storing: Wrap the blueberry oatmeal bars in plastic wrap to keep them from sticking together and place them in an airtight container in the fridge. They will last for about 3 days.

Freeze: To keep them longer, place the container in the freezer and they will stay fresh for up to 3 months.

More Yummy Fruit Desserts!

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Full Recipe Instructions

This recipe was originally posted on June 24, 2016, but it has been tweaked a bit since then.

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Dina

Hi, I’m Dina, so glad you stopped by! I believe life is too short for bad coffee and boring meals. With my easy to follow step-by-step recipes, you’ll be surprised at how quickly a wholesome and delicious meal can come together. I hope you find something you enjoy!