Ooey-Gooey Blackberry Crumble Bars

Ooey-Gooey Blackberry Crumble Bars
Enjoy summer’s most delicious berries in ooey-gooey crumble bars. These bars will be an OUTSTANDING addition to any cook-out, potluck or group gathering. Easy to make and easy to serve, this is a RELAXED and stress-free recipe.

Make the most of late summer blackberries

According to the calendar, the first official day of Fall is in a couple of weeks. That’s really hard to believe, considering it’s 95° and sunny at my house today! I’m definitely not ready to bring out the apple candles and pumpkin spice and say my goodbyes to summer. The way I look at it, I have some time to advantage of all summer’s best attributes, which are luscious, juicy berries. However, I do want to start a slow transition to autumn flavors. Today, I accomplished that with these tangy, delicious blackberry crumble bars. The blackberries are my tribute to summer, and the cinnamon and pecans are my fall gateway flavors.

image of Ingredients
Ingredients

These bars take a little more effort than making a regular crisp or crumble. There’s an extra step needed to make the fruit stable enough to cut into bars. I didn’t want to fuss with plates, bowls, or serving utensils and bars are perfect for transporting and setting out at cook-outs, potlucks, or office gatherings. (They are also safer since there is no sharing of serving items). If you wanted, you could individually wrap them in plastic wrap and avoid any chance of cross-contamination.

Simple ingredients and little prep

The ingredients are simple and require very little prep. Other than preheating the oven and prepping the pan, the only other prep is cutting the butter in small cubes.

butter in cubes
Cut butter in small cubes and let come to room temperature

This recipe does, however, does need a food processer. If you don’t have a food processer, a blender or mixer can work with a bit of patience. A food processor makes this recipe easy/peasy! There are three tasks for the food processor, including chopping the pecans, creating the crumble crust and topping, and pureeing the blackberries.

A food processor makes easy work!

Images of food processor bowl with pecans, berries, butter and crumble mixture.
Use food processor to chop pecans, blend crumble mix and puree berries.

Use half the crumble topping to form bottom crust. The bottom crust gets pre-baked for 15 minutes. This step doesn’t add to the time or take any additional effort. It bakes while the blackberry mixture comes together.

Crumble pressed into pan to form bottom crust
Form the bottom crust and bake for 15 minutes.

Thickening the blackberry sauce is an extra step but well worth it. The pureed blackberries, jam, and lemon juice go on the stove over medium heat and simmer for about 20 minutes. This step reduces the extra moisture in the sauce, so the bars get thick and gooey and hold their shape.

Thicken the sauce on the stove top

images of berry sauce
Cook berry sauce till thickened and pour on pre-baked crust

The thickened sauce goes over the pre-baked crust. Top the sauce with the remaining crumble mixture and pecans.

images of pan with berry sauce and crumble
Top berry sauce with remaining crumble and sprinkle with remaining pecans.

Bars are easy to transport and serve

It bakes for an additional 20 minutes. Let the bars completely cool before cutting. Enjoy!

Baked bars in pan on cooling rack
Allow bars to completely cool before cutting.

Ooey-Gooey Blackberry Crumble Bars

Recipe by Jane BruceCourse: Dessert, SnacksCuisine: AmericanDifficulty: Easy
Servings

8

servings
Prep time

10

minutes
Cooking time

20

minutes
Baking Time

30

minutes

Blackberry Crumble Bars are a sweet summer treat perfect for potlucks and cook-outs. Fresh blackberries with a pecan crunch topping and crumb crust are a snack or dessert that don’t require a bowl or fork to eat!

Ingredients

  • • 3/4 cup all-purpose flour

  • • 1 cup finely chopped pecans – divided

  • • 1/4 cup granulated sugar

  • • 1 teaspoon cinnamon

  • • 1/4 cup packed light brown sugar

  • • 1/8 teaspoon salt

  • • 1/2 cup butter (1 stick), cut in pieces, room temperature

  • • 12 ounces fresh blackberries

  • • 1/3 cup blackberry preserves

  • • 1 tablespoon lemon juice

Directions

  • Prep: Preheat oven to 375F. Generously spray an 8×11 baking pan with non-stick spray. Cut the butter in small cubes and come to room temperature.
  • In a food processor, pulse the flour, 1/2 cup pecans, sugars, cinnamon and salt to combine. Add the softened butter and pulse until the butter is thoroughly incorporated and the mixture has a large moist crumb texture.
  • Remove about 1/2 cup of the mixture for the crumb topping and set aside. Place the remainder in the sprayed baking pan, pressing it firmly to create bottom crust. Bake the crust for 15 minutes.
  • While the crust is baking, add the fresh berries, lemon juice and preserves into the food processor and pulse till blended. Pour mixture into a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to simmer and cook until the sauce has thickened, about 20 minutes. Pour the fruit sauce evenly over the crust. Top with the remaining crumble mixture and pecans. Bake for 20 minutes. Cool completely before cutting. Store in the refrigerator.

Notes

  • Blackberries: Substitute any kind of berry. Peaches and plums are also delicious. Use matching jam or preserves.
  • Pecans: Substitute walnuts, pecans or pistachios.
  • Food processor: If you don’t have a food processor, a blender, mixer or grinder will also work with a little manual effort
  • Pan: For thicker bars use a 9×9 baking pan

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