Bars + Brownies Summer

Blueberry Crumble Bars

Blueberry Crumble Bars with Apple | The Vanilla Bean Blog

These Blueberry Apple Crumb Bars come from my 1st cookbook, the Vanilla Bean Baking Book. I’m excited to share the recipe with you! They’re a great way to use fresh blueberries, and are especially great with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

You can find a few of my recipes from the book around the web. Julie from Always with Butter made my chocolate chip cookies. Molly from My Name is Yeh made my yellow cake with chocolate frosting. Michelle from Hummingbird High made my cheesecake, and Cynthia from Two Red Bowls made my cheesecake with a hazelnut twist. Alex and Sonja from A Couple Cooks made my shortbread with chocolate.

Food 52 made my oatmeal white chocolate cookies. Sara from Sprouted Kitchen made my whole wheat banana chocolate muffins. Cindy from Hungry Girl Por Vida made my honey cake and added grapefruit. Elizabeth from Brooklyn Supper made my orange cranberry bundt cake. Alana from Fix Feast Flair made my brown butter buttercream. Alanna from Bojon Gourmet made my peanut butter granola.

Thank you again for all your support. It’s been so fun to see what everyone is making from the book on Instagram, and I appreciate all your kind words and reviews. If you make something from the book, please tag it #vanillabeanbakingbook so I can find it!

Apple Blueberry Crumble Bars | The Vanilla Bean Blog

Easy Blueberry Crumble Bars

Servings: 20 bars
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 25 minutes
Refrigerating Time: 4 hours
These easy blueberry crumble bars are made with a fresh blueberry filling and an oat shortbread crust. The fruit shines! Bars pack and travel well.
Sarah Kieffer
5 from 3 votes
Print Pin Rate

Ingredients

Crust

  • 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (355g)
  • 1/2 cup rolled or quick oats (45g)
  • 1 cup granulated sugar (198g)
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/2 pound 2 sticks; unsalted butter, at room temperature, and sliced into 1-inch pieces (227g)

Blueberry Filling

  • 5 heaping cups blueberries (700g)
  • 1/2 cup grated Gala apple (about one small apple) (75g)
  • 1 tablespoon lemon juice
  • 1/3 cup granulated sugar (66g)
  • 2 tablespoons cornstarch
  • Pinch salt

Instructions

  • Adjust an oven rack to the middle position. Preheat the oven to 350F. Grease a 9 x 13-inch baking pan and line it with parchment sling.
  • In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle, mix the flour, oats, sugar, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon on low to combine. Add the butter and mix on medium until the mixture resembles coarse sand.
  • Press half the flour-oat mixture into the bottom of the prepared pan. Bake 10 minutes. Prepare the berry filling while the crust is baking (see below). Remove the pan from the oven, spread the berry mixture over the crust, and sprinkle the remaining crumble mixture evenly over the top. Bake 20 to 25 minutes, until the crumbly top is light golden brown.
  • Transfer to a wire rack and let cool. Place the pan in the fridge and let chill 4 to 6 hours. Slice bars and serve. The crumble bars can be served cold or at room temperature, but keep best in the fridge.
  • For the blueberry filling
  • In a large bowl, mix the blueberries, apple, and lemon juice. In a small bowl, combine the sugar, cornstarch, and salt. pour the sugar mixture over the berries and stir gently with a spatula to evenly combine.
  • Reply
    Kweli
    Thursday, September 7, 2023 at 11:38 pm

    5 stars
    made this recipe yesterday and it is a huge hit!!! will be making these again!! Thank you!!!

  • Reply
    Myra
    Tuesday, June 6, 2023 at 8:32 pm

    5 stars
    Loved it taste like shortbread so good!! love the blueberries it was a hit layers we great.

  • Reply
    Jasmine Seiler
    Tuesday, March 2, 2021 at 1:10 pm

    Hello. I also noticed in my book that the crumble directions say to combine “sugars” implying that there may be more than one kind. I confirmed here that there is in fact only one, but may be worth a mention…

  • Reply
    Khrystyna Petruk
    Monday, February 11, 2019 at 6:19 am

    Very excited to try this today.. Thanks for sharing it!

  • Reply
    Elly
    Monday, January 14, 2019 at 8:58 pm

    Hi! I googled recipe correction for this recipe bc I also noticed the cinnamon in the berry filling but the other tho g I was curious about was the sugar in the crust. The directions say combine “sugars” plural, but ingredients list only lists one sugar. Is there supposed to be brown sugar also? My crumble was really…crumbly. Didn’t come out like bars bc the crumble was too dry. I measured by weight so I didn’t think it was too much flour but not sure what else I could have done! Any suggestions??

  • Reply
    Lena
    Thursday, February 8, 2018 at 5:21 am

    My kids are going to love these but to be honest I’m really the one who will probably eat the most. They look delicious. Such great flavors. Thanks for sharing the recipe here.

  • Reply
    Sue
    Monday, October 16, 2017 at 4:53 pm

    I purchased your book last week and the first recipe I tried was on page 253 – Shortbread with Chocolate. They were delicious however I only got 13 cookies using a 2″ cookie cutter, not the 30-35 cookies noted. I had to roll the dough less than the recommended 1/2″ thickness in order to get 13. I’m wondering if I did something wrong or if the 30-35 cookie quantity is perhaps a misprint. Excited to have found your blog and book!
    Thank you

  • Reply
    Lynda
    Sunday, March 12, 2017 at 2:32 pm

    Looks like a great recipe, can’t wait to try it, thanks!

  • Reply
    Melissa
    Sunday, February 26, 2017 at 11:20 pm

    I just love fruit bars! These look amazing! I wish I could have one right now! Put a crumb topping on anything and I’m happy. Can’t wait to try 🙂

  • Reply
    Jennifer Wise
    Saturday, February 18, 2017 at 7:24 am

    Hi Sarah ,

    First time visitor here. But I already fell in love with what you have here!

    Thank you for sharing this easy recipe. It is so delicious. I love apple recipe. This will definitely be on my to-try list in the near future. Thanks for sharing it with us ?

    Jennifer

  • Reply
    Claire
    Thursday, February 9, 2017 at 3:52 am

    Oh my, those look DELICIOUS!

  • Reply
    lynn
    Thursday, February 2, 2017 at 12:41 pm

    Thanks for this recipe – I can’t wait to make it!

  • Reply
    Lisa | Garlic & Zest
    Thursday, February 2, 2017 at 9:16 am

    Hi Sarah! I’ve been pouring over your book for the last few weeks – I tend to read cookbooks like novels — and just this week I made those chocolate chip cookies. I’ll be featuring them tomorrow on my blog and wanted to thank you for sharing your technique — which is very cool and works like a charm. Also, in a strange twist, when I read this post the Winona, Minnesota and Cooks of Crocus Hill jumped out at me. My husband is originally from St. Paul, born in Winona. I’ve transplanted him to the more tropical climes of South Florida, but I think he misses “home” sometimes. When we were dating, he’d take me to the Cooks of Crocus Hill and Penzeys — not to mention the fabulous farmer’s markets in the summers. Those mentions sparked a lot of memories for me.

  • Reply
    Edwina | Appliances
    Monday, January 30, 2017 at 5:25 am

    These do look delicious. I wish I had these bars in front of me right now!

  • Reply
    Sabrina B
    Friday, January 20, 2017 at 8:46 am

    love the idea of the the crumble crust for these, but especially the blueberry apply combo, thank you for this recipe!

  • Reply
    Sabrina
    Wednesday, January 18, 2017 at 7:01 pm

    Hi Sarah! I just received your cookbook from my cousin, Kelly Vlach. Your book is beautiful and inspiring! I’m very much looking forward to making these recipes.

    • Reply
      Sarah
      Wednesday, February 8, 2017 at 7:44 pm

      Hi Sabrina! Sorry for the late reply. Let me know if you have any questions!! And tell Kelly hi. 🙂

  • Reply
    Abby | Lace & Lilacs
    Sunday, January 15, 2017 at 1:08 pm

    Oh, these bars look incredible, Sarah. I wish I could attend your book signing! <3 (maybe come do one in paris…?)

  • Reply
    Kelly
    Sunday, January 15, 2017 at 9:46 am

    Are frozen berries OK to use? Thank you!

    • Reply
      Julie
      Monday, February 19, 2018 at 4:16 pm

      Yes- is frozen ok? I have a big Costco sized bag of blueberries on hand as well as the apples.

  • Reply
    Tori//Gringalicious.com
    Saturday, January 14, 2017 at 4:18 am

    These bars look absolutely irresistible!!!! I could eat a whole plate!

  • Reply
    Cindy
    Friday, January 13, 2017 at 6:44 pm

    I recently made the easy Danish dough and the Apricot Danish from the #vanilla bean baking book. Both recipes and directions were accurate and easy to follow, my family loved the pastries. The spirals wanted to uncurl during the bake time, how do I prevent that from happening?

  • Reply
    Kari
    Friday, January 13, 2017 at 4:43 pm

    Yum! I love a good crumble topping!
    Kari
    http://sweetteasweetie.com/

  • Reply
    Abby @ Heart of a Baker
    Friday, January 13, 2017 at 10:01 am

    Ohh well now I need to make these for sure, every recipe has been a gem so far! xo

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