Inspired by both my blueberry blondies and my raspberry shortbread bars, these blueberry crumble bars are a buttery shortbread, topped with homemade blueberry jam then a shortbread crumble. While there are 3 layers, there’s only 2 components since the topping and the base are the exact same mixture.
These blueberry crumb bars are so easy to make and a wonderful tangy, buttery and sweet, portable dessert. The shortbread has a good kick of lemon and just melts on your tongue while the jam is sweet yet tart and the perfect soft filling. That jam is the same as the one inside this blueberry Danish.
They’re great for picnics and potlucks or just for a delicious morning tea. Try them for Mothers Day too.
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Ingredients
With a total of 7 ingredients, this simple recipe is really easy to prepare. If you bake regularly, you’ll have most on hand already.
Jump to the recipe card for full ingredients and instructions.
- Flour: Just plain flour / all-purpose flour for the shortbread dough.
- Blueberries: You can use fresh or frozen blueberries. You may find you get a little more liquid using frozen blueberries (which is what I use). If you think the fresh blueberries need some more liquid to get them going, just add a little water. Frozen blueberries tend to be much more affordable though and it means you can make your blueberry bars all year round.
- Butter: The shortbread has a great buttery flavour from unsalted butter.
- Sugar: Just white granulated sugar or caster sugar (superfine sugar) is all you need for both parts.
- Lemon: One or two medium lemons will be enough here. Zest them first, then juice them.
- Cornflour, aka cornstarch in the US, is used to thicken the blueberry jam further. You can also use arrowroot powder if you have that on hand.
- Salt: Just a little salt gives balance to the shortbread dough.
How to make blueberry crumble bars
These blueberry shortbread bars are truly so simple to make. The homemade jam will take about 15-20 minutes but is incredibly easy and you don’t need to stand over it. What’s more, you can make both the jam and the shortbread dough 2-3 days ahead of time, then just assemble when you’re ready to bake.
Jump to the recipe card for full ingredients and instructions.
1. Make the blueberry jam
Add all the blueberry jam ingredients to a saucepan over medium heat and give them a good stir. Cook them, stirring every few minutes, until they get really thick and jammy. They’ll start out with very little moisture (only the lemon juice), and as they cook and break down, the blueberries will release juice. This juice will then reduce and thicken as it cooks.
2. Make the shortbread dough
Set the blueberry jam aside to cool and get onto the shortbread dough which takes just minutes to make. First, combine the dry ingredients and lemon zest in a mixing bowl, then use a box grater to grate over cold butter.
Blend the butter into the flour mixture using your fingertips or a pastry cutter.
Finally, stir in some melted butter with a spoon or fork and your hands until clumping. It will still be a very short (aka crumbly) dough but you should be able to press it together in your hand.
3. Press into a pan
Press ⅔ of the shortbread dough into the base of a lined 8 inch square baking pan or baking dish, reserving the rest for the end, then bake for 20 minutes.
4. Top and bake again
Now, top the shortbread crust with your blueberry mixture, then scatter the remaining dough over the top. Bake it until just beginning to turn golden and your blueberry bars are ready.
Tips and tricks
- Weigh your flour for the best results. Since the different ways of scooping flour into cup measures can result in different quantities, it’s always best to weigh your flour to make sure you get the best result. If you use too much flour, you may find your shortbread dough too crumbly.
- You still want small bits of butter visible after blending it into the flour. These pieces melt and create steam as it bakes, which gives a lighter texture to the shortbread.
Variations
While gorgeous the way they are, you can customise your blueberry crumble bars to suit your tastes.
- Try swapping half the sugar in the crust for brown sugar.
- You can also sprinkle some flaked almonds over the top before baking.
- For a chewier crumb topping, add some oats.
- Add a little vanilla extract to either the shortbread dough or the jam filling.
- If you want your blueberry crumb bars to be gluten-free, just use a gluten free flour blend that you know works well (they often give varying results, so one you’ve already tested is best).
- Try other berries – raspberries, blackberries, strawberries or mixed berries. You could even use cranberries, though being much more tart than blueberries, I would recommend doubling the sugar in the filling (taste once cooked and stir in a little more if needed).
Serving and storage
Blueberry crumb bars are best cooled completely before slicing so the blueberry jam sets nicely. If you cut them before they’re cooled, the soft jam might be a bit squidgy and not sit nice and square on the shortbread base.
That said, once cut, you can warm them up slightly if you’d like to serve them warm, maybe with a scoop of ice cream, but they’re just lovely and very portable at room temperature or even cold.
Store your blueberry crumb bars in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days.
Like a shortbread blueberry pie in portable bar form, these blueberry crumb bars are seriously easy to make and incredibly tasty. Now all you need to decide is whether to cut them into 8 generous bars or 16 respectable bars 😂.
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Ingredients
FOR THE BLUEBERRY FILLING
- 3 ½ cups blueberries fresh or frozen, (500g/~1lb)
- ¼ cup white granulated sugar (50g / 1¾oz)
- 2 teaspoons cornflour (US cornstarch)
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest
- 2 teaspoons lemon juice
FOR THE SHORTBREAD DOUGH
- 295 g plain flour (all purpose flour) (2 ¼ cups/10 ½oz)
- ⅔ cup white granulated sugar (134g/~4 ¾oz)
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 3 teaspoons lemon zest
- 200 g unsalted butter cold, (7oz – divided 30:170g/1:6oz)
For best results, always weigh ingredients where a weight is provided
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180C (160C fan forced) / 350F. Line an 8 inch square baking pan with baking paper.
- FOR THE BLUEBERRY FILLING:In a medium saucepan over medium heat combine the blueberries, sugar, cornflour (cornstarch) lemon zest and lemon juice. Stir to combine.
- Cook stirring regularly so it doesn’t catch on the bottom. The blueberries will release a lot of liquid which will boil and eventually thicken until you can drag a line through it with the spatula that takes a couple of seconds to fill again about 15-20 minutes after starting. You want the liquid to be very thick – almost as thick as regular jam. It will thicken more on cooling.
- Remove from heat and set aside to cool.
- FOR THE SHORTBREAD DOUGH: Melt 30g (roughly 1oz/2 Tbsp) of the butter, until just melted and set aside to cool slightly
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, salt and lemon zest.
- Use the large side of a box grater to grate in the remaining cold butter, then gently work it into the flour mixture with your fingertips or a pastry blender until it looks a bit like breadcrumbs and is well distributed. You don’t need the butter to be completely worked in, just in very small pieces.
- Stir in the melted butter with a spoon and your hands until well distributed and you can squeeze together a clump in your hand. It will still be a crumbly mixture.
- Set aside ⅓ of the mixture for later, and press the remaining ⅔ of the mixture into the base of the baking pan.
- Bake the shortbread base for 20 minutes.
- Let the base cool for 10 minutes, then spread over the blueberry jam. Crumble the remaining shortbread dough over the top.
- Bake for a further 25-30 minutes until just starting to turn golden brown on top.
- Cool in the tin for at least 1 hour then you can leave it there or transfer it a wire rack, using the baking paper to lift it out of the pan, to cool completely. It can be served warm but will hold it’s shape better when completely cool.
- Please take a moment to leave a comment & rating. It's appreciated and so helpful.
Notes
- Tablespoons: I use a standard Australian 20ml tablespoon (equal to 4 teaspoons). Check yours before measuring.
- For best results you should always weigh ingredients like flour and sugar. Kitchen scales are relatively cheap but if you can’t weigh the ingredients, use the spoon and level method (don’t scoop).
- This recipe works with other berries, too, like blackberries, raspberries and even strawberries. Just make sure to get the jam nice and thick in the pan, stirring often so it doesn’t catch and burn on the bottom.
- Nutrition details are approximate only – scroll below the recipe to find the full nutritional information.
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6 Comments on “Blueberry Crumble Bars”
Loved it! Thank you!
So happy you love them, Anna. Truly appreciate you dropping back to leave a review.
Absolutely delicious. The family loved it
I’m so happy you all love it, Lynn. Truly appreciate you dropping back to leave a review.
Step 11 doesn’t instruct you to sprinkle the rest of the shortbread crumbs over the top of the blueberry jam.
Looks very yummy and I’m definitely going to try.
Thanks for bringing that to my attention, Darren. All fixed now.