Blueberry Crumb Bars are a delicious, creamy shortbread cookie bar made with fresh blueberries and a delicious crumb topping. These Blueberry Pie Bars are easier than pie to make, and perfect treat summer treat to make with fresh blueberries!
If you love blueberries, not only will you love these Fresh Blueberry Bars, you will also love Blueberry Coffee Cake, Blueberry Pancakes, and Whole Wheat Blueberry Muffins.
Blueberry Crumb Bars
My absolute favorite summer dessert is Fresh Blueberry Crumb Bars.
These crumb bars are made with a layer of buttery shortbread, topped with a creamy blueberry filling, and finished with more shortbread crumbled over the top of the bars.
Sweet. Buttery. Creamy. PERFECTION!
It is incredibly easy to make Blueberry Crumb Bars from scratch. And you can use either fresh or frozen blueberries–which means you can enjoy these delicious bars all year long!
How to Make Blueberry Bars
Step One: Prepare Pan
- Preheat oven to 350.
- Grease an 8×8 baking dish or line with parchment paper and set aside.
Step Two: Prepare the shortbread cookie pie crust.
- Mix together the flour, 1/4 cup sugar, a dash of salt together.
- Add in cold butter and mix together until the butter is incorporated into the flour mixture and resembles sand.
- You can mix together the crumbly cookie pie crust in a food processor fitted with the pastry blade, in a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, with a pastry cutter, or even with 2 forks. Personally, I opt for my food processor to make quick work of this cookie pie crust.
Step Three: Pre-bake the Shortbread Crust.
This step helps to seal the pie crust to keep the blueberry filling from seeping into the crust as it bakes, which would make the crust soggy.
- Take out a 1/2 cup of the pie crust mixture and set aside for the blueberry bars crumb topping.
- Press the remaining batter evenly in the glass baking dish.
- Bake for 15 minutes.
Step Four: Make the Blueberry Filling.
- Mix together sour cream, sugar, egg, and vanilla together.
- Gently fold in the blueberries.
- For Fresh Blueberries: Simply wash and drain before mixing into the sour cream mixture. It is also a good idea to lightly pat the berries dry.
- For Frozen Blueberries: DO NOT THAW! Mix right into the creamy batter.
Note: The sweet creamy sauce is made traditionally with sour cream. However, I have tried making the filling with plain Greek yogurt with absolute success. So either choice is delicious for these blueberry bars.
Step Five: Assemble the Crumble Bars
- Remove the shortbread crust from the oven.
- Spread the sour cream blueberry pie filling over the shortbread crust.
- Sprinkle the reserved pie crust over top the blueberry pie bars evenly.
Step Six: Bake the Bars
- Bake the bars until the blueberry pie filling is set and the crumble topping is golden brown. Note: If using frozen berries, you will need to add an additional 10 minutes to the bake time.
- Cool bars completely before slicing into bars. In fact, I find it is best to slice after refrigerating the blueberry bars for several hours first.
- Refrigerate pie bars after they cool and they will keep in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
- Either grease your pan well with butter or use parchment paper (my preferred option) to easily remove blueberry pie bars for slicing and serving.
More Dessert Recipes
Blueberry Crumb Bars
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cup whole white wheat flour or all purpose
- 1/2 cup sugar divided
- dash of salt
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter cubed and cold
- 1/2 cup Sour Cream
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 egg slightly beaten
- 4 cups fresh blueberries washed and dried
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350. Grease an 8x8 baking dish or line with parchment paper and set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, 1/4 cup sugar, and dash of salt. Mix in the butter with a paddle mixer, pastry blender, or 2 forks until crumbly, and butter is distributed evenly. Reserve 1/2 cup of the mixture for later. With the remaining batter, press it evenly in the glass baking dish. Bake for 15 minutes.
- While crust is baking, mix together yogurt/sour cream, remaining 1/4 cup sugar, vanilla and egg together. Gently fold in the blueberries. When the crust comes out of the oven, pour the blueberry batter over the crust and sprinkle the reserved 1/2 cup crust batter over the berry mixture evenly. Return to the oven and bake for 45-50 minutes or until pie bars are set and crumble over top is slightly browned.
- Allow to cool for at least an hour before slicing (I found the bars tasted even better the next day if you can wait that long!)
Notes
- Plain Greek yogurt can be substituted for sour cream.
- If using FROZEN blueberries, do NOT thaw and increase baking time by 5 minute intervals.
- Store leftover bars in refrigerator for up to 3 days.
Kristen Chidsey
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What a great alternative to blueberry pie! Perfect for a summer BBQ.
Thank so much Candess–these are always a hit.
Hi! Do you think I can get away with using salted butter instead of unsalted in these?
Chelsea, unsalted butter is always best for baking, but go ahead and use salted butter this time. I would omit any other salt from the recipe.
Kristen, do you deliver? Please? PLEASE!
Sending some now Arman!
Are the measurements correct for this recipe? One half cup flour seems too little.
Mary, It does seem like too little, but it works. This is only for an 8×8 pan and the blueberries are really the star here.
These look absolutely decadent – can’t wait to give them a try!
You will love them!
oooh, this makes me miss our old house where we had six blueberry bushes… this recipe is perfect for the huge amounts of blueberries I had all over my kitchen. I am saving this to make later this summer, cannot wait!
I wish I lived in that house too!! I love blueberries.
I am definitely a dessert person especially when the dessert involves my favorite fruit, blueberries. These are going on my list of must make!
You will love these Christie.
Hi,
I just made this with my five year old, its amazing! we can’t stop eating it! Just a quick question….is it better to keep in the fridge overnight or out?
thanks again for this super easy recipe!
Kate, I am so glad you love them and you had your 5 year old help you!!! Yea!! I would keep them in the fridge–just my own preference to be extra safe. Plus, I really enjoy them cold!!!
Blessings,
Kristen
Hi Kristen! Just like everyone else, I thought these looked so good! I made them this morning and they are delicious! We all love blueberries here and with the yogurt and whole wheat flour, I don’t feel too guilty about snitching a bit or two out of the pan. Next time, I think I may play a bit with the ingredient amounts. My dough was very thick and hard to spread. When baked and cooled, it could only be eaten in a dish with a spoon. Still…a great treat!
Hey Kathy,
Hmmm. I wonder if the humidity or elevation where you are affected the result. I did let my bars cool for about an hour before slicing. Sorry it wasnt perfection for you. I am glad you enjoyed the flavor though.
Hi I’m just wondering how much a stick of butter is in grams please???
Hey Rhiana, The recipe calls for 3/4 cups of butter which is 170 grams of butter. That would equal 1 stick (113 grams) + 1/2 stick (about 57 grams). I hope that helps you!!
Kristen
I know a long time has passed since this comment, but for anyone new reading this, definitely don’t use 3/4 cups of butter! The recipe lists 1 1/2 sticks, which is 6 tablespoons, and even that is way too much for the listed amounts of flour and sugar.
Thanks for you comment Agnes. My recipe only calls for 3/4 a stick of butter NOT 3/4 cup of butter. So it will work out just fine!
Wow! These looks D-licious!!! Just went raspberry picking with my kids…I bet raspberries would work great in this recipe too!
Do try and let me know. I bet thst would be awesome. I love raspberries.
I am looking forward to making these this evening but after reviewing the recipe I don’t see where you use the 2nd 1/4 cup of sugar in the recipe. Can you please let me know if that is added to the berry mixture. Thank you and I can’t wait to make and bake!!
Ellen…great catch!! I apologize for my error…funny how you can read it over so many times and not catch something so obvious. Editing is not my strength 🙂 ha! You add the sugar to the yogurt/sour cream mixture. Enjoy them. Let me know what you think.
These look awesome! I’m so impressed your five year old made these by herself! My three year old, almost four, loves to help me bake, maybe by the time he is five I’ll be able to give him a recipe and let him go to town. 🙂
Thanks for linking up in the Bloggers Brags Party, hope you come again soon!
Good for you getting your child in the kitchen. I am sure he will be able to do a recipe start to finish at 5 if you keep it up!
These look soooo good! A great substitution for the traditional pie. I’d love to try this recipe for our next family party! I am one of those whose pie crusts sometimes come out not so pie crusty lol. Still something to work on 🙂 Thanks so much for sharing the recipe, and your post will be featured in tonight’s What’d You Do This Weekend! Pinned 🙂
Thanks Ashley for the feature, I am honored! This recipe is great for anyone who fears pie crust or does not like it. I hope they are a hit at your family party!
These look amazing! I am all about anything blueberry right now!!!
Thanks Jocelyn. I am a bit obsessed with blueberries as well. I just picked a batch of fresh berries. Happy day at my house! I hope you love these bars as much as my family did!
I am there with you on the “pie” thing! I would much rather bake up some scrumptious bars like these! They look and sound fabulous! And defiantly a perfect summer treat!
Thanks Shelia!! These are definitely a great substitute for us non-pie lovers!! They are delicous!
Hi from #FoodieFriday! I shared blueberries this week too; I’m kind of a blueberry addict. These pie bars look really good. I may need to try them out after my next blueberry picking adventure.
You definitely need to try to them. They are delicious!!