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.
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 8x8 baking dish or line with parchment paper and set aside.
Step Two: Prepare the shortbread cookie pie crust.
- Mix together the flour, ¼ 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 ½ 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 of 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 ½ cup whole white wheat flour or all purpose
- ½ cup sugar divided
- dash of salt
- ½ cup unsalted butter cubed and cold
- ½ 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, ¼ 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 ½ 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 ¼ 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 ½ 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!)
Equipment Needed
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.
Janell Young
Hi! We did enjoy these, but the sour cream mixture disappeared. Should there have been more of it (maybe 1 cup or even more) so that it made a "sauce" around the berries?
Kristen Chidsey
Hi Janell. I am glad you enjoyed the flavor, but sorry you were disappointed by the lack of cream mixture. Adding more would make this recipe not sliceable or able to be hand-held.
Jacquita Beddo
Did I miss where it says how long to pre-bake the crust?
Kristen Chidsey
The last line in step two states to bake for 15 minutes 🙂