Heavenly Blueberry Crumb Bars

These blueberry crumb bars are so delicious! They are simply... well... heavenly. They are perfectly sweet, just enough blueberry, a hint of lemon, and the perfect amount of crumbly topping. Every time I make these they have only lasted a few days in our house before they are gone, and quite frankly I would happily eat the entire dish to myself, if I didn't know any better. My most recent excuse to make them (and really, who needs an excuse!), was to make them for my wonderful assistant at work, who has shown me so much love and support over the last 10 months. She is always so thoughtful, and was always checking in on me to see how I was doing, and so the least I could do was make these for her. Let me tell you, they were a huge hit.

I actually came across a variation of this recipe on several sites (For the love of cooking, One Perfect Bite, Smitten Kitchen, and I hear that it actually originated on Allrecipes.com), however I ended up adapting the version off Smitten Kitchen. Really though, I'm positive any one would be good.

Blueberry crumb bars
Adapted from Smitten Kitchen
Makes 24 medium size squares


3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup sugar
1 cup cold butter
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
Zest and juice of a lemon
4 cups fresh or frozen blueberries
1/2 cup sugar
4 tsp cornstarch

1. Preheat oven to 375F; Grease a 9x13 inch pan.

2. Mix together flour, baking powder, salt and 1 cup of sugar. Stir in the lemon zest.

3. Using a fork, cut in the butter into the flour mixture until the mixture is in pieces about the size of pea. Mix in the egg and vanilla. Don't worry the dough will be crumbly! Pat about half to 2/3 of the dough into the greased pan, and set the rest aside for the topping.

4. In a separate bowl, stir together 1/2 cup of sugar, the cornstarch and lemon juice. Gently stir in the blueberries. Once combined, pour the blueberry mixture evenly over the crust.

5. Crumble the remaining dough over the berry layer.

6. Bake for approximately 45 minutes or until top is slightly brown. Let it cool completely before cutting into squares.

These bars are easiest to cut and eat when cooled, and so we keep them in the fridge. If you are to impatient to wait like we were for the bars to cool completely before devouring, they are equally as good hot! They just fall apart quite easily when they are fresh out of the oven hot... consider it a type of blueberry crisp if you're going to eat them that way :)