These Best Blackberry Crumble Bars are tender, gooey bars filled with a thick ribbon of juicy, fresh blackberries and a buttery crumble crust and topping! Super irresistible and so simple to make!
Can you even HANDLE the color of these bars?! For a berry so dark in its outer appearance, when it bakes up, it sure turns a gorgeous magenta/purple color.
Pantone, you may want to write this one down.
I know I have bombarded you with crumble bar recipes lately, but I cannot get enough! Not only are these super simple to make, they taste amazing and according to social media, you guys are loving them! I have been tagged in so many strawberry, lemon and blueberry crumble bar recipes since I have posted and shared them so I took that as a sign to continue my crumble bar fruit journey and keep pushing on!
Next up, I decided to journey into blackberries which is a fruit I normally avoid like the plague. Let’s just say blackberries aren’t my favorite fruit by a long shot (I usually ALWAYS get the tart or flavorless ones!) but I really hit the jackpot with the batch I picked out this time. They were so juicy, flavorful and sweet… it was hard not to pop them in my mouth while I made the recipe.
Usually with my crumble bars I use lemon zest to help brighten the fruit flavors a little, but for this one I used a little lime zest. Lemon works too, but I thought blackberry and lime sounded amazing – there’s a local place that does blackberry mojitos that I actually like, so I knew the flavors worked well together! While the lime is subtle, you could always add more zest or even create a lime juice glaze to finish the bars off with to really bump up that citrus flavor. Super delicious!
The Crust & Crumble
Obviously these bars are called crumble bars because of their crumble topping! This is made in one bowl and consists of both the crust (base) and the crumble topping. It is your usual ingredients: all-purpose flour which acts as the foundation, granulated sugar for sweetness, baking powder for lift, salt to balance the sweetness, cold unsalted butter to help hold it all together, an egg for moisture, and a little vanilla extract for flavor. Here’s another opportunity where you could add additional citrus zest for flavor if you’d like.
The Blackberry Filling
The blackberry filling consists of fresh blackberries (halved if large, and most of mine were quite large!), granulated sugar for added sweetness, cornstarch to help thicken everything up as it bakes and make it a nice gooey layer, lime juice and zest for freshness and flavor. Again, you can definitely add more zest here for a bigger punch but keep the juice to the original amount. If you still want more lime-y flavor after baking, make a simple glaze with lime juice and powdered sugar.
Sweet, buttery, gooey, fruity and so tasty, these Blackberry Crumble Bars are almost too pretty to eat! But the key word is ‘almost’ ?
Best Blackberry Crumble Bars
These Blackberry Crumble Bars are oh so tasty, super easy and totally refreshing and light! Filled with a thick ribbon of fresh blackberry filling and a hint of lime zest for citrusy kick.
Servings: 15 servings
Ingredients
For the Crust and Crumble:
- 1 cup granulated white sugar
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cubed
- 1 large egg, lightly beaten
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
For the Blackberry Filling:
- 4-5 cups fresh blackberries, halved if large washed and patted dry
- 1/2 cup granulated white sugar
- 3 Tbsp cornstarch
- 2 Tbsp lime juice may use lemon instead if desired
- Zest of one medium lime may use lemon zest instead if desired
Instructions
Preheat oven to 375° degrees F. Line a 9×13 light metal rectangular baking pan with foil, extending the foil over the edges of the pan. Spray with cooking spray; set aside.
For the crust: In a large bowl, combine the sugar, baking powder, salt, and flour and mix well. Add in the cubed butter, lightly beaten egg and vanilla extract and mix together using a pastry cutter or two forks, mixing until mixture resembles small pebbles. Dough will be crumbly.
Press half of the dough into the prepared pan, using your hands to compress it into a nice, even layer. Set aside briefly.
Meanwhile, for the filling: In a medium bowl, combine the blackberries, granulated sugar, cornstarch, and lime juice & zest with a spoon until combined. Pour the mixture evenly over the crust in the pan. Crumble the remaining crust mixture evenly over the surface of the blackberry layer.
Bake for 38-45 minutes or until the mixture is light golden brown and bubbly and center appears set. Cool completely for at least 1-2 hours at room temperature before cutting into bars, or you may refrigerate.
Notes
I used a 2lb container of blackberries which equaled about heaping 4 cups. Most of my blackberries were very large so I needed to halve them. Anywhere from 4-5 cups will be fine for this recipe.
I just love how bright, fresh and delicious these easy bars are!
Have a super sweet day!
xo, Hayley
