I love baking these simple Blueberry Lemon Crumb Bars recipe to help kick off the warmer season.
These Blueberry Lemon Crumb Bars are a tasty bite-sized dessert made with fresh blueberries. They have a delicious crust. And they’re easy to cut into neat pieces! Try this delicious dessert for all of your summer barbecues!
How to make Blueberry Lemon Crumb Bars:
These bars have three layers. The first layer is a buttery shortbread crust flavored with lemon zest. Next comes a blueberry filling made with fresh blueberries, sugar and a little bit of nutmeg. Finally, a topping is sprinkled on top. The topping is a combination of flour, brown sugar and butter. The bars are then baked for about 25 minutes. When they come out the oven, they are dusted with powdered sugar.
Lemon zesting and juicing:
The best lemons are lemons that feel a bit heavy in your hand and that have a little give to them when you squeeze them slightly. Those will be the lemons that have a thinner skin and more juice. In this recipe, you’ll use a lemon zester to zest two teaspoons of zest, but you won’t use any lemon juice in this recipe. Be sure to squeeze the lemon juice out of the lemon and save it for another use. You can keep freshly squeezed lemon juice in the refrigerator for a few days. Or put the juice in a zip baggie or small plastic container and freeze it for much longer. Don’t let that juice go to waste!
How to store these bars:
Keep cut bars stored in a covered container at room temperature. If you need to stack them, use parchment or wax paper between layers. Blueberry Lemon Crumb Bars may also be stored in the freezer. Thaw at room temperature before serving. Enjoy!
Here are a few more recipes using blueberries that you might like to try:
- Blueberry Gooey Butter Cake
- Raspberry Blueberry Pie
- Blueberry Refrigerator Jam
- Best Blueberry Dump Cake
- Blueberry Cornbread
- Glazed Blueberry Lime Pound Cake
- Lemon and Blueberry Upside Down Cake
- Blueberry Cinnamon Rolls
- Peach and Blueberry Coffee Cake
Blueberry Lemon Crumb Bars
Ingredients
CRUST:
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons granulated white sugar
- 2 teaspoons grated lemon zest
- pinch of salt
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) chilled butter, cut into pieces
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
FILLING:
- 2 cups fresh blueberries
- 1/4 cup granulated white sugar
- 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
TOPPING:
- 5 tablespoons butter, at room temperature
- 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
- 3/4 cup all purpose flour
DUSTING:
- 1/4 cup powdered sugar
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400°F. Spray a 9x13-inch pyrex pan with nonstick spray.
PREPARE THE CRUST:
- In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, zest and salt. Cut in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. In a separate bowl, beat the egg and vanilla together; stir into the crumb mixture until a dough forms. Press into the bottom of the prepared pan. Bake 12 to 15 minutes until golden. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool slightly. (Keep the oven on)
ADD THE FILLING:
- Sprinkle the blueberries over the crust. In a small bowl, combine the 1/4 cup sugar and nutmeg; sprinkle over the blueberries.
PREPARE THE TOPPING:
- In a medium bowl, use a rubber spatula to cream together the 5 tablespoons butter and brown sugar until smooth. Mix in the flour, so that the mixture is crumbly like streusel. Sprinkle over the blueberry layer.
- Bake for 20 to 25 minutes until browned. Cool and then dust with powdered sugar before cutting into bars.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Made these and the crust was tough and dry. I think the temp for the blind bake was far too high. Also- I added lemon juice to the blueberries and doubled the zest and I could still barely taste it. Definitely think the recipe could be good with some tweaks, maybe mixing the blueberries with lemon curd would help.
I followed the recipe and I was not pleased with the results. Crust too floury tasting. Will not make again.
These bars are so…good!!
Fast and easy to make.
Very yummy! Double the lemon zest, could barely taste it. Also, if using frozen blueberries (I did and turned out great!),rinse ,drain and pat dry so they dont “bleed” into the crust. Shared this recipe with family and friends.