Description
Blackberry Oatmeal Crumb Bars combine tangy cooked blackberries and with a buttery, sweet crumble. Plus, they’re great for novice bakers!
Ingredients
Scale
Jam:
- 1 1/2 pounds (5 cups) blackberries (fresh or frozen)
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt or a pinch of fine salt
- 1 1/2 teaspoons lemon juice
Bars:
- 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 cup old fashioned rolled oats
- 3/4 cups light brown sugar, packed
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt or 1/4 teaspoon fine salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg or ground nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon lemon zest
- 12 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 1/2 inch cubes, chilled
Instructions
- Preheat oven and prep pan: Heat oven to 375°F. Grease an 8 by 8 or 9 by 9 inch baking pan with butter, line with parchment, leaving an overhang on two sides, and grease again.
- Cook berries: Add blackberries, sugar and salt to a nonstick pan. Turn heat to medium. Cook, stirring occasionally, for about 15-20 minutes or until juices thicken and become syrupy. Keep in mind that jam will continue to thicken upon cooling. Transfer to a bowl to cool. Stir in lemon juice.
- Mix crumbs: In a large bowl, combine flour, oats, sugar, spices and lemon zest. Toss butter cubes in dry ingredients. Using a pastry cutter or two knives, cut in butter until coarse crumbs form. The crumbs should stay together when pressed. You can also do this in a food processor, pulsing to cut the butter into the dry ingredients.
- Prebake crust: Add two-thirds of the crumb mixture to the bottom of the prepared baking pan. Put remaining crumbs in the fridge. Press crumbs into a compact even layer. Bake 14-16 minutes or until golden brown and firm to the touch. Cool on a wire rack.
- Finish baking: Spread jam over cooled crust. Sprinkle over remaining crumbs. Bake for 25-35 minutes or until topping is golden brown and filling is bubbling. Cool on a wire rack.
- Serve: Lift sides of parchment to remove bars from pan. Remove and discard parchment. Cut into squares and serve.
Notes
- Feel free to substitute strawberries, blueberries or raspberries for the blackberries. You can even use a combination of fruit! Just remember cook time may vary.
- To save time, use store bought jam. Thinner jams will work better. Avoid using jelly.
- Fruit crumble bars freeze very well. Wrap the cut bars individually in plastic and store in a freezer bag for up to 3 months.
- This recipe is written for an 8×8 or 9×9 inch pan. To cook it in a 9×13 pan, I would multiply all the ingredients by 1.5 times and create a larger batch. That way, the bars will be the same thickness and cook a similar amount of time.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 hour
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Bake
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1/16 of pan
- Calories: 220
- Sugar: 19g
- Sodium: 187mg
- Fat: 9g
- Saturated Fat: 6g
- Unsaturated Fat: 3g
- Trans Fat: 0g
- Carbohydrates: 33g
- Fiber: 3g
- Protein: 3g
- Cholesterol: 23mg
