Summer Berry Crumb Bars

Nothing says summer more like fresh fruit and these Summer Berry Crumb Bars are the essences of summer. Fresh strawberries, raspberries, blueberries & blackberries take over in this fresh, delicious summer-y  bar. Perfect for 4th of July this week!

I found this recipe in this season’s edition of Bake From Scratch magazine. As soon as I flipped through the pages and saw this recipe it was love at first sight. Anything with fruit and a buttery crumb mixture of some-sort is always a winning combo. The bars are perfect on their own but I added my own little something to them by layering the top os them bars with a sweet vanilla drizzle – very subtle – I didn;t want them drenched because I love the look of the berries peeking through the crumb topping (the colors!).

These bars are perfect for BBQ’s, picnics, pool days or just bake them to have a batch on hand at satisfy that summer cravings.

Summer Berry Crumb bars

Delicious bars with a buttery crumb base loaded with fresh, bright summer berries and topped with an extra layer of butter crumbs.

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Prep Time: 30 minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour

Total Time: 22 hours 50 minutes

Servings: 20

Author: Kimberly

Ingredients

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 and 1/3 cups granulated sugar divided
• 1 tablespoon lime zest
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup cold unsalted butter cubed
• 1 large egg lightly beaten
• 1 and 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 2 cups fresh raspberries
• 1 cup chopped fresh strawberries
• 1 cup fresh blackberries
• 1 cup fresh blueberries
• 3 tablespoons fresh lime juice
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions

• Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Spray a 9x13 inch sheet pan (with rimmed sides) or baking dish with cooking spray and then line with a sheet of parchment paper. Make sure to leave a little extra parchment paper over the sides so it'll be easy to transfer bars for cutting.
• In a large mixing bowl mix together flour, 1 cup of sugar, lime zest, baking powder & salt. Using a pastry cutter (or a pastry blended) cut in cold butter pieces until pea sized crumbs form. Add egg into the mixture and use a fork to stir everything together, forming a crumbly mixture. Reserve 1 and 1/2 cups of the dough and refrigerate. Using your hands, press the remaining 3 and 1/2 cups of dough into the bottom of the baking sheet/dish to form a crust.
• Bake for 25-30 minutes
• While crust is baking, pour cornstarch and remaining 1/3 cup of sugar into a large bowl. Fold in berries, lime juice and vanilla extract. Fold everything together until berries are evenly coated. Pour berry mixture of the baked crust and spread out evenly, covered the whole crust. Sprinkle the reserved 1 and 1/2 cups of remaining dough over the berries.
• Bake for 30 minutes, crumble should be golden.
• Allow bars to cool completely and then refrigerate overnight. Lift the bars up from the pan using the sides of the parchment paper. Cut into to squares an serve.
• **Optional** I drizzled a vanila glaze over the bars before cutting into squares, in a small bowl combine 1/2 cup powdered sugar, 1-2 tablespoons of milk and a splash of vanilla extract, whisk together and drizzle over bars before cutting into squares.