These blackberry pie bars are a peak summer berry dessert! If you love fruit crisps with crumbly oat topping, you’ll love these bars. They feature a delicious sweet/tart homemade blackberry filling sandwiched between two layers of oat crumble crust.
BLACKBERRY PIE BARS WITH OAT CRUMBLE CRUST
Berry season is here and my fridge has been stocked with blackberries, raspberries and blueberries for a few weeks now. I enjoy eating berries by the handful, sprinkling them on top of yogurt parfaits and incorporating them into recipes. What I really love is baking with them! I recently found myself with a surplus of blackberries that weren’t quite as sweet as I prefer for snacking so it was the perfect opportunity to whip up a berry-themed dessert.
Fruit crisps are one of my favorite summer desserts but I got an idea to turn the crisp into a more sturdy bar and ended up with these blackberry bars that are very pie-esque.
I decided to throw a few raspberries into the mix because I also had quite a few of them on hand. Recipes like this are so versatile so feel free to use straight blackberries in this recipe or a mix of blackberries, raspberries and blueberries.
There are two steps to this recipe.
- Making the blackberry filling.
- Making the oat crumble crust.
For the berry filling, I simmered the berries with sugar and lemon zest until they reached a jammy consistency.
While the berry filling was simmering, I pre-baked the bottom crust layer of my bars for a few minutes in a square baking dish lined with parchment. This ensures that your bottom crust is crumbly and set and not doughy or underbaked.
Here’s the blackberry filling layered on top of the bottom crust layer.
And the final layer of crumbled dough on top.
All baked up fresh out of the oven!
I recommend letting the blackberry pie bars cool for a good bit before lifting the parchment out of the pan. If they’re still hot they will be gooey and spread all over the place.
If you really want a clean cut on them, I would let them cool completely, refrigerate them and then cut.
Whether you snack on these blackberry pie bars cold out of the fridge or warmed up with a scoop of ice cream, they are a delicious treat!
BLACKBERRY PIE BARS WITH OAT CRUMBLE CRUST RECIPE
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Blackberry Pie Bars with Oat Crumble Crust
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 45 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
- Yield: 12 bars 1x
Description
If you love fruit crisps with crumbly oat topping, you’ll love these blackberry pie bars. They feature a delicious sweet/tart homemade blackberry filling sandwiched between two layers of oat crumble crust.
Ingredients
FOR THE BLACKBERRY FILLING
20 ounces blackberries or mixed berries
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons corn starch
FOR THE OAT CRUMBLE CRUST
1/2 cup unsalted butter at room temp
1/2 cup white sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 large egg, room temp
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup old fashioned oats
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
Instructions
FOR THE BLACKBERRY FILLING
- Place the blackberries, sugar, water, lemon zest and corn starch in a medium pan and bring to a simmer.
- Mash the berries with a spatula as they cook to help them break down.
- Stir frequently and continue to cook until the mixture has thickened in texture and coats the back of a wooden spoon/spatula.
- Remove from heat, stir in vanilla and allow to cool for about 10 minutes.
FOR THE OAT CRUMBLE CRUST
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line an 8×8 glass pan with parchment paper.
- In a standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or using a handheld mixer), cream together butter and sugars for 2 minutes on medium high heat, until lightened in color and fluffy.
- Reduce mixer speed and add egg and vanilla. Scrape down sides of bowl if needed.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, oats, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt.
- Keeping mixer on low speed, mix dry ingredients into wet ingredients.
- Place half of batter into prepared pan and spread to edges. Pre-bake bottom crust for about 15 minutes until it’s set and let cool for a few minutes.
- Spoon blackberry filling over pre-baked crust. Crumble the remaining dough over the top.
- Spoon blackberry filling over cooled crust and crumble reserved dough over filling.
- Bake bars for another 30 minutes, or until topping is golden brown and filling is bubbling.
- Cool completely before lifting parchment out of the pan and cutting. To make cutting even easier, refrigerate the cooled bars before cutting.
- Store bars in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
Notes
- Feel free to use a mix of whatever berries you have on hand.
These blackberry pie bars are delicious eaten cold out of the fridge or warmed up with vanilla ice cream!
