Blueberry Bars

These Blueberry Bars feature a buttery shortbread base, a luscious layer of juicy blueberries, and a crunchy streusel topping that adds a perfect balance of sweetness and texture.

Can we just say if you haven’t let this be your introduction…brown butter is effectively caramelized and through that process gains an aroma you can’t ignore.

If you do want to make it, check the tips section for the best way to make this ahead of creating these beautiful Blueberry bars. To continue the honesty, the servings of these bars are specifically not large, but it feels almost impossible to only eat 1 at a time, so maybe the serving size could be a wee bit smaller - I'll leave that with you.

Ingredients and substitutions for the best Blueberry Bars

• Blueberries: Fresh blueberries are best in the bars as they are plump and are less likely to release more moisture during baking. Though you could defrost some frozen blueberries and stir the filling mixture together to draw out some of the moisture.
• Butter: Unsalted or salted butter works for the browned or caramelized butter. Salted butter works as a fine substitute, just leave out any salt suggested in the recipe. As is the case with browned butter, you will need 220 grams / 7.76 ounces to create 170 grams / 6 ounces brown butter with the loss of moisture.
• Sugar: The confectioner’s/icing sugar contributes to our melt-in-your-mouth texture in the base and crumble. Whilst the superfine or caster sugar helps not only add sweetness to our filling, draw the liquid from the apples resulting in a tender center.
• Corn starch: Sometimes termed cornflour in certain parts of the globe. Corn starch is what gives our filling that thick texture without being runny. It needs to be heated to 95C/203F before it is activated to thicken.

See recipe card for quantities.

How to make Blueberry Bars:

Step 1: Make that shortcrust base: Stir the dry ingredients together in a bowl and toss in the butter.

Step 2: Butter crumble: Cut or rub the butter until it resembles rough breadcrumbs.

Step 3: Base it: Pour two thirds of the shortcrust mix and press firmly to smooth out.

Step 4: Bake: Bake the crust until lightly golden.

Step 5: Blueberries: Stir the berries, sugar and corn starch in a bowl until combined.

Step 6: Toss em: Add the blueberries to the cooled shortcrust base and spread out evenly.

Step 7: Crumble: Press the remaining shortbread mix together and crumble over the rhubarb evenly.

Step 8: Golden bake: Bake until golden.

Step 9: Cool down: Allow to cool fully.

Step 10: Slice and serve: Slice it up evenly and serve. Enjoy!

FAQ's for the best Blueberry Bars

This recipe has been included by Twinkl among their top picks for 7+ Healthy Lunch Box Ideas for Vegetarian October.

More blueberry recipes you’ll enjoy

Blueberry Cobbler

Blueberry Sheet Cake

Peach Blueberry Pie

Blueberry Bars

Sylvie Taylor

Brown butter shortbread encases these Blueberry Streusel Bars recipe allows beautiful tart and summery blueberries to shine through and make for a great summer treat.

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Prep Time 25 minutes mins

Cook Time 1 hour hr

Total Time 1 hour hr 25 minutes mins

Course Dessert, Snack

Servings 16

Calories 84 kcal

Ingredients

  

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Bars

• 210 grams / 1 ½ cups bread flour see note
• 20 grams / 2 tablespoons corn starch
• 50 grams / ½ cup confectioner’s/icing sugar
• 170 grams / 6 ounces brown butter chilled and cubed

Filling

• 450 grams / 1 pound fresh blueberries
• 40 grams / 3 tablespoons superfine/caster sugar
• 8 grams / 2 tablespoons corn starch

Instructions

 

Bars

• Preheat the oven to 180ºC/350F and line a 18×18 cm or 7×7 inch square baking tin with parchment paper.
• Place the flour, corn starch and confectioner’s sugar in a bowl and stir to combine.
• Make a well in the center and add the brown butter.
• Combine with a pastry cutter or knife until the mixture resembles course breadcrumbs.
• Pour two thirds of the crumb mixture into the base of a slice tin and flatten down tightly.
• Bake for approximately 10 minutes or until lightly golden on top. Remove and set aside.

Filling

• For the blueberries, place the fruit, sugar and corn starch into a bowl and stir together. Set aside.
• Spoon the blueberries evenly over the base.
• Top with clumps of the crumble mixture.
• Bake for 50 minutes until golden on top and lightly bubbling.
• Remove and allow to cool fully or even cool and refrigerate for 1 hour to set fully.
• Slice into even bars and serve.

Notes

• Amount of butter needed for the brown butter: Due to the moisture loss, you'll need 220 grams / 7.76 ounces to make the amount of butter you'll need for the bars.
• Browning your butter: Check out this detailed guide for browning your butter which includes a video - the key here is allowing your browned butter to come to room temperature so it is set like regular butter.
• Fresh versus frozen blueberries: Fresh blueberries will hold their shape best and thicken into a jam type setting without losing more moisture in the filling of these bars. It is recommended, if using frozen blueberries to stir the sugar and corn starch together and letting it sit and defrost for 10 minutes in order to remove some of the moisture so as to avoid soggy bars.
• Type of flour: If you live in the UK (as I do) or do not know the protein in your plain flour where you live then I recommend you do a little research. In the UK, due to the lower protein in plain flour which means it doesn't hold up as well as bread flour for a recipe like this. UK bread flour has almost exactly the same level of protein as US plain flour and this affects how easy it is to handle and how the baked bars will turn out. So if you are in the US, feel free to use plain flour in this recipe.
• Baking tin: A square baking tin was used, though a rectangle tin would also work well. Note, the larger the tin from the one used here, the thinner your base and filling will be.

Recipe by Roamingtaste

Nutrition

Calories: 84kcal

Keyword bars, berry baking, summerdessert

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