Blackberry Crumble Bars

Blackberry Crumble Bars are an old-fashioned favorite. Traditionally a summer treat, we don’t have to wait for the sunshine anymore with frozen blackberries available year-round.   Let us celebrate blackberry crumble in January and February and March, and… well, you get the idea.

Blackberry Crumble Bars

Berry Filling

• 6 cups blackberries
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 4 tablespoons flour

First, toss blackberries into a bowl. Add sugar, fresh lemon juice,  salt, and flour. Set aside for about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally to allow sugar to draw out the juices from the berries. Smash blackberries as much as you like (or not) with a potato masher.

If using frozen blackberries, add one more tablespoon of flour.

Preheat oven to 350F.

Place these ingredients into a large bowl. Using fingers, rub ingredients into the butter. When butter and dry ingredients combine and begin to hold together, you are done. Crumbles should be a little larger than the size of a pea.

Crumble

• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1 1/2 cups oatmeal
• 3/4 cup chilled unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons sea salt

Spray baking pan with non-stick baking spray and then press half of the crumble into the bottom of a  9 X 13 baking pan.

Welcome back, blackberry filling. Welcome back.

Spread all of the blackberry filling over the pressed crumble.

Sprinkle with the rest of crumble.

Bake for about 35-40 minutes or until the top is golden brown and blackberry filling is bubbly. It is best if you allow for the blackberry crumble to sit for a few hours or overnight to cool until it reaches room temperature so that the filling will have time to set up. Of course, Blackberry Crumble Bars hot out of the oven are delightful when served with butter or vanilla ice cream too.