Strawberry Crumble Bars

Strawberry crumble bars have a buttery shortbread crust, sweet jam filling with a brown sugar crumble on top.

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Keyword crumble bar, strawberry bars

Prep Time 20

Cook Time 40

Total Time 1

Servings

Calories 247kcal

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Spray a 13x9 or baking dish with cooking spray, or line a jelly roll pan with parchment paper.

In a large saucepan, combine the chunks of berries, sugar, lemon juice, corn starch, and water. Stir to combine. Bring to a gentle boil over medium-high heat.
Once it starts to boil, reduce the heat to medium and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the liquid turns into a thick syrup (about 6-8 minutes). Use a potato masher to smash up some of the strawberry chunks. Remove the pan from the heat and set it aside.

Using a food processor, hand mixer (or your hands), mix together the flour. sugar, egg, baking powder, salt, and vanilla. Slowly add 1/2 cup cold (8 tablespoons) butter, mixing until combined. You want it to press together like a damp sand. Set aside in a small bowl 1 1/2 cups of the mixture for the topping.
Pour the remaining mixture into the baking dish packing it firmly.
Add the reserved topping mixture back into the food processor, along with the brown sugar, oats, and the additional 2 tablespoons of cold butter. Mix until crumbly
Spread the strawberry filling over the crust and sprinkle the topping over the filling.
Bake for 40 minutes the filling will be bubbly and the crust will be golden.
Allow cooling for 1-2 hours to set up before slicing.

Make sure your butter is extremely cold. I cut mine into small pieces and place them in a small bowl in the freezer to keep it really chilled.
If your strawberries are a little more tart. You can add some extra sugar to sweeten them up. Just add 1 tablespoon at a time until desired sweetness.
You can use frozen strawberries but omit the water and let them simmer a bit longer to remove any extra water.
If you don't have a food processor You can use a large mixing bowl and a pastry cutter to mix the buttery crust and crumble mixture, but it will take you much longer to do it by hand.
To store- in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
To freeze- Wrap bars in plastic wrap and place in a ziplock freezer bag or freezer-safe container and freeze for up to 4 months. Thaw in the refrigerator before serving.