“Strawberry Crumble Bars”

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

Prep Time20minutes mins

Cook Time40minutes mins

Total Time1hour hr

Servings15

Calories247

Equipment

• ▢1 Food processor

Ingredients 

Strawberry Filling

• ▢4 1/2 cups fresh strawberries diced (about 2 lbs)
• ▢1/2 cup granulated sugar
• ▢2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
• ▢3 tablespoons corn starch
• ▢2 tablespoons water

For the crust/crumble

• ▢2 1/2 cups all purpose flour spoon and leveled
• ▢2/3 granulated cup sugar
• ▢1 egg
• ▢1 teaspoon baking powder
• ▢1/2 teaspoon salt
• ▢1 teaspoon vanilla
• ▢10 tablespoons Cold butter divided cut into small cubes and set aside 2 tablespoons for topping
• ▢1/4 cup brown sugar
• ▢1/2 cup Quick Cooking Oats

Instructions 

• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Spray a 13×9 or baking dish with cooking spray, or line a jelly roll pan with parchment paper.

Prepare the filling

• 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.

For the Crust/Crumble

• 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.

Notes

• 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 afood 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.

Nutrition

Serving: 1barCalories: 247kcalCarbohydrates: 47gProtein: 4gFat: 10gSaturated Fat: 6gPolyunsaturated Fat: 3gCholesterol: 41mgSodium: 213mgFiber: 1gSugar: 23g