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These streusel-topped Blueberry Pie Bars have a dense crust and a gooey, blueberry-packed filling. They’re a perfect dessert (or breakfast) any day.
Do you have any foods that you’d eat any hour of any day, every day in a row until eternity? If you know what I’m talking about, raise your hand real high. These Blueberry Pie Bars are somewhere near the top of my forever favorites.
First of all, this pie crust is one of the easiest out there to make, and it’s not finicky or fussy like some renditions I’ve encountered. And the filling of the bars takes a mixture of fresh (or frozen) blueberries and blueberry preserves. Once the warmer months hit, I am practically the blueberry queen (blueberry cheesecake, blueberry muffins, blueberry cobbler…) so this combo is everything dreamy to me. Give them a go next time you’re in charge of dessert at a cookout with friends or want to switch up your regular breakfast routine. Hey, they have fruit in them!
Table of Contents
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Perfect for Blueberry Lovers: They’re packed with juicy blueberries in every bite, offering a burst of sweet and tangy flavor that’s reminiscent of classic blueberry pie.
- Portable and Convenient: These bars are a portable version of blueberry pie, making them perfect for picnics, potlucks, or as a snack.
- Make-Ahead Option: These bars can be made in advance and stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to three days. You can also freeze them for longer storage so you can enjoy a taste of summer blueberries year-round.
Ingredients
- Fresh or Frozen Blueberries
- Blueberry Preserves or Jam
- Fresh Lemon Juice
- All-Purpose Flour
- Sugar
- Salt
- Butter
- Old-Fashioned Rolled Oats
- Brown Sugar
See the recipe card below for full information on ingredients and quantities
Popular Substitutions and Variations
- Can you use a different fruit than blueberries? Yes! We’re big blueberry people over here, but if you’re not so much a fan, you could use raspberries with raspberry preserves, peeled and chopped apples with apple butter or sauce, or any other fruit-plus-preserves combination your heart and taste buds desire.
How to Make Blueberry Pie Bars
Step #1. Preheat your oven then line a 9×13 pan with foil so that hangs over the edge. Butter the foil.
Step #3. Mix 16 tablespoons of butter, flour, salt, and sugar with a mixer or food processor until it is a uniform color and texture. Remove 1 1/4 cups to save for the topping then press the rest into the 9×13 pan with a cup. Bake it for about 15 minutes until the edges turn golden.
Step #5. Bake 24 minutes or until the filling it bubbly and the topping is deep golden. Remove from the oven and let cool completely.
Step #2. Combine the blueberries, preserves, and lemon juice in a small bowl, mashing the blueberries so that only a bit of whole fruit is left. Set aside.
Step #4. Top the crust with the blueberry mixture. Add the oats, brown sugar, and remaining butter to the reserved flour mixture. Stir to combine then pinch the dough and drop the pinches evenly over the top of the blueberries. Once evenly covered, sprinkle the rest of the flour mixture over the top.
Step #6. Remove the cooled bars from the pan by the foil and cut into squares. Save any leftovers in an airtight container.
Recipe FAQs
Yes, you can! In fact, you might even like them better frozen. (As a big cold sweets person myself, I might need to give this idea a shot… Maybe with a scoop of French vanilla ice cream, for good measure.) Freeze the bars in an airtight container for up to 3 months.
I am a lover of all kinds of pie bars AND pie, but baking them as bars makes a few things easier. Preparation, serving, and eating are all very much simplified when you make pie bars. Basically, everything you love about pie (namely, the taste!) is included in pie bars, without all the fuss.
Expert Tips
- Even though it’s tempting, make sure the bars are completely cool before cutting. They will fall apart if they’re still warm.
- If you really love that lemon flavor with your blueberries, grate a little of the lemon zest into the filling mixture. It will give it a little more lemony kick than the juice alone.
- If you’re really in a hurry for your bars to cool, you can always place them in the refrigerator for a couple of hour.
Did you make this recipe? Leave a ⭐️ review and share it on Instagram, Facebook, or Pinterest!
Blueberry Pie Bars
Ingredients
- 1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries
- 1 cup blueberry preserves or jam
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2/3 cup sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 1/4 sticks butter, softened and cut into tablespoons (18 tablespoons or 1 1/8 cups)
- 2/3 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line a 9-by-13-inch baking pan with foil so that the foil over hangs the sides by a few inches, and then butter the foil.
- In a small bowl, combine the fresh or frozen blueberries, preserves, and lemon juice. Use a fork to mash the berries so that a bit of the fruit remains. Stir to combine, and set aside.
- Add 16 tablespoons of butter (leaving 2 tablespoons for later), flour, sugar, and salt to the bowl of a stand mixer or in the food processor. Process until the mixture becomes a uniform texture and color, about 1 minute.
- Reserve 1 1/4 cups of the butter mixture for the topping. Press the remaining butter mixture into the foil-lined pan.
- Press the mixture together in the bottom of the pan using the bottom of a cup. Bake the crust until the edges start to brown, around 15 minutes.
- Spread the blueberry mixture evenly over the hot crust.
- Add the oats, brown sugar, and remaining 2 tablespoons of softened butter to the reserved flour mixture, and stir to combine.
- Pinch the mixture between your fingers to make small clumps of streusel, and drop them evenly over the fruit. Once you’ve made lots of streusel lumps, sprinkle any remaining topping over the fruit.
- Bake the bars until the blueberry filling begins to bubble and the topping is a deep golden color, around 24 minutes.
- Remove from the oven, and let the bars cool completely in the pan.
- Remove the bars from the pan by pulling on the foil, cut into squares, and serve.
- Store any extras in an airtight container.
Notes
- If you are using frozen berries just give them a chance to thaw a bit before using so that you can mash them with a fork. Mashing frozen things is tough work.
- These were great for breakfast… I’m just saying. They do have fruit!
- Make sure the bars are completely cool before cutting so they don’t fall apart!
- These bars would work just as well with other fruit such as raspberries, strawberries, apples, and more.
Nutrition
This post was originally published in 2012 and has been updated and rephotographed in May 2019.
I skipped the “cool” part and put ice cream next to it. Wow! So good. My family and two missionaries loved it!
Do you think they would be good if the blueberries were substituted with raspberries or strawberries? Looks so yummy!
I think raspberries would work better than strawberries because in my mind they have less liquid, but I’d totally try either or both. Let me know if you do, it sounds DELICIOUS!
I’m totally making these for Christmas Day! These look amazing!
And I think they’d be fairly easy to make GF… what say ye?