These Raspberry Bars are sweet and delicious, made with a buttery crust, fresh raspberry puree, and a crumbly topping. They make for a stellar summer treat!
Delicious Raspberry Crumble Bars
Can you believe that it wasn’t until I met my husband that I started to like raspberries? For some reason the seeds and the tartness never really appealed to me.
Now I’ve come to really love anything with raspberries in it, though I’m still not a fan of those pesky seeds. Well, I went to Target the other day in search of some nice fresh fruit and they had a ton of raspberries! I picked up a carton and knew that half would be devoured, and I could make something yummy with the rest.
I remembered how good those blueberry-lemon crumb bars were, so I decided to make a slightly different version with raspberries. They turned out beautifully! Sweet, crunchy and delicious.
How to Make Raspberry Bars
CRUST. Whisk together the flour, ⅓ c. granulated sugar, and salt. With a pastry blender, cut in the 8 tbsp of butter (mixture will resemble wet sand). Sprinkle half of the mixture into the prepared pan, reserving the other half for the topping. Press into an even layer.
*Note on the Crust:
- Most recipes use a shortbread crust, where you crumble the butter into the flour mixture. You can do this with a food processor as you pulse the ingredients together. It will be a similar crust texture to what you would use for lemon bars.
- Or you can do a sugar cookie crust with a pre-made dry mix from the store
BAKE. Bake the crust at 350 degrees until the edges begin to brown (15-17 minutes). Remove and allow to cool for 10 minutes.
PREP TOPPING. Meanwhile, combine the remaining flour mixture, oats, nuts, and brown sugar together in a medium bowl. Add the remaining 2 tbsp butter. Mix until small clumps begin to form. Set aside.
*Note on Oats: Use rolled oats or old fashioned oats in the streusel. Quick oats or steel cut oats wouldn’t give the right texture.
RASPBERRY PUREE. In a small bowl using a rubber spatula, combine the jam, raspberries, sugar, cornstarch, vanilla, lemon juice and zest together. Spread the berry mixture evenly over the warm crust. Sprinkle with the streusel topping.
COOL & SERVE. Remove from oven and let the bars cool completely in the pan on a wire rack for about 1 hour. Remove the bars from the pan using the foil. Cut into squares, and serve!
Variations + Storing
Even though this recipe is absolutely divine as-is, here are a few simple ways to switch it up if you’d like to!
- White chocolate: sprinkle the white chocolate chips along with raspberry puree when you’re baking it. It will make a wonderful chocolate and raspberry combo!
- Lemon: make lemon bars and mix in fresh raspberries or raspberry puree.
- Cheesecake: make cheesecake bars and add a raspberry puree swirl on top.
- Coconut: add in around 1 ½ cups of sweetened shredded coconut to the batter, and top the preserves with the other ½ cup of coconut.
- Vanilla icing: You can drizzle a vanilla icing/glaze over the top of the raspberry squares.
Storing / freezing? Store these bars in a tupperware container(with a lid) at room temperature for up to 5 days. You can also choose to keep them in the fridge if you prefer how those taste. It might actually help the crust stick together better, if they’re stored in the fridge. You can also bake the bars, let them cool completely, place them in an airtight bag, and freeze them for up to 3 months. When you want to eat them just make sure that you let them thaw in the fridge overnight.
Can you make them ahead of time? Since these have a pretty long “shelf-life” you could probably make them 1-2 days ahead of time and keep them covered. These would make a great treat to take to an event, since they don’t have to be too sweet.
For more fruit dessert recipes:
- Mini berry cobbler skillets
- Blueberry crisps
- Peach crisp
- Strawberry almond shortbread bars
- Lemon bars
- Key lime pie bars
Raspberry Bars Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 cup all purpose flour
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar - + 1 tbsp
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 10 Tbsp unsalted butter - cubed and divided
- 1/3 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
- 4 Tbsp pecans - chopped
- 2 Tbsp light brown sugar
- 1 tsp cornstarch
- 1/4 cup raspberry jam
- 1 1/2 cup fresh raspberries - (12 oz.), washed
- 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 tsp lemon juice - fresh
- 1 tsp lemon zest
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 8 X 8″ baking pan with a foil or parchment.
- In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, ⅓ c. granulated sugar, and salt. With a pastry blender cut in the 8 tbsp. of butter until the mixture resembles wet sand. Reserve half of the mixture for the topping
- Sprinkle half of the mixture into the prepared pan and press into an even layer. Bake the crust until the edges begin to brown (15-17 minutes). Remove and allow to cool for 10 minutes.
- Meanwhile, combine the reserved flour mixture, oats, nuts, and brown sugar together in a medium bowl. Add the remaining 2 tbsp. butter and mix until small clumps begin to form. Set aside.
- In a small bowl using a rubber spatula, combine the jam, raspberries, sugar, cornstarch, vanilla, lemon juice and zest together.
- Spread the berry mixture evenly over the warm crust, then sprinkle with the streusel topping. Place in oven and bake until the filling is bubbling and the topping is golden brown (24 to 26 minutes), rotating the pan halfway through baking.
- Remove from oven and let the bars cool completely in the pan on a wire rack for about 1 hour. Remove the bars from the pan using the foil, cut into squares, and serve.
The recipe says 10 T butter which are used in step 2. Then in step 4 it calls for the remaining 2T of butter??? I really want to make these but I want to be sure about the procedure!
Hi Patti,
Thanks for this, the recipe has been updated. It is 8 T in step 2 and then the other 2 in step 4.
I just tried this recipe today, there absolutely delicious! I made some for a barbecue for tomorrow, so I can’t wait for everyone else to try them as well! I could smell the raspberries after I pulled the pan from the oven, so yummy will definitely make these again!
Mmmm that raspberry smell… I can imagine it right now! I’m so glad you enjoyed the recipe. Hope they were enjoyed at the BBQ as well!