Strawberry crumb bars are a favorite summer treat. The freshest and juiciest summer ripe strawberries baked into a sweet buttery shortbread-like cookie with crumb topping. These bars are my go-to for summer BBQs and celebrations. Easy to pull together and always a crowd-pleaser.
You might want to try this fresh strawberry ice cream cake if you are looking for summer strawberry dessert recipes!
This recipe was originally posted in 2016. I've updated this post with new pictures and better information. The recipe has not been changed.
It is officially summer! I know this because fresh local strawberries are ready and I bought so much more than reasonable. We are gorging on fresh strawberries.
And even though strawberries are available almost every week at the local food mart, the local berries, the local berries are just a completely different ball game altogether. They are sweet and juicy and not too big. They taste like strawberries..
.... Not all strawberries taste like strawberries. True story. Strawberry, when done right, is a very distinct flavor. You just don't get that from those over-sized giants that traveled 1000s of miles and land in the cold case at the superstore. They are just not the same.
And when you have such a bounty of fresh and beautiful berries, and you just can't eat another fresh and juicy one, you want to, but you just can't. You can make this. Strawberry Crumb Bars.
I promise those juicy little berries will taste just like they did when they were still fresh. Just perfectly sweet. Not overly sugared up. The juicy-ness baked right into the super easy shortbread-like crust.
How to make easy strawberry crumb bars
Start with the crust
Add the dry ingredients to a food processor and pulse quickly to combine. Then add cold unsalted butter, eggs, and vanilla and pulse several times until it just starts to come together. Mixture should be like a coarse, damp sand.
If you use a food processor to make the cookie crust, it is quick and simple.
Press a little more than half of the cookie dough into the bottom of your cookie pan to form the cookie base.
Prepare the strawberry layer
Toss the berries with a little sugar and corn starch and then layer them on top of the cookie base.
Spread the berries over the bottom cookie layer
Crumble the remaining cookie dough over the top of the berries. It doesn't need to be even, you want berries to poke through. Make little clumps with the dough and spread it around.
Bake: at 375 for 40-45 minutes. The cookie crust will be just starting to brown around the edges and the strawberries should be sizzling. Allow the bars to cool completely in the pan before cutting into squares.
Serving and storage: Serve fresh, cooled but basically the same day. If holding for more than a day, store in an airtight container in the refrigerator. They will keep in the refrigerator for a couple of days. For longer storage freeze. These will freeze nicely. Some people might even like to eat them straight out of the freezer 🤭 .
📖 Ingredient notes
Berries -- use the freshest and ripest berries you can find. This dessert depends on the flavor of the berries.
Try different types of fruit. Blueberries or raspberries would be nice too.
Corn starch - necessary to catch the juices from the berries as they cook down to help them "jam up" (totally a technical term!) don't leave it out. But you can substitute arrowroot powder in its place.
Butter - these bars also benefit from good quality butter. There is not a good substitute for real butter in this recipe. Unsalted, fresh butter is best. Salted butter may leave your bars too salty (I've added salt to the crust assuming the butter is unsalted butter).
Strawberry Crumb Bars
Required equipment
- 9x13 cake pan
Ingredients
- 1 cup white sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 sticks cold butter 1 cup
- 2 eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 3-3/12 cups fresh strawberries cleaned and sliced (about 2 pints)
- ½ cup white sugar
- 1 tablespoon corn starch
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 and line a 9x13 baking tin with parchment paper.
- In a food processor add 1 cup sugar, baking powder, flour, and salt. Close lid and pulse slightly. Add cold butter, egg, and vanilla. Close lid in food processor and pulse several times until dough comes together into course crumbs. Just until most of the dry flour bits disappear, but not so long that the dough really sticks to the blades. The dough should just look like coarse sand.
- In a small bowl toss sliced strawberries with ½ cup of sugar and corn starch.
- Dump a little more than half of the dough into the prepared pan and press it down with your figures to form a crust. Add a little more of the mixture if you need to fill holes and corners. Spoon strawberries evenly over the crust. Then, take the remaining dough and grab handfuls, pushing it them together very gently, so they kinda stick together but not really, and sprinkle over the berries. You want to be able to see berries through the topping.
- Place the bars in the preheated oven and bake at 375 for 40-45 minutes. The crust will brown slightly on top and the strawberries to start to sizzle and bubble when done. Remove from oven and allow to cool in the pan before cutting into bars. Makes 12 large bars, or 36 two bite pieces for a crowd.
Notes
More bar cookie recipes to try:
Chocolate raspberry bars {vegan}
Oatmeal fudge bars {GF}
Raspberry crumb bars {vegan + GF}
Nicoletta @sugarlovespices says
Love summer when all the berries are in season and actually taste of berries. Love your use of strawberries in beautiful Crumb bars, I'm sure they taste delicious!
Marisa says
I love a good crumb bar and these look outrageously good!
Renee says
Oh dear me. I'm going to make this, I know it! Because I love any kind of crumb bar and because I can't get enough local berries. This looks fantastic!
Renee