Apple and Blackberry Crumble Bars

Apple and Blackberry Crumble Bars, a super delicious dessert made with fresh seasonal fruit and a rich homemade shortcrust pastry. Very easy to make, this dessert has a delicate hint of lemon, which enhances the flavours of the ingredients used. The perfect dessert on the go too.

If you like a good old crumble, then these crumb bars will be on your to-bake list on a regular basis. They are a crumble taken to the very next level, and a lot easier to enjoy to, since the bars can be easily stored, and can make a nice treat for a picnic or a day out.

Although, I must say, if you want the very best dessert, add some nice custard or ice cream too, and you will be able to tell the difference straight away. Pure heaven, that's for sure. Forget about store-bought bars, these are amazing!

Now, as with a good crumble, when it comes to filling, the choices are endless. Any fruit, fresh or frozen, can be added here. But since is the blackberry season, it would be a shame not to use some of these little beauties.

Ah, the joy of picking up blackberries yourself! It's such a fun, not only for little ones, but for grown-ups too. At least, I absolutely enjoyed it. Hopefully more blackberries coming soon, so I can bake more yummy desserts. Or even some nice jam.

Jump to:

• Ingredients used
• Step-by-step photos and instructions
• Expert tips
• Other crumble treats
• Apple and Blackberry Crumble Bars

Ingredients used

• apples - either cooking apples or eating apples
• blackberries
• granulated sugar - or caster sugar
• light brown sugar
• cornflour 
• lemon extract - for both the filling and the topping
• plain flour - for the crumb topping
• butter
• oats
• granulated sugar

Step-by-step photos and instructions

The filling

You can use only blackberries if you like, or any apples, but this combo is way too delicious to miss it. No need to cook them before hand, even the apples will be perfectly tender in the oven.

• peel and chop the apples in small chunks
• add them to a bowl together with the blackberries
• add the cornflour, brown and white sugar, and lemon extract, and mix to combine
• set aside until the crumble mixture is ready

Adding cornflour (corn starch) helps the fruit keep their shape a lot better, and thickens the juices that would be released, thus avoiding the bars becoming too soggy. I used the same technique for my Cherry Crumb Pie, and it worked perfectly well.

The shortbread pastry/crumble mixture

Making a shortbread pastry for a crumble is so easy, it would be a shame not be use a homemade one. Now, the most common way of making it is by rubbing together flour with cold butter cubes to get a mixture that resembles breadcrumbs.

Another way is by creaming together the soft butter with sugar, then adding the flour. And a third way is by mixing flour with melted butter and sugar. All the 3 techniques have been tried, and they all bring great results. For this recipe I used melted butter:

• sift the flour, and add it to a bowl together with the granulated sugar and lemon extract
• mix well to a get a crumbly texture
• add ⅔ of the mixture to a baking tray greased with oil or butter, or lined with non-stick paper
• press down well so the mixture can be even
• bake in the preheated oven at 180 degrees Celsius (350 Fahrenheit) for 15 minutes
• add the oats to the remaining crumb mixture, and mix well
• once the base is baked, spread the fruit evenly over it, and top with the oat mixture
• bake for a further 15 minutes or until golden

Expert tips

When you use apples, it is best to cut them up into smaller cubes, the bigger ones will not soften enough, and the top will brown too much if left for too long.

Leave the bars to cool down completely before slicing, otherwise they will be too crumbly. Still delicious, but they won't have the desired shape anymore.

Using oats for the topping is optional, the bars will work perfectly well without too, but I find that the oats add more texture and taste, so worth using them.

The lemon extract is also optional, or can be replaced with any other flavour of your choice. The lemon one works divinely well here, the subtle flavour is out of the world, so I highly recommend using it.

And there you have it, the best homemade fruit crumble bars, a lot better than any so-called healthy bars that are loaded with dodgy ingredients. Do give them a try!

Other crumble treats

Strawberry Crumble Bars

Lemon Blueberry Crumble Pie

Cherry Crumb Pie

If you’ve tried my APPLE AND BLACKBERRY CRUMBLE BARS or any other recipe on the blog then don’t forget to rate the recipe and let me know how you got on in the comments below, I love hearing from you! You can also FOLLOW ME on FACEBOOK, and PINTEREST to see more delicious food and what I’m getting up to.