These easy crumble bars are the ultimate bring-over dessert. They're incredible when made with blackberries, but any other berries that look good—raspberries, blueberries, strawberries, or a even a combination—make a more than acceptable substitute.
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What you’ll need
Measuring Cups
$28 At Bon Appétit Market
Measuring Spoons
$10 At Bon Appétit Market
Microplane
$18 At Amazon
Medium Bowl
$17 At Amazon
Fork
Chef's Knife
$34.53 At Amazon
Cutting Board
$10 At IKEA
8x8" Baking Dish
$18 At Amazon
Rubber Spatula
$13 At Amazon
Ingredients
Makes 8 large bars or 16 small squares
1
1
1
1½
½
½
¾
12
1
Preparation
Step 1
Place a rack in center of oven; preheat to 350°. Using a microplane, finely grate zest of 1 lemon into a medium bowl (keep lemon for juicing later).
→ Not sure if your oven is the right temperature? You need an oven thermometer.
Step 2
Add 1 cup flour, 1 cup brown sugar, 1½ tsp. cinnamon, and ½ tsp. salt to bowl with zest and toss with your hands to combine and break up any clumps of sugar.
Step 3
Slowly drizzle ½ cup butter into bowl, stirring with a fork, until no dry spots remain and mixture holds together in pebble-size pieces.
Step 4
If you’re using pistachios, chop on cutting board. It’s okay to have some larger and some finer pieces, but try not to leave any nuts whole. Add to bowl with flour mixture and toss to distribute. If you’re using sliced almonds, no need to chop first–just toss them in.
Step 5
Press half of pistachio crumb mixture (about 1½ cups) evenly across bottom of 8x8" pan. Flatten into pan by pressing very firmly with your fingers and palm. This compact layer will bake into a firm, sturdy bottom crust, and it will be much easier to slice into neat bars. Save remaining crumb mixture for later.
Step 6
Bake until nuts are golden brown and crust is visibly darkened in color, 15–20 minutes. Let cool about 10 minutes. This step firms the crust further, and dries it out, so fruit topping won’t make it soggy.
Step 7
Meanwhile, cut zested lemon in half. Working over another medium bowl, insert fork into lemon flesh and twist it to extract juice from one half (fish out and discard any seeds). You should have about 2 Tbsp. juice. Add 12 oz. blackberries, 1 Tbsp. cornstarch, and a pinch of salt; stir with a rubber spatula to coat berries.
→ Want to substitute frozen berries for fresh? Read this first.
Step 8
Scrape blackberry mixture over slightly cooled crust and use spatula to distribute fruit into an even layer.
Step 9
Using your hands, sprinkle reserved crumb mixture over berries in an even layer.
Step 10
Bake bars until top of crumble is browned, nuts are toasted, and juices from berries are bubbling just a bit around the edges, 25–30 minutes.
Step 11
Let cool completely before serving. Cut into bars or squares.
How would you rate Blackberry-Pistachio Crumble Bars?
Leave a Review
Reviews (8)
Back to Topi made these using weed butter, best edibles i’ve ever made, dangerously tasty
dr. steve brule
nashville, tn
10/23/2023
I just made these and had the opposite problem as everyone else; instead of too crumbly, mine came out wet and sticky. A lot depends on the fruit you use. I used a mix of blackberries and raspberries and the raspberries threw off a lot of juice. The botton crust seemed perfect, but the top never really set up as dry as I would have liked. I was still able to cut them into squares and they tasted fine, just were not as aesthetically pleasing as the illustrations.This seemingly simple recipe is a lot trickier than it seems.
Bob S.
Philadelphia, PA
6/20/2021
Really delicious, I used chopped almonds instead of pistachios, and added blueberries to the blackberries I had.
Anonymous
Columbia, SC
8/19/2019
I would make it again because even though it was too crumbly, it was tasty. I know what I did wrong. I made the crust layer too thin and/or I under-cooked it. The brightness from the blackberries combined with the pistachios was a nice combination of flavors.
Stephen Chow
9/17/2018
It was delicious but it remained too crumbly to cut into bars.
Anonymous
Wisconsin
8/28/2017
Hit with the kids. Easy to make and scrumptious. As I am from the whole-grain bandwagon, I replaced half the all-purpose with pastry flour, used dates for sugar, and topped with frozen raspberries (as I ran out of blackberries).
FJane
US
8/15/2017
So easy and delicious!
bbryant
8/10/2017