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Blueberry Pie Bars
Samantha Seneviratne
2016 ratings with an average rating of 4 out of 5 stars
2,016
About 1 hour 10 minutes, plus chilling
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Place a rack in the center of the oven and heat oven to 350 degrees.
Make the filling: In an 8-inch square baking dish, combine the light brown sugar, flour and salt. Add the plums, raspberries, lemon juice and vanilla extract. Stir gently to combine. (Your hands are a great tool for this step.) Try not to mash the raspberries too much, and set aside.
Make the topping: In a large bowl, combine the flour, cornmeal, light brown sugar, baking powder and salt. Add the butter and pinch the mixture together with your fingertips until evenly moistened and pebble-sized crumbs form. Sprinkle the crumbs evenly over the top of the fruit.
Bake until the topping is golden brown and fruit juices are bubbling all around the edges, 50 to 60 minutes. Let cool slightly. If you like, serve with ice cream or whipped cream. Store leftovers, covered, in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
I made this with less than 1 Tbsp of dark brown sugar in a peach and plum filling and I substituted olive oil for the butter in the topping. It works well! I have also made the topping with oats and flour and/or cornmeal for variation and it always disappears fast
This was excellent. I added cinnamon and a pinch of cardamom and served with frozen vanilla yogurt. Delightful summer dessert.
Some tweaks that raised this from a 4 to a 5 for me. Buttered the baking dish and added zest from one lemon to the filling. Playing on the cornmeal Southern idea, added 3/4 cup finely chopped pecans to the topping along with a pinch of cinnamon. Didn’t even need the ice cream!
Use cornstarch in the filling and a 1-to-1 GF flour in the topping.
I made this last night—pretty much followed the recipe. I used frozen blueberries and raspberries. Quite a bit less brown sugar in the fruit and hardly any vanilla (I was basically out). For the topping, I accidentally used 1 c cornmeal. Used 4 Tbs butter and 4 Tbs coconut oil. It was fabulous! Am already planning to make it again this week with peaches.
I made this with no modifications and it is stellar. The fruit was perfectly cooked and its tartness balanced by the brown sugar. (My fruit was on the tart side.) And the corneal in the topping gave so much interest and flavor. I'm sure that riffs on the recipe will be delicious, but the original got rave reviews.
Made according to the recipe except added a teaspoon of cinnamon and a sprinkle of cardamom. My filling was deliciously tart (plums weren’t super ripe but I liked the tartness!). Wasn’t crazy about consistency of the crisp. It was too fine. The crisp was better cooled the next day when it seemed to clump together better.
We couldn’t get plums at the market in November. I substituted a dry pint of fresh blueberries. It turned out beautifully.
I made this vegan with Miyoko‘s vegan butter, which worked perfectly. I also used half dark brown sugar and half regular sugar which gave it some deeper notes of sweetness. And I substituted Granny Smith apples for the berries which also worked well. It is quite tart! and could use a sweet ice cream or topping if you’re inclined to more creamy sweetness. I thought it was delicious.
Excellent with a bag of frozen raspberries from TJ’s and the last of my frozen Italian plums. Doubled the fruit and the topping. Added some lemon zest. It was amazing. I might try a little bit of grated ginger next time.
A little too sweet for me. And I would keep the plums larger, maybe in slices, so they don't dissolve into sweet nothings. Added sliced almonds to the crisp. Next time I think some candied ginger might be a nice for depth of flavor.
I made this with very ripe end-of-season white peaches and blackberries and it was a wonderful treat for a summer night. Coconut oil was a good plant based substitute for butter in the topping.
I used olive oil and it was excellent.
What is the purpose of using kosher salt? Is there a difference?
The cornmeal in the topping remained unpleasantly gritty after baking. Perhaps the topping can be turned into a batter, something like a cornbread muffin batter consistency, so that it will be more pleasant to chew.
Much too sweet even with only half the sugar in the filling. If I made it again (questionable) I would use much more fruit for a better balance of fruit to topping
This was good but the topping was a bit bland and not crispy enough, somewhat mushy. I prefer an oat-based topping instead. I used plums but blackberries instead of raspberries and the filling was delicious but will change the topping going forward.
Followed recipe. Very good but cornmeal too hard and grainy. Softened up second day, used Bobs Red Mill medium. Back to nuts or oatmeal.
Loved the cornmeal topping! I’m more disciplined with individually portioned desserts, so I used my prettiest 5 oz soufflé cups. It made 8 heaping servings. The topping crisped beautifully. Baked them 30-35 minutes. I accidentally bought blueberries, but they were amazing with the luscious purple plums. I’ll try raspberries next time. Per another comment, I added a few shakes of cinnamon and a whisper of cardamom. Excellent summer pudding.
This recipe is excellent. However, in the fruit mix, I prefer to use only 2-3 Tablespoons sugar, plus 2 Tablespoons of lemon juice and 2 Tablespoons of a good brandy! In the topping I use all the sugar recommended so it crisps nicely, plus I use stone-ground cornmeal for a pleasing gritty texture and add 1 teaspoon cardamom for nuance. Fabulous.
Should the plums be peeled? Just asking.
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