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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
Updated June 4, 2024
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Prepare the crust: Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9-by-13-inch baking dish, and line with parchment paper so that there is a 2-inch overhang on the two long sides.
In a food processor, pulse graham crackers, pecans, butter and salt until the mixture feels damp and sandy. Pour into the prepared pan and press down into an even layer.
Bake until firm and slightly darker in color, 12 to 14 minutes. Transfer to a rack and reduce the oven temperature to 325 degrees. You can bake the crust up to 6 hours ahead, or use it while it’s still hot.
Make the filling: Wipe out the food processor, then add cream cheese, cream and ½ cup sugar, and process until very smooth. Add eggs, lemon zest, vanilla and salt, and process until well combined. Pour the cream cheese mixture onto the crust.
Put the peaches into a medium pot and taste one. If it’s very sweet, add 1 tablespoon sugar. If it’s on the tart side, add 2 tablespoons sugar. Add lemon juice and bring to a simmer. Cook, stirring once or twice, until the sugar dissolves, 2 to 3 minutes. Spoon peaches and their liquid gently over the cream filling.
Bake until set and firm, 40 to 50 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely, then chill in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours before cutting and serving. Bars can be made up to 1 day in advance, and will keep in an airtight container in the refrigerator for a few days. Serve directly from the fridge.
I made this today and it’s a knockout. Fantastic base recipe. I made a few changes - almond flour by weight instead of pecans, and a mix of fruit by weight (peaches, blueberries, and raspberries) - and it still worked beautifully. Will make again in the future for a gathering, or maybe just for us when we want a decadent treat!
Delicious! I had particularly juicy peaches so I added a tablespoon of cornstarch along with the sugar to thicken them up. I was worried about how thin the filling was but it all baked up to a wonderful firm but creamy consistency. Freeze the whole pan then pop the bars out in one piece and cut into squares while frozen for easy handling and nice clean edges
Friends raved over this! I was curious why you needed to cook the peaches for a few minutes to dissolve the sugar. Seemed that would break down the lovely crescent shape of the peaches. So, instead, I sliced the peaches first and added the sugar and the lemon juice. By the time the crust and filling were made the sugar was dissolved and my peaches all still had their shape. The results were excellent.
Clh53 I believe you are baking the crust at 350, and returning the filled crust to the oven at 325. If you bake the crust hours ahead, you’ll want to just turn the oven off when the crust is done. If you’re adding the filling immediately, I wouldn’t worry about timing after lowering the temp. Opening the oven door to remove the crust, and then again to put the filled baking dish back in should drop the oven temp sufficiently.
I made this dessert today and it came out great. However, I believe it might be helpful to other bakers to share a couple of things: 1) the filling comes out VERY liquid, but it will harden in the oven and 2) because of the filling being so liquid you will need the parchment paper to overhang on ALL 4 sides.
I am so pleased with this recipe! I used Trader Joe’s ginger cookies for the crust (a full container made almost a 1/4” crust). The steps were easy to follow and it’s a nice pace between each step wash up so everything is clean once the bars are in the oven. I had a lot of liquid from cooking the peaches which worried me but it all turned out delicious!
Hi John, As a British person living in the U.S I thought about this often and concluded the nearest equivalent to graham crackers would be digestive biscuits. Prompted by your question today I looked up the problem online and found the following quite interesting discussion www.Sugargirlcookies.com/crackers/What-is -the-difference-between-graham-crackers-and-digestive-biscuits. See also: www.sylvestersrestaurant.com Enjoy the recipe whether with Graham or digestive Best wishes, Monica
Make sure you're using a 9x13 pan; they are typically at least 2 inches deep. That depth is what will keep the filling from spilling over. The parchment is meant to make removing the finished bars from the pan easier. When the dessert - crust, filling, and topping - is finished baking, and then cooled to room temperature on a rack, it is not necessary to put the rack into the refrigerator with the pan.
Delicious. You could use just about any combination of fruit. I used peaches and blueberries. I skipped the cooking step for the fruit and just combined with a bit of sugar and lemon juice, then spooned them on. They held up beautifully and kept their color.
I made this exactly as written for the filling but substituting a different graham cracker crust because someone coming over has a nut allergy. Totally awesome. My only note is that it should be removed from the oven when the middle is still a little wiggly or it will be a touch on the overcooked side. Will definitely make again!
Is possible to freeze these bars?
A question: When the recipe calls for the oven temp to be lowered mid-way, as this one does, do I wait for the oven to cool to the lower temp, or just continue by returning the pan to the oven? If the former, how long approximately would I expect it to take to reach the lower temp (as this assumes I don't have a proper oven thermometer!)?
Lovely results! I only had Neufchâtel cream cheese and half-and-half vs full fat for both ingredients, but they were great subs. For those with nut allergies, I suggest using more graham cracker crumbs subbed *by weight* for the crushed nuts or some oat flour by weight to give the crust a slightly nuttier flavor. Appreciated the suggestion to freeze the cooled bars briefly…simplified removing the product from the pan to slice them.
The Demerara sugar is a good idea. For those unfamiliar with the hazards of placing a 9 x 13 glass pan under the broiler, DO NOT DO IT. It will likely explode. "Oven safe" does not mean "broiler safe." If you want to have a burnt sugar topping, you would need to use a torch, the kind you use to make creme brulee. Do not put the glass pan under the broiler.
I haven't made this yet, but it reminds me of the 1964 Pillsbury Bake-Off grand prize winner: Peacheesy Pie. Since I loved that, I'm sure this is also a winner.
Very good. I would add a few more peaches next time. I like the idea of trying it with cinnamon graham crackers. I will halve the recipe since it’s just 2 of us and the crust does not stay crisp in the fridge.
Followed exactly as written, except that I did not precook the peaches. They were perfect!
Echoing other comments. It's a delicious recipe, and I had little issues. Maybe a bit too much crust ratio to cheesecake comes out 50/50 almost, but you need it to hold together. It's a lemon cheesecake bar with peach thrown in as an afterthought. You can't really taste the nominal amount of pecans in the crust either. If I redid this recipe, I would triple the pecans, add peach curd, swirled into the cheesecake, and completely omit the lemon juice and maybe just the barest hint of lemon zest.
These did not hold up well after being frozen. Defrosted the crust became soggy.
Excellent recipe. I followed instructions exactly and it turned out well. Stores in refrigerator nicely.
Tasted better than it looks.
I made this recipe exactly as written. The crust was very dry and the filling was really not sweet. It's a half cup of sugar with 16 oz of cream cheese. Glad I made this before I served it at a gathering in the near future. I will be using another recipe for that.
used up little tidbits from the fridge...
These are wonderful. We are a cheesecake loving family & we all loved it. Fruit isn’t necessary, but if you have it, why not. I also subbed pretzel crumbs for the pecans (because I didn’t have any) and it was divine! Love the saltiness and contrast in the crust. Also, we used raspberries and just added them fresh, it looked amazing, but indeed the raspberries were a bit tart—nobody was crazy for that part.
This is literally just a cheesecake bar recipe. Still, yum, but it’s a cheesecake. The crust is spectacular. Use cinnamon graham crackers. Makes it delish! 🤩
Have subbed in both blueberries (excellent) and strawberries (good) and this has become a go to recipe for us
I made this recipe following all directions with the exception of cooking the peaches. It turned out amazing! The only issue I had was that the peaches had so much juice, it took about double the time listed to cook all the way through. I brought these to a party and they were a huge hit. If you want to put them out for a crowd with a nice presentation, freeze them for several hours then pull them out of the pan and cut them on a pretty wooden board.
when did you take it out of the pan?
I followed the recipe as written. Cheesecake bars, yes. Peach? Couldn’t find any of the peach flavor in the finished product. As such, we didn’t find them particularly interesting or unique. These were disappointing.
I found the recipe that I made this weekend exactly as written to have a dry crust and the filling was not really that good.
Excellent recipe! I found that cooking the peaches produced a lot of liquid - I think next time I will follow the suggestion of adding a bit of cornstarch to the mixture, or possibly mixing them early and just letting it sit for the sugar to dissolve. Next time I think I will also add more lemon zest. You get the lemon flavor but it's not as bright as I'd like. The bars were really tasty but I think that little bit of extra lemon would take them to the next level!
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