Easy Peach Crumble Bars Recipe

5 from 8 votes

Fancy an easy peach dessert recipe? Then look no further than these Easy Peach Crumble Bars. A buttery shortbread forms the base and crumble on top and is then filled with a juicy filling of sweet, seasonal peaches. This makes a perfect picnic, or light summer dessert.

Prep Time25

Cook Time40

Total Time1 5

Course: Bars

Cuisine: British

Servings: crumble bars

Calories: 287kcal

Author: Emma Duckworth

Equipment

Ingredients

Crumble base and topping

170 g unsalted butter
350 g plain flour (all-purpose)
100 g golden granulated sugar
55 g brown sugar
45 g whole almonds chopped
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon powder
¼ teaspoon fine salt
1 large egg lightly beaten
75 g unsalted butter cold and cubed

Peach filling

650 g stoned fruit peaches & nectarines
50 g golden granulated sugar
1 lemon zest and juice
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
8 g cornflour (corn starch)

Metric - US Customary

Instructions

Crumble mix

Brown the butter. Add the butter to a small saucepan and heat over medium heat until it melts. Continue to heat until the butter is bubbling and becomes foamy. Whisk occasionally. The butter will start to turn golden and as you whisk the foam will die down. Once brown specks appear on the bottom of the pan and the butter is a rich golden brown colour, pour it into a heatproof bowl and allow to cool to room temperature. Remember to scrape in all those brown bits.
Prepare the baking pan. Grease and line with parchment paper a square baking pan 23x23cm (9x9inch). It's important to line the pan with paper so that once the bars are baked, it's easy to remove them from the pan and slice them up. Leave an overhang of paper to use as a sling to lift the bars out. Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F)
Add dry ingredients to a bowl. Add the flour, both sugars, chopped almonds, baking powder, salt and cinnamon and mix together.
Add in egg and butter. Pop the lightly beaten egg and cooled brown butter into the bowl and mix in with a spoon. Make sure all the dry bits at the bottom of the bowl are mixed in.
Add cold butter. Add the cold cubed butter and rub the mixture and butter together between your fingertips. You want to achieve a mixture that resembles fine breadcrumbs, but it also has some large clumped pieces.
Add half of the crumble mix to baking pan and bake. Pour half the crumble mix into the prepared pan. Use your fingertips to level it off and press flat into the base of the pan. Or use the base of a measuring cup or glass to get a super flat base. Bake for 15 minutes until golden brown. Leave the oven on when you remove the pan.

Peach filling

Prepare the peaches. Peel and de-stone 5-6 peaches and cut into cubes. If you would prefer to, you can leave the skin on. I set aside a handful of peach slices to use for decoration.
Add peaches and flavour addins to the bowl. In a separate medium-sized bowl, toss the fruit, sugar, lemon zest, lemon juice and vanilla extract until mixed together.
Layer fruit onto the base pan. Spoon the peach filling onto the shortbread base. Use a slotted spoon to keep the juice from transferring to the baking pan.
Add the remaining crumble and bake. Sprinkle the remaining crumble onto the top of the peaches. Squeeze some clumps together so that you get big crumbley bits on the top. If I have any leftover slices of peach, then I nestle a few into the crumble. Bake for 35 minutes until the crumble is lovely and golden and the fruit filling is bubbling.
Leave to cool in the pan for 30 minutes before °transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Use a sharp knife into 16 squares.

Notes

Step-by-step photos: My blog post includes helpful step-by-step photos to help guide you through making this recipe.

To Store: Store these Easy Peach Crumble Bars in an airtight container at room temperature for 2-3 days or in the refrigerator for 3-4 days.

To Freeze: Wrap each slice in parchment paper and plastic wrap and freeze for up to 2 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator or heat in the oven at 110C (230F) for 20 minutes or so.

TIP 1: Paper sling. Leave an overhang with the parchment paper to help lift the bars out of the pan when they are cooled.

TIP 2: Use a glass to flatten the crumble base. To get that super flat crumble base to your bars, the base of a glass or measuring cup pressed firmly onto it helps give the professional finish.

TIP 3: Discard the juice of the fruit filling. Avoid getting a soggy crumble bar base by using a slotted spoon to transfer the fruit filling into the baking pan.

TIP 4: Crumble chunks. Who doesn't love some gnarly crunchy crumbs on the top of the bar? Just squeeze some of the mixture together when layering the crumble mix over the fruit.

Nutrition