Every autumn, my neighbour’s blackberry bush produces far more fruit than either of us can eat. Last September, I found myself with a colander overflowing with berries and a bag of Bramleys from the market, and these crumble bars were born. They’re essentially a blackberry and apple crumble in bar form — all the crispy, buttery topping and jammy fruit filling, but portable enough for a lunchbox or a walk.
Ingredients
For the base and crumble topping
- 250g plain flour
- 150g rolled oats
- 200g light brown sugar
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- ½ tsp nutmeg
- ¼ tsp salt
- 200g cold unsalted butter, cubed
For the filling
- 3 medium Bramley apples (about 450g), peeled, cored, and diced
- 250g blackberries (fresh or frozen)
- 100g caster sugar
- 2 tbsp cornflour
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Method
- Preheat the oven to 180°C (160°C fan). Grease and line a 23cm square tin with baking parchment, leaving an overhang on two sides for easy lifting.
- In a large bowl, combine the flour, oats, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Add the cold butter and rub it in until you have a mixture of coarse clumps and sandy bits. This is your all-purpose base and topping.
- Press about two-thirds of the crumble mixture firmly into the base of the prepared tin, creating a compact, even layer.
- For the filling, toss the diced apples and blackberries with the caster sugar, cornflour, lemon juice, and vanilla. Spread this evenly over the base.
- Scatter the remaining crumble mixture over the fruit, pressing some of it into clumps as you go. A few bigger lumps give a lovely craggy texture.
- Bake for 45–50 minutes until the topping is deeply golden and the fruit is bubbling up around the edges.
- This is the hard part — let the bars cool completely in the tin before attempting to cut them. The filling needs time to set, otherwise you’ll have a delicious but rather messy situation on your hands. I usually leave them for at least two hours, or pop the tin in the fridge once it’s cool enough.
- Lift out using the parchment overhang and cut into bars or squares.
Variations
These bars are endlessly adaptable. In summer, swap the blackberries for blueberries or raspberries. Rhubarb works wonderfully in spring — just increase the sugar slightly. You could also add a handful of chopped walnuts or pecans to the crumble topping for extra crunch.
They keep for up to four days in an airtight container, and they’re honestly just as good cold from the fridge as they are warmed up with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Though if you’re going the ice cream route, I’d say that’s an evening-only affair.
