Finally, a cookie bar you can easily take anywhere! These are a cookie-ish twist on classic oatmeal crumble bars, with a base that won’t actually crumble in your hands.

The story

Normally, I’m a chocolate girl. But as I’ve gotten older, I’ve come to appreciate and even love fruity desserts. I mean, they were always okay. But they were never chocolate.

Then I got pregnant. Fruit was by far my biggest craving. Sure, I went through a phase where I ate nothing but sourdough toast. But fruit was my loyal companion the whole pregnancy. In fact, I preferred it over chocolate. Shhhh.

Tbh, I had vanilla froyo with mounds of fruit for lunch on several occasions that first trimester. You do what you gotta do those first few months.

Anyway, I have a new appreciation for fruity desserts, especially now that it’s summer. You can do so much with fruit, and there’s the added bonus of feeling like your dessert is healthy.

While these berry crumble bars aren’t exactly a health food, they are the perfect dessert for summer. And they’re pretty failsafe. If you don’t have time to let them cool or they just don’t set up well, you can scoop them into bowls and top with ice cream.

In fact, that’s exactly what we did last year when I made these on the Fourth of July. It led to a hearty debate over what the best vanilla ice cream is. Did you know not all vanillas are created equal? I didn’t, until I got pregnant and actually cared about anything vanilla flavored.

The verdict? Tillamook Vanilla Bean.

About this recipe

My desire to actually know what I’m talking about with this blog has led to a lot of weird and sometimes mundane research. You may not care, and that’s okay. Just skip to my tips below or even just the recipe itself. I’m not offended.

That’s why I label my posts the way I do. I want to give you fair warning that I’m about to launch into a story related, however loosely, to the recipe and let you choose to read or skip.

This recipe uses the creaming method of batter/dough creation. I had no idea there were so many methods or that they affect the finished dessert so much. With cakes, your method matters most. But I still feel using the creaming method here—where you mix butter and sugar until fluffy before adding other wet or dry ingredients—makes a bit of difference. I’ve tried similar recipes over the years, and most call for making a dough that’s crumble-pie-topping-esque. But I’ve never gotten these to actually form into cuttable, handheld bars until I tried a more cookie-like method with softened butter. It worked. Science, who knew?

Sugar matters! Because I like to test how little sugar I can use before a dessert 1) doesn’t taste good and 2) doesn’t form correctly, I’ve been learning as much as I can about it in baking. I could go on all day about subbing honey or sugar’s role in a dessert rising, but I won’t. I’ll just say I had to experiment with using all brown sugar in this recipe, so trust me that it uses the least amount needed for a balanced sweetness and well-formed crust.

I use a lot of oats, which usually makes a dough crumbly or dry. But the creaming method helps it stick. So you can feel even more healthy about this dessert. ;)

Tips for this recipe

Sugar

Yes, more on sugar. :P If you’d rather use white sugar, you can! It’s best to use at least 1/3 brown sugar in the dough to get that caramel-y taste, but for the rest you can sub granulated white or coconut sugar (or a sugar substitute you’re confident baking with—I make no promises on the results).

Butter

Avoid softening in the microwave, as it almost always melts part of the butter. Also, avoid letting soften to too much, as we need non-melted butter here to create that perfect crust. As always, use European butter for a creamier bar.

Use old-fashioned oats

Quick cook oats will create a more chewy, soft dough. And while that’s why they’re perfect in cookies, they won’t be great for a bar base.

Mix the oats by hand

Usually, mixing by hand in a blended dough is dangerous, as your warm hands can melt the butter, thus altering the science of the recipe. However, most recipes like mine call for melted butter, so it’s perfectly safe. Plus, it’s easier and kinda like playing with play-dough.

Fruit

I prefer frozen fruit because it’s less-expensive and I always have some on hand. You can use fresh, but be sure to rinse it and also stir until it begins to macerate.

Also, you can absolutely use any berry here. I used blueberries in the batch photographed because it’s what I had on hand. But I actually think it tasted a bit better when I used the berry blend that has no strawberries (they get too watery and don’t macerate the same as smaller berries).