Exceptionally buttery, a little bit nutty, and bursting with berry flavor, these raspberry crumble bars are an absolute delight!
Do you like butter? A lot? Well, look no further. These bars are just for you. This may be the most butter I’ve ever used in a single recipe, but trust me: they’re completely worth it. Aside from the buttery richness, these bars have layers of raspberry preserves, hazelnut, and a brown sugar crumble on top. This is definitely a recipe you’ll want to share!
Why You’ll Love These Raspberry Crumble Bars
- Surprisingly decadent. Most fruity desserts feel fairly light, but these bars are rich and indulgent thanks to the butter and hazelnuts. (If you love hazelnuts, try my hazelnut macaroons too.)
- Easy to make. The recipe is divided into four simple layers: the shortbread crust, the raspberry preserves, the hazelnuts, and the crumble topping. Each layer is simple to make, and this recipe largely relies on pantry staples.
- Versatile. Serve these raspberry crumble bars for a brunch party, make them for a bake sale, or serve them warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream for dessert.
What You’ll Need
Scroll down to the recipe card to find the ingredient quantities and recipe instructions.
Crust:
- All-purpose flour – Here’s how to measure flour for baking.
- Light brown sugar
- Salt
- Unsalted butter – This should be very cold; cut it into cubes.
- Egg – Lightly beat the egg in a small bowl.
Filling:
- Raspberry preserves – Any kind you like, although I recommend seedless.
- Hazelnuts – Chopped hazelnuts are usually cheaper than whole hazelnuts and you’ll be pulsing them anyway, so I recommend buying chopped.
- Sugar
- Unsalted butter – Let this soften at room temperature. Learn more: How to Soften Butter
- Eggs
Topping:
- All-purpose flour
- Light brown sugar – Learn more: Light Brown Sugar vs Dark Brown Sugar: What’s the Difference?
- Unsalted butter – This butter should also be cold and cut into cubes.
How to Make Raspberry Crumble Bars
- Make the crust mixture. Add the flour, brown sugar, and salt to a food processor. Drop in the butter, then pulse until the mixture resembles cornmeal. Add the egg and process until a dough forms.
- Bake. Spread the crust into the bottom of a greased square baking pan. Bake at 350ºF for 15 to 18 minutes, or until lightly browned. Cool on a wire rack.
- Add the jam layer. Spread the raspberry preserves over the crust.
- Add the hazelnut layer. Pulse the hazelnuts and sugar in the food processor, then add the butter and eggs. Spread this mixture over the preserves.
- Make the topping. Whisk together the flour and sugar, then work in the butter with a pastry blender.
- Bake. Sprinkle the crumble over the filling and bake for 28 to 32 minutes. Cool before slicing and serving.
Tips and Variations
- Switch them up. These bars are delicious with other varieties of preserves, too. Try strawberry, blackberry, blueberry, apricot, or another favorite.
- Know when they’re done. The bars won’t necessarily look “done.” Look for some browning on the top and around the edges. Give the pan a little shake, too. If it still jiggles a good bit, give it a few more minutes. As they cool, they will set.
- Add a glaze. For an extra touch of sweetness, drizzle a simple glaze made with milk, powdered sugar, and vanilla over the top.
- Understand the basics. Read over my baking tips for beginners before you get started.
How to Store
Once the raspberry crumble bars have cooled completely, you can store them in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days, or in the refrigerator for up to a week.
Can I Freeze This Recipe?
If you want to keep these raspberry crumble bars even longer, you can freeze them. Wrap them individually in plastic wrap and place them in a freezer bag or container. Thaw in the refrigerator before serving.
More Raspberry Desserts
- Lemon Raspberry Cake
- Raspberry Coffee Cake
- White Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake
- Raspberry Lemon Icebox Pie
- Raspberry White Chocolate Brownies
Raspberry Crumble Bars
These easy raspberry crumble bars have it all: a buttery crust, fruity hazelnut filling, and a delightful crumble topping. A guaranteed hit!
Ingredients
For the crust:
- 2 cups (240g) all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup (100g) firmly packed light brown sugar
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup (170g) unsalted butter, cold and cut into cubes
- 1 egg, lightly beaten
For the filling:
- 12 ounces (340g) seedless raspberry preserves
- 1 & 1/2 cups (180g) chopped hazelnuts
- 1/2 cup (100g) sugar
- 1/2 cup (113g) unsalted butter, softened
- 2 large eggs
For the topping:
- 1 cup (120g) all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup (100g) firmly packed light brown sugar
- 1/2 cup (113g) unsalted butter, cold and cut into cubes
Instructions
To make the crust:
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly grease an 8″x 8″baking pan.
- Combine the flour, brown sugar, and salt in a food processor. Add the butter and pulse until the mixture resembles cornmeal. Add the egg, and process just until the dough comes together in a ball.
- Spread the dough into the bottom of the prepared pan.
- Bake for 15 to 18 minutes, until light golden brown. Set the pan on a wire rack to cool.
To make the filling:
- Spread the raspberry preserves on top of cooled crust.
- Using a food processor, pulse the hazelnuts and sugar to a cornmeal consistency. Add the butter and eggs, and process until creamy. (May be refrigerated until ready to use.) Spread over the preserves. Set aside.
To make the topping:
- Combine the flour and brown sugar. Mix in the butter with a pastry blender or a fork until the mixture forms crumbs.
- Sprinkle over the filling.
- Bake at 350° for 28 to 32 minutes, or until they're browned on top and along the edges. Let cool completely before cutting into squares.
Notes
Once the raspberry crumble bars have cooled completely, you can store them in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days, or in the refrigerator for up to a week.
Recipe adapted from Taste of the South.
34 Comments on “Raspberry Crumble Bars”
Those brownies look delicious!! Too bad im trying to watch what i eat. You have a very nice blog. What type of camera do you use for photos?
Oh my, those sound sooo incredible!
Good afternoon, Jennifer,
The Raspberry-Hazlenut Crumble Bars are, indeed, from Taste of the South — page 24 of the February/March issue to be exact. You made them look so beautiful. I hope they tasted just as wonderful. I look forward to reading more of your blog.
Betty Terry
Food Editor
Taste of the South
Taste of the South
Don’t you love using raspberries in these kinds of bars? I made ones like these from Jill O’Connor’s book and they were outrageously good. And the amount of butter in a recipe is a good indicator as to how yummy it will be 🙂
wow, those look so good! Sadly, I can’t make something like this when I’m home by myself because I would end up eating them all! I need to make some more friends here so I can share 🙂
You don’t even have to say that these have a lot of butter… look at that photo, it says it all. Those must be sooooo good… I know they are.
Those look incredible!
Those look nice and moist and good!
Oh, man. You know you’ve got a fantastic amount of butter in a layered bar when the layers create that gorgeous, watercolor effect and all appear to be melting into one another….nom, nom, nom.
Will definitely be trying this recipe!
Thanks, Zakia! We have a Nikon D200.
Cedar, they are quite delicious!
Ms. Terry, thank you so much for stopping by and clearing up this recipe’s source. I appreciate the complements.
Amanda, I do love using raspberries. They’re my go-to for berries.
Nicole, it’s a shame we don’t live closer. We could exchange baked goods. 😉
Thanks, Aran! All that butter makes them good.
Thanks, Megan!
Kevin, they are all of those things! Very good indeed.
Shauna, you’re exactly right. Great description. Let me know what you think if you bake them.
What a great close-up shot you got of those decadent treats!
How funny that the editor found you. I guess you can’t hide much on the internet. Thank goodness you remembered which magazine that it might possibly be from and mentioned it!! She sounded pleased 🙂
as a fellow southerner, i can safely say you’ve done us proud! hey, everything in moderation, right? 🙂
Those look amazing!!!
These look wonderful! Raspberry and hazelnut is such a great combination.
These are sinful, Jen! I love raspberries but haven’t baked much with it (don’t know why, to be honest).
I’ve never had raspberry and hazelnut together but now I am wondering why not? It sounds great!
these look sooo good…but i’m scared of the butter! 🙂
just wanted to agree with the above posters–you always take such beautfiul pictures.
Thanks, RecipeGirl! I’m glad I had it narrowed down to those two magazines. They’re from the same publisher and have similar layouts.
Thanks, Grace, my fellow Southern girl!
Sarah, they taste amazing, too!
Susan, I agree. I am pretty sure this is my first time combining the two but it won’t be my last.
Patricia, they are a bit indulgent, to say the least.
Rachel, I had the same thought. Very, very good combination.
Thanks, Caroline! 🙂
I can’t decide if all that butter is a good thing or a bad thing, but the bars sure look good! 🙂
Hillary, it’s good and it’s bad. Which ever way you look at it, they’re delicious!
Hi There, I just stumbled accross your blog on by using stumbleupon and am loving the design! I dont normally stop at blogs relating to food as I already have 20 in my RSS feed and dont even have time to read them! I do like the design though and the use of photos is awesome. I started off blogging as well and always tried to keep a clean design like yours but it aint always easy with all the things you have to fit in! If you feel like showing off any of the cool food pics i’d love to see them on my site for foodies http://www.ifoods.tv so as all the other foodies can see them! Keep up the good work on the design and happy cooking!
What a delightful photo, especially the gorgeous crumbly topping!
Thanks, Niall! I’ve lost count of how many food blogs I have in my feed. I think I’d be afraid to know for sure! I’ll be sure to check out your site as well.
Thanks, Ellie!
Delicous! And YES I love butter, and cooking with it. Love the photos.
They look so good they shine! My mother in law clipped this recipe for me and I was hesitating to make it but now I know I can start taking the butter out!
Thanks, Sandy!
Tartelette, I highly recommend them. I think you’ll like them!
i want one of this!
Your photos are incredible. I’d love to know how you do it.
Tracy, never underestimate the power of a good camera lens.
I made these the other day and they were amazing! I don’t know what I did though, but I found out a little bit too late that my bars were really a little too big for an 8×8 pan. (And by ‘a little’ I mean Way Too Big.) I think that they would have done better in a small brownie pan, or even a larger one.
Has anyone else had a similar problem?
Jennifer gave me a great suggestion for using up a 4 lb. tin of Danish butter cookies — use them in the crust and crumble in this recipe. I crushed the butter cookies and substituted equal amounts of cookie crumbs for the flour/sugar in both the crust and crumble. Everything else remained the same in the recipe. These turned out beautifully. I would have liked for them to be a little more solid (once cut into small sqaures, they fell apart easily), but that didn’t keep anyone from eating them. Everyone at my office raved about these. They’re anxious for me to try more of Jennifer’s recipes. Thank you, Jennifer.
Carey, I’m glad to hear those butter cookies worked out for the crust.
I suggest using a 9×13 pan, mine were too think in a 9×9 pan
Do you send “care packages” ? 🙂