A vegan blueberry crisp bar that is easy, quick and so good with the season’s best blueberries!Â
Making these vegan blueberry crisp bars have been quite the journey in themselves, so I’m happy to finally have the recipe and be sharing them with you! It all started when I bought a huge container of blueberries at Trader Joe’s (my happy place) last week. I was downing them and putting them into overnight oats like nobody’s business, but knew that a.) I couldn’t keep eating this many blueberries straight up and b.) I needed to bake with them, obviously! When I was thinking over what to make with these blueberries beauties, I realized I didn’t have many pie/crisp/ bar hybrid recipes on the blog and that needed to be remedied, immediately (if you are looking for more pie bars, the apple peach ones are dang good). So started the brainstorming of crust to topping ratio, what to use for the fat part of the topping, etc. etc. (all the fun stuff that goes into recipe development). Finally, on Saturday afternoon I was ready to test these blueberry crisp bars out, I made the crust/topping, the oven was pre-heated and then I realized…I was almost out of blueberries. SDFsidjfs;odkfnskdf <– How I felt.
So, after turning off the oven, getting myself presentable to go into the world and thwarting my plans of making and shooting the bars all in one day, I was off to get more blueberries. Oh good, I thought, I can just pop over to the farmer’s market and they will have them right? Buy local! Um nope because DUH Abby it’s May in Wisconsin and it was cold until about 2 weeks ago, so of course all the vendors have are cute plants and rhubarb. Cue more sdlkjfsndfjsndkjfn. Finally, I schlepped to the place I knew would have blueberries, Whole Foods and bought 2 containers of them, because no wayyyy was I going through this business again. Yes, I paid more than I would have liked for them, but dang it, I was able to finally make these blueberry crisp bars and they were SO worth it!
My advice if you can’t find blueberries (hi, welcome to the club, I’m the president) is to sub in another fresh berry that is in season. I don’t think frozen berries would do so well in this recipe, as the filling is already pretty jammy after it’s baked. I would recommend eating these bars for breakfast, snack and dessert, because they are worth the hunt for berries and worth getting a little Tuesday sugar buzz over.
I hope you had a wonderful holiday weekend, go forth and make dessert so going back to work isn’t so hard today!
Vegan Blueberry Crisp Bars
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 50 minutes
- Yield: 9 1x
- Category: Dessert
Description
A vegan blueberry crisp bar that is easy, quick and so good with the season’s best blueberries! Take this to your next picnic or cookout, it’s vegan and a crowd pleaser.
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup date sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 1/4 cup maple syrup
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup coconut oil (solid)
- Juice and zest of 1 lemon
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 3 1/2 cups blueberries
- 4 teaspoons cornstarch
- 4 tablespoons maple syrup
Instructions
- Line and grease a 8×8 or 9×9 square pan. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl, combine the sugar, baking powder, flour, maple syrup, salt, coconut oil, lemon juice and zest and olive oil. Combine the mixture together with your hands or a large spoon, ending up with a somewhat crumbly, but pliable dough. Press half of the mixture into the bottom of the prepared pan, reaching all the way to the edges and it is evenly distributed.
- In another medium bowl, combine the blueberries, cornstarch and maple syrup. Stir until combined.
- Top the crust in the pan with the blueberry mixture, then top the blueberries with the remainder of the flour mixture, crumbling the dough over the berries evenly.
- Bake at 375 for 30-305 minutes, or until top is golden brown and filling is bubbly.
Tessa | Salted Plains says
Oh my gosh, how frustrating!! I feel that pain. I think I’ve perfected the ‘multiple trips to the grocery store in one day’ skill. Ugh. Your work paid off, my friend! These look amazing!! xo
Heart of a Baker says
Glad I’m not the only one! Thank you dear Tessa! xoxo
Strength and Sunshine says
I made my first fruit crumble/crisp bars the other week and they were a hit!! So so good! The berries are slowly becoming available, but the summer fruit has still been pretty lacking here too!
Heart of a Baker says
It’s so great when it finally gets here, right?!
Natalie says
Eeek I’m even more excited for my blueberry bush and mulberry tree to bear fruit now! Have a feeling these are gonna be on the weekly rotation… 🙂
Heart of a Baker says
Ahh I’m so jealous you have those! Eat ALL the blueberries for me!
whiskandshout says
Whenever I have to double back to the store for one thing, as soon as I get home I realize I forgot one other ingredient- it’s just the worst! These oat bars look well worth the effort 🙂 Pinning!
Heart of a Baker says
It just feels so ughhhhh, right?!
cakeoversteak says
Haha I feel like that happens to me all the time! I’ll have loads of an ingredient while I’m recipe testing, and then I got to make/photograph it … and I’m basically out of the main ingredient. Ah!!! It’s the worst. These look delightful – I’m eating some blueberries right now with my lunch and loving my life. Blueberry and strawberry season is my fav!!!
Heart of a Baker says
Yeassss! I’ve been non-stop with them, so I’m totally on board with you! xo
Traci | Vanilla And Bean says
Hey Abby… #foodbloggerproblems! LOL – I hear you!! I’m in the same club, Ms. President, and let me tell you, I’ve dug in deep. I refuse to buy them at the store. I’m waiting till they make an appearance at the market (I’ll probably fold in a few weeks! LOL)! Our strawberries just came in – Hooray (!!) – a few weeks early! So I am stocking my freezer full of them and eating them like made while they’re here, in anticipation of local blues! These look sooo good, Abby! Blueberries are my ultimate favorite berry. Thank you for sharing these mouthwatering treats! xo
Heart of a Baker says
Ah I was so wishing I would be able to find them at the market! I am crossing my fingers for you to find them soon, they are so so good! xo
shellywest says
Ha definitely feel this – I’m always stopping at a different grocery store on my way to my regular grocery store (ha!). Also, hello fellow Midwest blogger friend (it’s my first time here – glad I came by)!
Heart of a Baker says
Ah, so you feel me on this!! Hello fellow Midwesterner! I adore your blog, so I’m so glad you stopped by 🙂 Where are you in the Midwest? I’m originally from Illinois (close to Indiana) 🙂
Sarah | Well and Full says
Is it bad if I like hearing about others’ kitchen misadventures, so I feel like I’m less alone!? 😉 It looks like you really got these blueberry crisp bars sorted out! They look delicious!! 😀
Heart of a Baker says
Ha no, I feel the same way! It’s just nice to know you aren’t alone, right? 🙂
Cindy Silvert @ Hungry Love Cook says
My grandmother used to make a cake very similar to this every summer for the fourth of July. It’s so nice to have a vegan and healthy(er) version of this treat, thanks so much for sharing 🙂
Heart of a Baker says
I love when we find recipes that remind of us of old ones 🙂 Enjoy cindy!
mip says
Is coconut sugar okay to use in place of date sugar?
Heart of a Baker says
Yes, that’s totally fine!