Raspberry Crumb Bars

Easiest raspberry crumb bars made with preserves and fresh raspberries sandwiched between a layer of buttery, flaky crust and a sweet, oatmeal topping, plus a glaze for good measure!

Try these recipes next! Almond & Raspberry Jam Cookies, Raspberry Coconut Smoothie, and Raspberry Lemonade Bars.

For more easy berry desserts, head on over to my popular posts for Strawberry Cobbler, Mixed Berry Pizza with Vanilla Glaze, and Blueberry Pie Bars. 

My son has an affinity for all things lemon. From lemonade to cream cheese lemon bars, and every lemon thing in between, he’ll gladly devour it. What does this have to do with these raspberry crumb bars? Well, not all of us love lemon as much as he does and we needed a break. 

I felt like it was my turn to choose dessert and the raspberries looked so good at the farmers market I couldn’t resist! And sometimes that’s just how a dessert is born. 

How This Recipe Works

The reasons why this raspberry dessert works are simple, and so is the recipe! 

Whole raspberries — The combination of whole raspberries and raspberry preserves makes for the perfect sweet/tart flavor and texture. 

Crumb topping — Let’s face it, crumb bars aren’t complete without the crumb part right? This one is a winner with part butter, part sugar, plus flour and oats for crunch and texture. 

Simple instructions — In less than an hour you can put together the crust, filling, topped, and glazed and have it baked and cooled and in your belly. 

Customizable — No raspberries? No problem! You can substitute just about any berry you have on hand. 

Here’s How You Make It

Go ahead and preheat your oven to 350 degrees, then line an 8×8-inch square baking pan with foil or parchment paper. 

Preparing the crust

1. First, combine melted butter, sugar, and extract in a large bowl and stir. 
2. Add the salt and flour to the butter mixture and stir again. 
3. Finally, press the dough into your baking pan and put it in the oven for 10 minutes.

Preparing the filling

1. For the filling, you’ll stir and gently mash half of the fresh raspberries into the raspberry preserves. 
2. Take the crust out of the oven after 10 minutes. 
3. Then, take the raspberry spread and put it on top of the prepared crust. Add to the top of the filling the rest of the fresh raspberries.

Preparing the crumb topping

1. Now move on to topping by first dicing the chilled butter into small cubes.
2. Next, in a medium bowl, stir together brown sugar, oats, flour, and salt. Add the butter and mash with a fork (or pulse in a food processor) until coarse crumbs form. Sprinkle the topping over filling.

Bake and cool

1. Put the whole dessert back into the oven for 25 minutes. Take the pan out of the oven and allow the raspberry crumb bars to cool before cutting them into squares. (You can pop it into the fridge to speed this up.)
2. While the dessert is cooling, prepare the glaze by stirring together the powdered sugar, vanilla or almond extract, and enough milk to make the glaze easily pourable. Drizzle over cooled bars and serve. 

Are You Supposed to Wash Raspberries?

There are two camps of thought on berry washing: wash and don’t wash. I am camp rinse (which I guess is halfway between the two?). I don’t use any special soap or fruit wash, but I do rinse them under cold water for a minute or so to get off surface dirt. I also always pat them dry because you won’t want that excess water in your dessert.

You can also soak them in a vinegar solution (¾ water and ¼ vinegar) before rinsing if you prefer. Still pat dry though after rinsing. 

Expert Tips

I learned all the tricks of making this raspberry dessert the best it can be so you don’t have to!

• If you are using a food processor to pulse together the crumb topping, be sure you don’t process it too much. You’ll still want to see (and taste) bits of whole oatmeal in the topping. 
• If you think you’re going to want more than the 12-16 bars that this recipe will yield, you can easily double it and put it in a 9×13 pan. Just be sure to cook them an additional 5-10 minutes in the oven. 
• Need to eat the berry bars ASAP? Put a towel under the hot baking dish and place it in the fridge to cool off faster. No need to reheat — they are amazing at room temperature or chilled.
• While you don’t have to make the glaze, I think it adds a lot to the bars. Other glaze options include: a maple glaze, lemon glaze, or cream cheese icing.  

Best Cookie and Bar Recipes

• Snow-Capped Lemon Cookies (Disneyland inspired and oh, so SO good)
• Cherry Garcia Cookies (better than the ice cream I dare say)
• Softest Chewiest Snickerdoodles (a pillow of cinnamon-sugar lovin)
• Cream Cheese Lemon Bars (ooey gooey lemony perfection) or go crazy with this strawberry version
• Salted Caramel Pecan Pie Bars (pecan pie, but wayyyyy better)
• Banana Bars with Cream Cheese Frosting (you’re welcome.)

Did you make this recipe? Please give it a rating below!