Raspberry Crumble Bars

Our vegan raspberry crumble bars are the perfect way to make use of one of our favorite summer berries. They're buttery, sweet, tart, and crumbly, but also completely gluten free and vegan. Best of all, you don't need to be a baking expert - they're supposed to be a little messy!

Jump to:

• 🍓 Why We Love This Recipe
• 🥧 Ingredients
• 📋 Ingredient Notes
• 🔪 Step-by-step Instructions
• 💭 Expert Tips and FAQs
• 🍽 Related Recipes
• 📖 Recipe

🍓 Why We Love This Recipe

• Seasonal: these raspberry crumble bars are the perfect summer breakfast or dessert. Light and fresh but still sweet and filling.
• Lovely texture: At once, this tart is buttery but sweet and tart, and crumbly yet crunchy. Raspberry, almonds, and perfect pastry team up to keep every bite interesting.
• Messy by design: Since this recipe is a crumble, it's not meant to look perfect, and you don't have to be a baking whiz to create a crumble that looks and tastes delicious.
• Allergy friendly: these raspberry crumble bars are gluten free, vegan and can easily be made nut free by swapping almonds with sunflower seeds.

🥧 Ingredients

Here's everything you'll need to make our raspberry crumble bars:

📋 Ingredient Notes

• Sweet rice flour: If you've ever had mochi, you've had sweet rice flour. It functions more as a binder than as a building block in gluten free baked goods, and helps to absorb and retain moisture from the fruit.
  • We would highly recommend taking the effort to find this in the baking section of your grocery store, as your end result will likely be too moist if this is subbed out. We typically use the Bob's Red Mill brand, which can be purchased at many grocery stores.
• Chia seeds: Naturally occurring pectin in the apples helps to thicken up our jam, but the chia seeds are crucial in creating that thick, "jammy" texture. Without them, the filling may be a bit runny.
• Butter: Be sure to chill the butter before adding to your crust mixture. Butter that's cold will form small lumps in the mixture. As the crumble cooks, steam will be released from the butter, and these tiny lumps become air pockets that create a flaky texture.
• Agave: you can also swap with maple syrup or another liquid sweetener of choice.
• Almonds and almond butter: feel free to swap with another nut or nut butter of choice (peanuts or pecans would be great!). If you're allergic to nuts, you can use a seed butter instead (sunflower would probably taste best here).
• Oats: be sure to use old fashioned whole rolled oats here, NOT quick cooking oats.
• Apples: really any apple variety will work in these raspberry crumble bars, but we suggest green Granny Smith apples (which have a super high pectin content).

🔪 Step-by-step Instructions

Prep: Preheat oven to 350F/175C.

(1) In a small saucepan over medium heat, bring 5 cups fresh raspberries (22-24 oz), 2 tablespoon cane sugar, 3 tablespoon agave, ½ tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice, 1 teaspoon lemon zest, ⅓ cup finely diced and peeled apple to a boil.

(2) Reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes, stirring often. Softly mash the mixture with the back of a wooden spoon to achieve jam-like consistency. Remove from heat and stir in chia seeds. Let sit 30 minutes to cool and thicken.

(3 & 4) In a food processor, blend all dry ingredients (3 cups rolled oats, 1 cup sweet rice flour, ½ cup almonds, ¾ cup sugar, 2 teaspoon baking powder, ½ teaspoon cinnamon, ¼ teaspoon salt) until a crumbly mixture forms.

(5) Add wet ingredients (2 ½ tablespoon maple syrup, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, ½ teaspoon almond extract, 1 cup dairy free butter, chilled and cut into pea-sized pieces, 3 tablespoon creamy almond butter)and continue to pulse until well incorporated. You may need to transfer to a large mixing bowl and knead lightly before pressing into pan.

(6) Press ½-⅔  of mixture into an 8x8 parchment paper lined pan.

(7 & 8) Spread 2 cups of jam mixture over crust to form an even layer. Sprinkle remaining crumble over the top. Bake for 25 minutes.

(9) After 25 minutes of baking, melt 1 teaspoon butter and chop up 2 tablespoon of almonds, combine them, and then sprinkle onto the top of the filling. Return to oven for additional 10 minutes or until crust is golden brown.

💭 Expert Tips and FAQs

• Chill that butter: Be sure to chill the butter before mixing into the crumble. This is an essential step to create a flaky texture.
• Ch-ch-ch-chia: The chia seeds in this recipe team up with the pectin in the apples to create a beautiful jam texture. Be sure not to leave them out!
• Pro tip: make a double batch of the jam and save the leftovers for spreading on toast, adding to a bowl of oatmeal, or even making homemade pb&j chocolate cups!
• Rhubarb sub: For all the rhubarb fanatics out there, you can opt to replace 2 cups of the raspberries with 2 cups of rhubarb.
• PB & J fan? Sub almonds with peanuts and peanut butter.
• We love serving these warm with a scoop of homemade ice cream. Is there anything better?!
• Storage: store raspberry crumble bar leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 5 days (although these are best consumed within 2-3 days). Place parchment paper in between each layer to prevent sticking.

🍽 Related Recipes

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📖 Recipe