More strawberries! And more crumble bars. These really are my “go to” thing when I need something quick and delicious, minimal effort, maximum output. And it helps if you just went strawberry picking an have homemade jam. This variety also has a bit of lemon zest in the shortbread and believe it or not, a little bit of thyme. No, it doesn’t taste “herby” though. 🙂
crumble bars
Browned Butter Cran-Strawberry Crumble Bars with Toasted Pistachios
Between eggs and strawberries, I seem to be drowning in ingredients these days, so I decided to make more jam (subsequent post coming up) and then with “extra” jam (I ran out of jars), I decided to make these crumble bars. They are definitely my go to recipe. This time, I browned the butter first (definitely a great idea) and then added pistachios as well. Perfect for a 4th of July picnic!
It’s been a while since I made crumble bars. For a long time now, they have been my “go to” thing to make, to eat “out of hand” (meaning cookie or brownie-sized). They are so versitile: pick a fruit flavor, pick a nut or chocolate type and voila! Crumble bars just waiting to be taken to your next pot-luck!
So what do you get when you cross pumpkin pie, pecan pie and crumble bars? Well…these things! And I threw in some maple syrup just for good measure! I had found pumpkin butter at Trader Joes, and without any idea what to do with it, I bought a jar. While it has the unfortunate consistency of baby food, it tastes amazing (and *nothing* like baby food!) so I decided to make these Maple Pumpkin Butter and Pecan Crumble Bars. They are simply fab! Perfect thing to add to your Thanksgiving dessert and can be made in advance.
You can watch the march of time in the summer through what berries are ripe. June is strawberries, followed by raspberries, blueberries and finally, as it starts to turn to autumn, then it’s blackberries. I guess you could say that it is blackberry season now, so enter stage right my crumble bars, this time with blackberry jam. Always yummy and so easy to make!