Amazing Blueberry Pie Bars with an irresistible shortbread crust. Made with walnuts, oats, and coconut sugar, the whole family will love this treat!
It’s a crumble! It’s a shortbread! It’s a buttery, oaty, nutty pie-like creation in bar form with mounds of juicy blueberries sent straight from the heavens.
Because I just cannot and will not stop with the summery fruit treats.
Believe me when I say that this recipe is mind-bogglingly good. I was rather shocked by the first bite. Jeff first sank his teeth into one and let out the longest “mmmmmmm” I’ve heard in quite a while. He is very used to trying new recipes and that is not his typical reaction!
When I first conceptualized these bars, I wanted to make an epically thick shortbread crust but with a wee bit less butter and more walnuts. Because walnuts are so naturally buttery and flavorful, they make the most perfect addition to the crust and crumble topping.
Let’s chat about what makes these beauties really shine!
Ingredient Details
- Blueberries: tons of fresh blueberries for a thick middle layer.
- Old-fashioned oats: for classic texture and cookie-like flavor.
- California walnuts: raw walnuts add rich, buttery flavor, which gets even better after toasting in the oven. I love that they’re bursting with heart-healthy*, satiating fats for staying power.
- Whole wheat flour: for some extra fiber! All-purpose flour works great, too.
- Coconut sugar: tastes similar to brown sugar but is less refined. You could use brown sugar if you prefer.
- Butter: we’re going back to basics with good ol’ fashioned butter for that irresistible shortbread flavor. We are, however, using less than typical recipes thanks to nature’s buttery walnuts. I like salted butter here for even more flavor.
- Vanilla extract: for extra pie flavor.
- Lemon zest and juice: I love the subtle zing this adds to the filling!
* Research shows that eating 1.5 ounces of walnuts per day, as part of a low saturated fat and low cholesterol diet and not resulting in increased caloric intake, may reduce the risk of coronary heart disease. (FDA) One ounce of walnuts offers 18g of total fat, 2.5g of monounsaturated fat, 13g of polyunsaturated fat including 2.5g of alpha-linolenic acid – the plant-based omega-3.
Health Benefits of Walnuts
Where do we even begin? Eating unsaturated fats like those found in walnuts, salmon, extra virgin olive oil and avocados has been shown to provide a slew of health benefits.
Walnuts are made mostly of polyunsaturated fatty acids(13g/oz) whereas most nuts contain primarily monounsaturated fatty acids.
That’s why walnuts are the only nut that has a significant source of plant-based omega-3’s (2.5 grams of ALA per 1 ounce serving!). Although more research is needed, omega-3 ALA has been associated with benefits for inflammation and heart health. Woop woop!
From plant-powered protein (4g/oz) to filling fiber (2g/oz), including walnuts in meals and snacks is an easy and tasty way to add satisfying nutrients to your diet each and every day. It’s not hard when you’re getting your walnut fix via blueberry pie bars, am I right?
But wait, there’s more. Eating walnuts may also help to significantly reduce total and LDL cholesterol and triglycerides.
Recipe Modifications
You’ve got questions and I’ve got answers!
- To make this recipe gluten free: Swap the wheat flour for your favorite all-purpose gluten free baking flour and make sure your oats are certified gluten free.
- To make this recipe dairy-free: Use a non-dairy buttery stick versus real butter.
- To use frozen blueberries: I have only made these with fresh, but I think they’ll work just fine with frozen.
- To double the recipe. This can easily be doubled and baked in a 9×13-inch baking pan. The bars will be a bit thicker.
Storage Tips
Dare I say these blueberry crumble bars get even better with age? I adore them straight out of the fridge. You can store leftover bars in an air-tight container in the refrigerator for up to six days.
More Fruity Recipes to Love
- Fluffy Vegan Blueberry Banana Muffins
- Raspberry Oatmeal Bars
- Fluffy Vegan Pancakes with Blueberry Topping
Blueberry Pie Bars
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 35 minutes
- Total Time: 50 minutes
- Yield: 12-16 bars 1x
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American
Description
Amazing Blueberry Pie Bars with an irresistible shortbread crust! Made with walnuts, oats, and no refined sugar, the whole family will love this treat! Vegan and gluten-free option.
Ingredients
For the crust:
- 1 cup old-fashioned oats
- 3/4 cup whole wheat flour (or all purpose or GF flour)
- 3/4 cup walnuts
- 1/2 cup coconut sugar (or brown sugar)
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp fine sea salt
- 6 tbsp salted butter, cubed
For the filling:
- 2 1/2 cups fresh blueberries (frozen works, too)
- 2 tbsp whole wheat flour
- 2 tbsp coconut sugar
- zest and juice of 1/2 lemon (1 tbsp juice)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line an 8×8 inch baking dish with parchment paper.
- In the bowl of a food processor, pulse together oats, flour, walnuts, sugar, baking powder and salt until walnuts and oats are broken down. Add butter plus 1 tbsp of water and pulse until mixture forms a crumbly dough that sticks together when you press it with your fingers.
- Press 2/3 of the dough into prepared baking dish. Bake for 10 minutes.
- Make filling by mixing blueberries, flour, sugar, lemon juice and zest, and vanilla in a medium mixing bowl. Spoon filling evenly onto the pre-baked crust layer and use the back of the spoon to gently press mixture onto the crust (this helps them stick together).
- Sprinkle remaining dough on top of the berries and gently press down mixture again. Bake for 25 minutes, or until the bars are just golden.
- Let bars cool completely (and ideally refrigerate for a couple hours, until chilled) before cutting into bars. I let mine refrigerate overnight before slicing. They will get more solid as they chill and I prefer them this way, but if you want to dive in right away while warm, they’ll be more crisp-like!
Notes
TO MAKE DAIRY FREE: Use a non-dairy butter stick substitute like Earth Balance.
TO MAKE GLUTEN FREE: Use 1-to-1 all-purpose gluten free flour and certified gluten free oats.
TO STORE: Store cooled bars in an air-tight container in the refrigerator for up to six days.
This post is sponsored by California Walnuts, but all opinions are my own. Thanks for supporting the brands that make Hummusapien possible!
Whipped up these delicious bars over the weekend and I’m obsesses! The flavor really does pop after a day or two in the fridge, finding excuses to sneak one in for at least a few meals and snacks daily!!
Love it! Aren’t they so good right from the fridge?! Thanks a ton for your feedback. If you’d be open to leaving a star rating next time, I’d be so grateful! It helps others find my recipes 🙂
These were SOOOO good. I can’t believe how buttery the walnuts taste!
★★★★★
These were incredible!!! Seriously the perfect combo of blueberries, a little sweetness, and such awesome brightness from the lemon…. Awesome for a snack, breakfast, dessert – feels like they could fit for all bc they’re not too sweet, but just enough. And could never go wrong adding some vanilla ice cream for dessert! :)))) Loved them and will definitely be repeating these! Also – flipping GENIUS that the base and the topping are the SAME… WHAAT!?!?! Such a time saver!
★★★★★
You are SO sweet, Valerie! Heck yes to the vanilla ice cream and so glad you appreciated the top and bottom being the same 🙂 Thank you tons for your kind and thoughtful review. It means so much! XO
Although delicious, these were extremely crumbly. Even with all the pressing, and refrigerating before cutting and serving, there was no way that these squares were going to stay together. I made them with coconut flour and GF oats and used frozen blueberries.
Looking at other recipes for a “shortbread-type” crust, I think I would double the amount of butter next time and add more blueberries.
Hey Joanna! I’m not surprised to hear that since coconut flour is super dry and isn’t a 1:1 sub, unfortunately. As you can see from the photos, the crust should stay together really well. The fat from the walnuts helps create the shortbread texture–that’s why this recipe works with less butter than traditional recipes. Coconut flour requires lots of eggs and/or more liquid versus the wheat flour I used in this recipe. Feel free to leave a comment next time asking about potential substitutions so I can help troubleshoot before you make the recipe with different ingredients. I’m always happy to help!
Thank-you for this. I am new to the gluten-free diet and was thinking only of flavour, not realizing other factors. I will make it again with GF all-purpose!
★★★★★
Great! Flours are so tricky, especially almond and coconut. Hope you love them!
Legit amazing! Chewy, sweet, but still a touch tart from the lemon zest. I made them for a BBQ and ended up making them vegan and GF, they ended up being SO AMAZINGLY GREAT! My husband who is super picky even loves them. We’re topping them off with a nice scoop of vanilla dairy free ice cream.
★★★★★
Heck yes! Great choice on the ice cream. Thanks so much for the review, Erica!
Erica Skwarek – could you please share what you used for a gluten-free version? TIA!
I think she meant the GF recipe note–use all-purpose gluten free flour and certified gluten free oats 🙂 This is my favorite GF flour.
This was tasty. I found it very crumbly so that when I cut it, the topping didn’t adhere well.
★★★★★
Hey Angie, thanks for the feedback! You can lightly press the topping down to avoid that, and refrigerating helps as well. Glad you still loved the flavor!
Made these tonight for my family and they were so good! For the only time in my life was short on walnuts so did 1/2 cup walnuts + 1/4 cup pecans and still turned out great! We had some warm tonight with a little vanilla ice cream and planning on enjoying all week! Thanks Alexis!
★★★★★
Wonderful! I love that you used what you had on hand. Thanks so much for letting me know, Anna!
So fantastic! Easy and delicious. I love the added walnuts. I added a bit of almond flour since we were low on my GF flour and it turned out great. Thanks for sharing
★★★★★
Amazing, thanks for the review, Bhreaugh!
So delicious and super easy to make… subbed vegan butter no problem. Even more yummy chilled!
★★★★★
Love that vegan butter works! Thanks so much, Natty 🙂
So good! The walnuts definitely add a nice flavour and texture 🙂
★★★★★
Yay! So glad you loved these 🙂
These are the best blueberry bars ever!! So easy and delicious and guilt free! Yes to making these every week !!
★★★★★
Thanks for letting me know, Gretchen!
These bars look epic and so perfect!! You had me at shortbread crust, and I just added walnuts to our grocery list. I need to enjoy them more because they are so good!
I seriously can’t stop thinking about the crust–the walnuts are serous magic here!
I am sooo making these! They look absolutely amazing. Btw I love seeing your wedding rings in your photos!❤️
Awww thank you friend! Let me know if you try ’em 🙂
Can I use frozen blueberries?
Yes, that should be fine!
Sadly, I have a walnut allergy. It’s TRAGIC. Is there any way to make these bars w/out the nuts?
Oh darn! Hmmm, since I haven’t tested it without walnuts, I can’t say for sure. I would say you could probably increase the butter to 8 tbsp (1 stick) and replace the walnuts with oats? LMK how if you try it!
I just wanted to let you know that I replaced the walnuts with pecans because I am very pregnant (39 weeks), had to have these and couldn’t get myself to the store. The bars turned out great!
I’m so glad that swap worked out! If you’d be up for leaving a star rating, I’d be super grateful! Happy almost baby time 🙂