Blueberry Crunch Bars first appeared in my third cookbook, Sweetness: Southern Recipes to Celebrate the Warmth, the Love, an the Blessings of a Full Life.
This recipe is from my friend, Valerie Holt, who teaches Home Economics at Woodland High School in in Cartersville, Georgia. We met at the National Cornbread Festival and became fast friends.
The more we talk, the more we realized we have in common! She told me that I was living her dream, which surprised me because I had always intended to use my Home Economics degree to do exactly what she does now. I reckon we’d all be surprised if we knew how many people look at our lives as the one they dreamed of having. In the end, the best dreams come true are always the ones you never planned anyway. The Agriculture teacher at Valerie’s school has a father in middle Georgia who raises blueberries. All of the teachers at her school wait eagerly each summer for him to bring gallons of berries back from his visit with his dad and Valerie makes these bars with them. As a blueberry lover myself, I have to tell you that I made these the moment Valerie shared the recipe with me and have already lost count of how many times I’ve made them since! 
The ingredients are simple and you likely have most of them on hand. The recipe is pretty straight forward as well and it’s in printable format at the bottom of this post!
Look at these gorgeous blueberries! I just love seasonal fruit!
Please make these soon. You’ll be glad you did!
Ingredients
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 ½ cups all purpose flour
- 1 ½ cups quick oats
- ¾ cup cold unsalted butter cubed
- 1/8 tsp salt
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp cinnamon
- 3 cups fresh or frozen blueberries
- 2 TB cornstarch
- 3 TB lemon juice
- ¾ cup sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375. Grease a 9 x 13 metal baking pan.
- Put first 7 ingredients in the food processor and process until crumbly not a ball. Reserve 2 cups for topping.
- Press remaining crumb mixture into pan. Set aside.
- Put rest of ingredients into a small sauce pan and bring to a boil for 2-3 minutes until thick. It will look like blueberry jam. Spread over crust. Put on reserved topping and bake 25-30 minutes or until golden. Cool completely and enjoy!
Yum 
Christy those blueberry crunch bars look amazing! What a perfect summer dessert for a picnic, potluck or heck – any day of the week! I’ll be making these soon!
Your blueberry crunch bars are amazing! The ratio of blueberry filling to crust and topping is perfection. I’d happily eat one (maybe two) for breakfast right now if I had the chance!
Whoa Christy! These look AMAZING! I love crunch bars and this recipe looks incredibly simple and comes together quickly. Love <3 (have a feeling these would be GREAT with a cup of coffee!)
The perfect addition to our summer dessert collection!
ooo these blueberry bars are just amazing! I love blueberries too and I can’t wait to make these. They’re just perfect for #SummerDessertWeek! I love your story of how you came to love this recipe.
Love your post! Those blueberry bars are going on my to do list! Neat giveaway….I am intrigued by the cherry pitter….would I use it during cherry season….we really enjoy just eating the cherry.
Blueberries are one of my favorite fruits in a dessert and this looks perfect!
Yum! These look delicious and like a cure for my fruit pie cravings.
The Blueberry Crunch Bars look amazing and I can’t wait to make them !!
This recipe sounds fabulous. I love blueberry desserts.
Recipes that include blueberries, are always a winner! During the summer, I enjoy any fruit or frozen dessert!
I absolutely love this kind of bar! What other filling could you use?
You could use any kind you wanted to Kim!!
Can I use fresh strawberries ?
My favorite summer time dessert is ice cream!
My favorite summer dessert is That Strawberry Cake!!
Yay! Ilove a giveaway. Hope I win something.
These blueberries look so amazing! I just want to face plant in those bars!
Delicious bars, I’m loving those blueberries – what a treat! Pinning this to make soon!!
These bars look delicious, even though I don’t care for blueberries. It reminds me of a date bar recipe my mom used to make–yummy! I wonder what other berries (or other fruits) Would work in this recipe?
I love blueberries and this recipe really looks good. Can’t wait to try it.
Strawberry cake or peach cobbler or banana pudding are all summer favorites to me.
My favorite summer dessert would be blackberry cobbler.
I am a strawberry or cherry girl all the way.
This recipe looks amazing. Having company for this weekend and will definitely be making this.
We need to have Dessert Month!
These blueberry crunch bars look delicious! One of my favorite summer desserts is a strawberry trifle.
These would be perfect with a scoop of vanilla ice cream! Time to go shopping…
Tried to follow For the Love of Food on Instagram, but the link denies access. Just thought you should know. One other was private, but I can’t remember which one.
What great giveaways and those Blueberry Bars look scrumptious.
My favorite summer dessert is a homemade fresh blackberry cobbler … with a scoop of Bluebell Homemade Vanilla ice cream, of course! But I love any kind of fresh fruit dessert, it’s ALL so good.
These bars look delicious, I am going to try them asap!
This recipe looks amazing! Perfect for summer!!!
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