Apple Blueberry Crumb Bars - Gluten Free

Gluten Free Apple Blueberry Crumb Bars

These Apple Blueberry Crumb Bars are a gluten free indulgence.  The blueberry apple filling is like winter meeting spring and the buttery sweet crumb crust will have everybody amazed that they’re gluten free.  

Crumb bars in general, are not so much about the filling.  Now don’t get me wrong, the filling is fabulous here but I think crumb bars are the quintessential dessert for people the like pie but like the crust just a little bit more.  All I can say is YUM!  

Apple Blueberry Crumb Bars

Prep time: 25 min
Bake time: 50-55 min

Ingredients for the Filling

• 1 cup blueberries, rinsed and drained
• 1 apple peeled and diced
• 1½ cups apple butter
• 2 eggs
• ¼ cup heavy cream
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1 tsp. vanilla

Ingredients for the Crust and Crumb Top

• 2 1/2 cups gluten free Bisquick
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1 cup cold diced butter
• 2 eggs
• 1 tbsp. cold water 
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract

Ingredients for the Glaze

• 1 cup confectioner’s sugar
• 2-4 tbsp. milk or heavy cream

Video Tutorial:

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 375°F or 190°C and line a 9x13 inch pan with parchment paperNow to make the filling whisk together the apple butter, eggs, heavy cream, brown sugar cinnamon, and vanilla.  Once the mixture is smooth, stir in the blueberries and diced apples and set the bowl aside. 
2. For the crust stir together  the gluten free Bisquick and granulated sugar and once they’re combined add the cold diced butter and using a pastry blender, two knives, or your hands cut the butter into the dry mixture until the texture looks like coarse crumbs. 
3. Beat together the eggs, water and vanilla and once you’ve got it pretty well mixed stir it into the crumb mixture until the dough resembles crumbly cookie dough.  Remove 1 loosely packed cup of the dough and set it aside.
4. Dump the remaining dough into the bottom of the prepared pan then using either a spatula or the palms of your hands press it into an even layer.
5. Once you have good coverage, pour over the apple- blueberry mixture and smooth it out a little trying not to disturb the bottom layer.
6. Scatter over small pieces of the reserved dough layer and once you have a pretty even distribution bake it for 50-55 minutes or until the top has a golden color.  Once the bars come out of the oven let them rest for 5 minutes then use a flat metal spatula to go around all the edges of the pan to ensure there will be no sticking later when we remove them from the pan. 
7. Cool the pan for about 2 hours until they reach room temperature before adding the glaze or it will melt into the bars.  For the glaze mix together 1 cup of confectioner’s  with enough milk or heavy cream to get a consistency that drizzles well from your spoon.   Start with 2 tablespoons and add a Tbsp at a time until it looks good.
8. Then either drizzle it onto the bars or pour the glaze into a pastry bag or Ziploc bag like I have here.  If you put the bag into a glass first it makes it easy to get the glaze in there then I twisted the bag and used a twist tie to hold it in place. 
9. Start at one corner and drizzle the glaze back and forth until you get to the opposite corner then you can.  Then you can go the other way if you want for a cross hatched pattern.  Now cover and refrigerate for  about 6 hours or until they’re very well chilled then it’s easy to remove them from the pan, slice them into whatever sizes you want and serve.     

Notes:  If you’re not following a gluten free diet you can replace the gluten free Bisquick in this recipe by stirring together (2 ½ cups of flour, 1 ½ tsp baking powder, and ¼ tsp salt).  If you cut the 9x13 inch rectangle into 30 pieces (or 5 x 6), the bars will fit nicely into standard sized paper cupcake liners for easier serving.