Summer berries continue to call to me. Today’s recipe for blackberry crumble bars features juicy and tart blackberries that are staring at me every morning as I walk through my neighbourhood park in a bid to improve my mental health, which has been in tatters lately.

I love berries and even though my sweet tooth seems to have diminished quite a lot ever since I gave up sugar back in January, I am sad to report that an occasional sweet treat hasn’t lost its appeal as I hoped it would and these blackberry crumble bars got me excited as I took them out of the oven.

These blackberry crumble bars are a great, laid-back summer dessert. They are portable too so perfect to take with you to a beach or for a hike if that’s more your bag. These crumble bars are easy to make and a perfect vehicle for most summer fruit actually. Blackberries and raspberries get my vote, but cherries, sour cherries (they would be my first choice actually if I could get them here in the UK), gooseberries or even plums would work beautifully.

The base of these blackberry crumble bars is a simple shortbread dough that you can make by hand if you like playing with dough (I do!) or in minutes in your food processor. All it needs is incorporating some butter into the dry ingredients until a dough forms. Once you’ve got your dough, you simply scatter most of it at the bottom of a baking tin, bake it briefly, top with blackberry filling and some more dough on top before baking again. The dough gets beautifully crumbly and tender and the filling all gooey and juicy. The flavours of tangy blackberries and fresh lemon work so well against sweet and cinnamon and cardamom laced pastry, I love them and I hope you will do too.

MORE ABOUT THE INGREDIENTS

VEGAN BUTTER: vegan butter (I used Naturli) is used to make the crumble deliciously short and tender. Use the type that comes in a block, rather than spreadable kind that comes in a tub. You could also use coconut oil – refined type, like this, if you dislike coconut taste or extra virgin coconut taste if you don’t.

SUGAR: I used light brown sugar to sweetened both the crumble and the blackberry filling. You could use any sugar you like including coconut sugar if you are looking for a refined sugar-free option. You can also increase or decrease the amount of sugar to your taste.

ROLLED OATS: Oats and crumble are best friends so I added a generous amount of large (marketed as jumbo rolled oats here in the UK) to the dough and I really recommend it, but if you cannot find them using smaller oats is okay too.

PLAIN FLOUR: I used plain flour to make the base, but a good gluten-free flour mix (containing a high proportion of starches) will work just as well if you want to keep this bake gluten-free.

SPICES: I used a combination of cinnamon and cardamom to flavour this dessert. You can use both or either of these or any other spice you enjoy in combination with berries. If using cardamom on its own, don’t go too crazy as it’s one of those spices that tends to overpower other flavours easily.

BAKING POWDER: A small amount of baking powder is used to to keep the crumble a little lighter, but you can skip it too if you don’t have any or don’t like using it for whatever reason.

SALT: A bit of salt gives this dessert real depth of flavour. I used fine table salt.

BLACKBERRIES: I used fresh, ripe blackberries as they are very much in season here now, but frozen will work just as well. You can also make this dessert with raspberries or blueberries instead.

VANILLA: A dash of vanilla never goes wrong in baking so I added some vanilla extract to the blackberry filling.

LEMON: I used zest of a whole lemon and a dash of lemon juice to bring out blackberries’ sour notes.

Combine all dry ingredients in a medium size mixing bowl. Mix them well. You can also use a food processor to do this, place all the dry ingredients in a food processor’s bowl and pulse a few times to combine.

Add grated or cubed butter to the dry ingredients. Use a pastry cutter or a couple of knifes to cut the butter into the dry ingredients or a pulse function if using a food processor. Once the mixture resembles wet sand / pebbles and stays together when squeezed in the palm of your hand, it is good to go.

Scatter just under two thirds of the mixture at the bottom of the baking tray and press it into the tray well. Using a flat bottomed glass helps. Bake for 15 minutes while you make the filling.

Combine all of the filling ingredients in a medium size pot. Set it on low heat and simmer gently until the mixture starts to bubble, allow it to bubble for a minute or so and take off the heat. You want some whole blackberries left in the mixture.

Sprinkle remaining crumble mixture on top of the filling and bake for further 30 minutes. Allow the crumble to cool down completely before cutting and refrigerate for a few hours afterwards for neater looking slices.