Peanut Butter Blackberry Bars

By Dawn Perry

Published May 19, 2020

  • Yossy Arefi for The New York Times (Photography and Styling)
Media 1 of 1
Total Time
1 hour, plus cooling
Rating
5(956)
Comments
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The love child of a juicy summer fruit pie and a classic peanut butter and jelly sandwich, these family-friendly bars are perfect for a backyard picnic or an after-school snack. They’re super fast to make with an electric mixer, but you can also make the dough by hand: Just be sure the butter is very soft before you start, and mix with a sturdy wooden spoon or rubber spatula. To make easy work of pressing the dough into the baking dish, use lightly floured hands or the bottom of a flat measuring cup.

Featured in: 3 Summery Sweets You Can Make With Frozen Fruit

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Ingredients

Yield:16 bars

  • ½ cup/115 grams unsalted butter (1 stick), at room temperature, plus more for greasing the pan

  • 1 cup/255 grams natural or processed peanut butter or almond butter

  • ½ cup/110 grams packed light or dark brown sugar

  • ¾ cup/150 grams granulated sugar

  • 1 large egg

  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

  • 1 ½ cups/190 grams all-purpose flour

  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt

  • ½ teaspoon baking powder

  • 1 (10-ounce/285-gram) bag frozen blackberries, raspberries, blueberries or a combination

  • Flaky salt (optional)

Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving

31 grams carbs; 27 milligrams cholesterol; 267 calories; 6 grams monosaturated fat; 2 grams polyunsaturated fat; 5 grams saturated fat; 14 grams fat; 2 grams fiber; 168 milligrams sodium; 5 grams protein; 20 grams sugar

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

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Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Heat oven to 350 degrees. Butter an 8- or 9-inch square pan and line with parchment paper, leaving a 2-inch overhang on two of the sides.

  2. Step 2

    In a large bowl, stir together butter, peanut butter, brown sugar and ½ cup granulated sugar until smooth and creamy. Add egg and vanilla and beat to combine. Add flour, salt and baking powder and stir to combine.

  3. Step 3

    Press about two-thirds of the dough into the prepared pan. In a separate bowl, toss berries with remaining ¼ cup granulated sugar. Scatter berry and sugar mixture over dough, then crumble remaining dough over top, pulling it apart into big crumbs.

  4. Step 4

    Bake on the middle rack until golden brown, 45 to 50 minutes. Sprinkle with flaky salt, if using. Let cool completely before slicing into squares. Store, covered in the refrigerator, for up to 3 days.

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Ratings

5 out of 5
956 user ratings
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Comments

Alexandra

Like other commenters I think the sugar could be reduced a little bit, but otherwise it's really good and really easy to make ... even if you're watching the downfall of democracy while trying to throw it together.

jenn

Do you let the berries thaw or keep frozen? What if you use fresh berries? Will it be too runny?

TerriW

@Alexandra and 5 years later we’re still watching, albeit through splayed fingers.

Margarita

I doubled the recipe and used a 9x11 baking sheet with parchment added only 150g each of dark and caster sugar added potato flour and some sugar to the fruit sprinkled salt on top baked for 50 minutes delicious! Nice to serve at breakfast or for a snack

Kristin

I used mixed berries and mine pretty much taste like a pb&j in bar form, so let that guide you as to how much you'll like these (for me it's a thumbs up!) I have no idea how these aren't baking up for people. I baked mine 55 min because all the comments about raw bottoms scared me, and mine are a tad dark on the bottom as a result. Next time I'd use the stated baking time.

Georgia

I made this exactly as written (except for an addition of rolled oats to the crumble) using frozen blackberries. They were delicious, especially the peanut butter cookie part. However, blackberries are sweeter and mellower than other berries, thus I felt the berry flavor was kind of overpowered by the peanut butter. I think next time I’ll try raspberries since they’re a little more tart and might contrast better with the sweetness of the cookie. That’s just my personal preference. I also think these might be better with jam rather than fresh/frozen berries since the moisture from the berry made the cookie part a little soggy and perhaps slightly underbaked (I baked for 45 minutes). Nevertheless, they were still delicious and I will probably eat the whole pan myself haha.

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