Peach Bars

These easy peach bars are sweet, buttery and made with fresh peaches. Enjoy this simple yet impressive dessert!

Everyone loves fresh peach bars. When fresh peaches are in season, it’s the best time to try these delicious bars. They taste like peach pie or peach cobbler but in bar form.

Serve these bars for any occasion including summer picnics, barbecues or dinner parties.

If you love peach desserts, you will also like Peach Crumble and Peach Pie Cupcakes!

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

• The prep is quick and easy.
• Peach crumb bars are buttery, crisp and packed with fresh flavor.
• This recipe is made for sharing so you can bring them to any gathering.
• Adapt this recipe to any of your favorite summer fruits – blueberries, blackberries and more!

Ingredients You Need

This recipe come together with a few simple pantry ingredients and fresh peaches. Here is what you need to know about the ingredients:

Crust and Crumb Topping Ingredients:

• Flour: You can substitute the all-purpose flour with 1:1 gluten free all-purpose flour, if desired.
• Butter: Use unsalted butter for this recipe. The butter should be cold and cubed.
• Brown Sugar: Use light brown sugar for the best flavor. If you substitute with dark brown sugar, they will taste a little different as dark brown sugar has a deeper flavor.
• Other Baking Ingredients: You will also need baking powder, salt, egg and vanilla extract.

Peach Filling:

• Peaches: Use fresh ripe peaches. They should be firm but slightly soft when squeezed.
• Granulated Sugar: You can reduce the amount of sugar if you prefer the bars to be less sweet.
• Cornstarch: This helps the fruit firm up when baked.
• Lemon Juice: Adds fresh citrus to balance the peaches. You can omit, if desired.

How to Make Peach Bars

These peach bars with crumb topping come together in a few quick and easy steps!

• Prepare for baking: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and line a 9×9-inch baking pan with parchment paper.
• Start the crumb topping: In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Add the cold butter and use a pastry cutter to create a crumb-like mixture. Alternatively, you can use a food processor and pulse about 20 seconds, until pea-sized crumbs form.
• Use the crumb topping for the crust: In a separate large bowl, whisk together brown sugar, egg and vanilla until combined. Slowly add the flour mixture to the wet mixture and use a rubber spatula (or your hands) to combine the ingredients into a crumbly mixture. Press 2/3 of the mixture into the bottom of the prepared dish. Make sure it is compact so it creates a sturdy crust for the peaches.

You do not have to peel the peaches, but removing the skin results in better texture and flavor. I use a vegetable peeler to quickly remove the skin.

• Make the peach filling: In a separate bowl, stir together the chopped peaches, sugar and cornstarch. Spoon peach mixture over the crust. Top with remaining crumble mixture.
• Bake for 40 to 45 minutes or until the crumble top is golden brown and the peach layer is bubbling at the edges. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely at room temperature. Cut bars into 1 1/2 inch squares and serve.

To help firm up the bars, allow them to cool then place them in the refrigerator for 1 to 2 hours to firm up. This will help them maintain their shape when you cut them.

The bars taste great served on their own or served warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream!

Recipe Tips

• Choose the freshest fruit – The peaches should be firm but slightly soft when gently squeezed. Avoid damaged or bruised fruit.
• Use cold butter – The butter should be cold. This helps to create the crumb topping. If the butter is soft, the topping will be sticky rather than crumbly.
• Don’t forget to use parchment paper – This allows you to remove the bars from the pan easily. If you don’t use parchment paper, the crust will stick to the bottom and sides of the pan.
• Make gluten free peach bars! To make these gluten free, swap the flour with 1:1 gluten free all-purpose flour. You will also want to check to make sure your cornstarch and baking powder are gluten free.
• Switch out the fruit – These bars taste great with any summer fruit. You can substitute the peaches with blueberries, blackberries, strawberries, raspberries and more. Or combine and use two types of fruit. In the fall you can even swap with apples!

Storage

Store leftover bars in a sealed container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.

Other Dessert Bar Recipes

• Strawberry Crumble Bars
• Blueberry Crumble Bars
• Apple Crumb Bars
• Banana Bars with Cream Cheese Frosting

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