Peach Crumb Bars

These easy peach crumb bars have four glorious layers: a buttery shortbread crust, tender peach filling, brown sugar streusel, and a smooth vanilla icing to top it all off.

It’s that time of year again! Pumpkin spice season, fall, autumn. No matter what you call it, I think everyone can agree that it’s the best season for baking. When else do you get an excuse to make pumpkin-flavored desserts for a whole three months? I don’t know about you, but I’m ready to dive in headfirst with the pumpkin pies, orange cranberry scones, cinnamon pound cake, and apple crumble.

But first, I’ve got tons of late summer fruit to deal with. While our family eats a lot (and I mean a LOT) of fruit, there’s just an overload of peaches, figs, and blackberries sitting in the refrigerator. We’ve gotten to the point where the excess isn’t bad enough to throw out, but no one really feels like eating it.

These peach crumb bars are a great way to use up all of those slightly overripe peaches before the mold creeps in. A buttery shortbread crust forms the base of the bars, supporting a sweet peach filling. Each bite of the shortbread just melts in your mouth, made even more tender by the peaches. And did I mention the delicious brown sugar streusel and easy vanilla icing? These bars are ridiculously addictive and impossible to stop eating, so proceed with caution.

Peach Crumb Bars

Course: Dessert

Yield

9-12

bars

Prep Time

30

minutes

Cook Time

50

minutes

Total Time

5

hours 

20

minutes

Make use of all your leftover late summer peaches with these easy bars! They’ve got a buttery shortbread crust covered with cinnamon-y peach filling, and are finished with brown sugar streusel and vanilla icing.

Ingredients

• Crust

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted

• 1/4 cup granulated sugar

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

• 3/4 teaspoon cinnamon

• 1/4 teaspoon salt

• 1 cup all-purpose flour

• Filling

• 1/4 cup granulated sugar

• 2 teaspoons cornstarch

• 1 teaspoon flour

• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

• 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice

• 1/4 teaspoon salt

• 2 cups peaches, peeled and diced (about 3-4 fresh peaches)*

• Streusel

• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour

• 1/3 cup packed light brown sugar

• 2 tablespoons granulated sugar

• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

• 1/4 teaspoon salt

• 1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted

• Icing

• 1/2 cup powdered sugar

• 1 tablespoons milk

• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions

• Crust
• Preheat the oven to 300°F. Line the bottom and sides of an 8-inch square baking pan with parchment paper, leaving an overhang on all sides. Set aside.
• In a medium bowl, stir the melted butter, granulated sugar, vanilla extract, cinnamon, and salt together. Add the flour and mix until combined. Press the mixture evenly into the prepared baking pan. Bake for 15 minutes.
• Remove the crust from the oven and turn the oven up to 350°F.
• Filling
• Whisk the granulated sugar, cornstarch, flour, cinnamon, lemon juice, and salt together in a large bowl. Gently fold in the peaches until the peaches are evenly coated.
• Streusel
• In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, brown sugar, granulated sugar, cinnamon, and salt together. Stir in the melted butter.
• Spread peaches evenly over the crust. Don’t pour any juice left at the bottom of the bowl onto the crust. Crumble the streusel topping over the peach layer.
• Bake for 30-35 minutes or until the streusel is golden brown and you can see the peach layer bubbling underneath.
• Let cool completely in baking pan for about 4 hours before topping with glaze.
• Icing
• Whisk the powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla extract together. Drizzle over cooled crumb bars.

Notes

• Make Ahead: Bars can be made 4 days ahead: store in an airtight container in the fridge.
• Peaches: I don’t recommend substituting frozen peaches in this recipe, since they add too much moisture and can make the crust soggy.