Nectarine and Blackberry Pie Bars
An easy summer recipe highlighting the thin-skinned nectarine and sweet-tart blackberry. Easily adaptable to suit your pantry and stone fruit/berry haul.
Servings: 25 bars
Ingredients
Pie Crust
- ¾ cup (170 g) unsalted butter
- 1 cup (125 g) all-purpose flour
- 1 cup (130 g) rye flour (or whole wheat, barley, or spelt)
- ⅓ cup (60 g) firmly packed light brown sugar
- ¾ teaspoon salt
Crisp Topping
- ½ cup (70 g) all-purpose flour
- ½ cup (75 g) rye flour (or whole wheat, barley, spelt, or more all-purpose)
- ½ cup (45 g) old-fashioned oats
- ½ cup (100 g) firmly-packed brown sugar (light or dark)
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ cup (115 g) unsalted butter, softened but cool
- Optional: ½ cup chopped nuts almond, walnut, pecan, or hazelnut
- Optional: ½-3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon and/or cardamom
Filling
- 1 ⅓ pounds (626 g) nectarines (about 4 medium)
- 1 ½ cups (240 g) blackberries
- ½ vanilla bean or 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste or extract
- ¼ scant cup (45 g) sugar less if fruit is quite sweet
- ½ teaspoon lemon zest from about 1 lemon
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon nutmeg preferably freshly grated
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- pinch of salt
Instructions
Pie Crust
- Place rack in center of oven, then pre-heat oven to 350°F. Line a 9-by-13-inch pan with parchment paper.
- Melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium-low heat until it foams, then the foam subsides and the milk solids turn a light brown, about 10 minutes. Butter should have a nutty aroma. Set aside to cool to room temperature.
- Meanwhile, whisk the remaining crust ingredients together. Once butter has cooled, add it then stir gently to form a ball. Divide into 5-8 pieces, scattering these along the pan bottom. Press the sections into one even layer in the pan, then bake for about 20 minutes, until golden brown. Set aside to cool.
Crisp Topping
- Prepare while your pie dough is in the oven.
- Combine all the dry ingredients in a medium bowl, whisk to break up any large lumps and combine. Add the butter and mix everything together using your fingers, until large crumbs form.
Filling
- To a large bowl, add the sugar, lemon zest, and vanilla paste/extract/or seeds from the vanilla bean. Use your fingers to rub the zest and vanilla into the sugar. Let sit while you prepare the fruit, letting the flavors meld.
- Wash the blackberries, pat dry, then place in a medium bowl. Wash, then quarter the nectarines, remove the pit, and coarsely chop the fruit. Add to the blackberries.
- To the bowl of sugar, add the spices, flour, and salt. Add the nectarines and blackberries, then gently fold to combine. Pour over the partially-cooled crust.
- Sprinkle the crisp topping evenly over the fruit.
- Bake until topping is golden brown about 35-55 minutes. Cool completely before slicing and serving, or serve warm (they will not hold the bar shape) with ice cream.
Notes
The crust and crisp topping can be made ahead of time. They can be tightly-wrapped, then stored in the fridge for several days or frozen for up to one month, then used to proceed with the recipe. The crust will need to be defrosted slightly (remove as oven preheats and filling is assembled). The crisp topping can be used straight from its frozen state.