Summer heat often makes baking less than desirable, so if you’re going to heat up the kitchen to make dessert, you gotta make it worth every bead of sweat that collects on your forehead.
These berry crumb bars are worth it and then some.
Built on a forgiving shortbread-like crust (it’s supposed to be crumbly) and topped with gooey seasonal fruit, they offer all the great taste of a summer pie but are so much easier to make since you don’t have to bother with mixing and rolling out dough.
How easy is this recipe? While a food processor or KitchenAid mixer will certainly speed things along, all you really need to cut in the butter that helps create the crumbly bottom layer is a fork or pastry cutter and some good old-fashioned elbow grease.
I used a mix of blueberries and strawberries because the two fruits have such complementary flavors and are always easy to find, often on sale. Also, two contrasting colors are always more visually appealing in a dessert than one.