Brown Butter Strawberry Crumb Bars
This post may contain affiliate links. Please see my disclosure policy.
Spring strawberries are even more delicious in brown butter strawberry crumb bars! These simple crumb bars bake up buttery and golden with a sweet strawberry center. Flavored with rich brown butter and drizzled with vanilla butter glaze, you’ll love this easy crumb bar recipe.
How to make brown butter:
Brown butter adds the most amazing flavor to these strawberry crumb bars! To brown butter, cook butter in a heavy saucepan over medium heat, stirring constantly until it foams, turns clear, and then turns a medium brown, about 5 minutes.
How to make strawberry crumb bars:
- The crust and crumbs are one simple dough that comes together in under 10 minutes.
- Reserve 3/4 cup of the dough for the crumb topping (keep chilled), and press the remaining dough evenly and firmly into the prepared baking pan.
- Bake the crust until golden, then let cool for 15 minutes before adding the strawberry filling and reserved crumb topping.
- Continue baking until the topping is golden and the berry filling is slightly bubbly, another 45 to 50 minutes. Let bars cool completely.
- Once the bars are completely cool, chill them in the freezer for 15 minutes. Transfer to a cutting board and cut into squares with a sharp knife.
- Whisk up the quick vanilla butter glaze until smooth. Drizzle the glaze over the bars and enjoy! These bars are also delicious dusted with powdered sugar or topped with a scoop of vanilla ice cream!
Brown Butter Strawberry Crumb Bars
- Prep Time: 25 minutes
- Cook Time: 65 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
- Yield: 12 to 16 bars
Description
The BEST brown butter strawberry crumb bars! Flavored with brown butter and drizzled with vanilla butter glaze, you’ll love this easy crumb bar recipe.
Ingredients
Crust & Crumbs
- 14 Tbsp unsalted butter
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup light brown sugar
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 1/4 cups flour
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
Filling
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 2 Tbsp arrowroot starch (or 1 1/2 Tbsp cornstarch)
- 2 cups sliced strawberries
- 1 tsp fresh lemon juice
Glaze
- 1 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted
- pinch of salt
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 3/4 cup powdered sugar, sifted
- 1 1/2 Tbsp milk
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F and line an 8-inch square baking pan with parchment paper.
- Cook butter in a heavy saucepan over medium heat, stirring constantly until it foams, turns clear, and then turns a medium brown, about 5 minutes. Add brown butter to a large bowl and whisk in sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla until combined.
- Whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl; add to butter mixture and fold in until incorporated. Reserve 3/4 cup of dough for topping (keep chilled); press remaining dough evenly into bottom of prepared pan. Bake crust for 14 to 16 minutes, until lightly golden and set. Transfer to a wire rack and cool for 15 minutes.
- For the filling, combine sugar, salt, and arrowroot starch in a medium bowl. Add strawberries and lemon juice, tossing gently to combine. Spoon mixture over cooled crust and crumble reserved dough over filling.
- Bake for another 45 to 50 minutes, or until topping is golden and filling slightly bubbly. Cool completely in pan on a wire rack. Just before cutting, chill in the freezer for 15 minutes. Carefully lift parchment and place bars on a cutting board; cut into squares with a sharp knife.
- For the glaze, whisk together melted butter, salt, vanilla, powdered sugar, and milk in a small bowl. Drizzle glaze over bars and let set before serving. Store leftover bars in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
Keywords: Brown Butter, Strawberry, Crumb Bars, Bars
More strawberry recipes you’ll love:
Fresh Strawberry Sheet Cake
Strawberry Rhubarb Cheesecake Bars
Strawberry Cream Scones
Strawberry Cookie Tart
Oh good heck, these are delicious!! I thought, no way is that soupy strawberry mixture going to set up, but it did and it is sweet and jammy and tastes divine. The only substitution I made – two tbsp. Bird’s Custard Powder (basically just cornstarch in a cheery tin). I over-poured the vanilla extract into the glaze and made it brown. Next time, and there will be a next time, I’ll add lemon extract to the glaze to keep it brighter. So good. Thank you.
★★★★★
Hi Marji, so glad these bars were such a hit! 🙂
How about whole frozen strawberries would that work? Or would I actually have to get fresh strawberries and slice them?
Hi, I recommend fresh strawberries for these bars! Alternatively, you can used sliced frozen strawberries (leave them frozen and mix with the rest of the filling ingredients).
hi, can i use strawberry pie filling for this instead?
Hi Toria! I haven’t tested this recipe with strawberry pie filling, but I think that will work well. Happy baking! 🙂
Hi, I got a huge box of non-sweet/bland strawberries from Costco. I dont want to waste them, can I use them in this recipe? Will the bars still be good?
Hi Iram! You can use them in this recipe, you may just want to bump up the sugar in the filling a bit. Another idea I have for you is a strawberry crisp I’ve been making lately. I haven’t posted the recipe here on the site yet, but there’s a step-by-step in my Instagram highlights that covers the process: https://www.instagram.com/stories/highlights/17850265406057690/ Hope that helps! 🙂
I can’t wait until local strawberries are ripe! My whole family will love these yummy berry bars! Happy Mother’s Day, Laura!
★★★★★
Thank you, Liz! Hope you had a wonderful Mother’s Day! 🙂