Brown Butter Peach Crumb Bars

A mouthwatering recipe for fresh peach crumb bars, with juicy peach filling, and brown butter crust and crumble topping spiced with cinnamon and nutmeg. With the buttery, shortbread like crust and brown sugar crumble, these fabulous bars are somewhere between a peach pie and a peach crisp. Serve them warm and gooey with a scoop of homemade vanilla ice cream, or let them cool and cut into bars for a summer dessert you can serve for any occasion.

Looking for more peach recipes? You’ll love this peaches and cream cake, deep dish peach lattice pie, and peach upside down cake.

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Why You’ll Love These Bars

Brown Butter. Browning the butter first, before making the mixture for the crust and crumble topping gives these peach crumb bars the most incredible rich, nutty, buttery flavor. You’ll just love it.

Versatile. You can use fresh, frozen, or even canned peaches in this recipe. If peaches aren’t available, apricots and nectarines work equally well, too!

A Crowd Pleasing Dessert. I don’t know anyone who wouldn’t love eating these bars, and you can scale the recipe up or down to feed as many people as you need!

High Altitude Tested. I develop all the recipes on my site for Denver’s altitude of 5,280 feet. If you’re at a lower or higher elevation, please see my FAQs for guidance on adjusting recipes for your altitude.

See the recipe card at the end of the post for the full ingredients list and instructions.

Ingredients

Peach Filling

• Peaches. I love to use fresh peaches when they’re in season, but you can also use canned (see FAQs) or frozen.
• Lemon Juice. Adds acidity to balance the sweetness.
• Granulated Sugar. Sweetens the filling and adds moisture.
• Vanilla Extract. Flavor.

Crust and Topping

• Butter. I only bake with unsalted butter, so I can add salt later and control the saltiness. You’ll be browning the butter first, for the most wonderful flavor.
• Flour. All-purpose flour adds structure to the crust and topping.
• Dark Brown Sugar. Sweetness.
• Salt. Coarse Kosher salt balances the sweetness and enhances the flavors.
• Baking Powder. Gives the crust a little lift.
• Spices. Cinnamon and nutmeg complement the peaches beautifully.

Instructions

Peach Filling

• Peel the peaches and chop the fruit into 1/2 inch chunks. In a saucepan, combine the peaches, lemon juice and sugar. Over medium heat, bring the peaches to a boil, then continue to cook over medium low heat, stirring frequently, until the liquid becomes thick and syrupy. You should reduce the filling to about 1 1/2 cups.
• Remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla extract. Let cool to room temperature, or make up to 3 days in advance and refrigerate until needed.

TIP: Cooking and reducing the peach filling first concentrates the peach flavor and eliminates excess moisture so that the peach bars aren’t soggy.

Crust and Topping

• Preheat the oven to 350 F, and line an 8 inch baking pan with parchment paper, or spray with nonstick spray. Position an oven rack in the center of the oven.
• Place the butter in a saucepan, and melt over medium heat. Continue to cook the butter, swirling the pan occasionally, until very fragrant and nutty brown solids form on the bottom of the pan. This should take about 5 minutes.
• Meanwhile, combine 2 1/4 cups of the flour with the brown sugar, salt, baking powder, cinnamon and nutmeg. Pour the hot, browned butter over the flour mixture and stir into a soft dough.

TIP: You’ll be using the same dough for both the crust and the crumble topping, and simply adding a bit more flour to a portion of the dough to make it crumbly for sprinkling over the peach filling.

Bake

• Press 2/3 of the dough into an even layer in the prepared pan. Bake for 20 minutes.
• Add the remaining 1/4 cup flour to the remaining 1/3 of the dough, and use your fingers or a fork to make a crumbly topping.
• After the crust bakes for 20 minutes, take the pan out of the oven. Spread the peach filling over the hot crust, then sprinkle the filling with the crumble topping. Return the pan to the oven, and bake for an additional 35 minutes, until the filling is bubbling and the topping is golden brown.
• Let the bars cool at room temperature for at least 2-3 hours before cutting into squares. Or, enjoy them warm, although they’ll be a bit messier.

Be sure to read all of my BAKING FAQs where I discuss ingredients, substitutions and common baking questions, so that you can be successful in your own baking!

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I use frozen or canned peaches instead of fresh?

During peach season, fresh peaches are best for these peach crumb bars. But frozen are an acceptable backup choice, too. If you use canned peaches, be sure to drain and rinse them to get rid of the excess syrup.

Do the peaches need to be peeled?

Yes, you need to peel the peaches, as the peel has an unpleasant texture in peach baked goods.

Will this recipe work with apples or other fruits?

Absolutely. You can swap the peaches for nectarines or apricots for a delicious fruit bar. If you’re looking for other versions, I’d suggest trying my apple crumb bars with maple icing, strawberry cardamom crumb bars with orange icing or blueberry crumb bars.

Can I use canned pie filling or jam?

You can substitute any flavor of canned pie filling for the peach compote. Jam might be too sweet and thick on its own, so I’d suggest adding some chopped fresh peaches to peach jam and try that as a filling.

How long do these bars stay fresh?

You can store these bars at room temperature for 2 days in an airtight container, and the crust will stay crisp and buttery without getting soggy.

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