Red Currant Crumb Bars

Red Currant Bars

Another currant recipe? Yes! And these bars are also incredible. I made these a few weeks ago with my mom while I was back home for the 4th. I always love going back home to cook and bake in the summer. Photographing in any one of my parents many, many backyard gardens is always awesome and with so many wild flowers and old furniture there’s so much more variety than my apartment kitchen.

Red Currant Bars

Red Currants

Old Ford

There’s also two amazing orchards close to where I grew up that have fantastic you-pick seasonal fruits. I’ll be going home again next weekend to visit my soon to be niece (things are happening as I type!), but I’ll probably be going to one of these lovely farms when I’m not swooning over the newest addition to the family.

Hurd Orchards

Hurd Orchards

Vinegars

These current bars are AMAZING. I love the tart sweet contrast and that insanely red ribbon that laces the bars, but you can easily swap out blueberries if you don’t have currants locally or they’re past season. I’ve actually made them with blueberries before too, also delicious (but not at all surprising considering the source).

Red Currant Bars

Red Currant Bars

 

Red Currant Crumb Bars

Adapted from Katie at the Kitchen Door
Makes 16 bars
 
You can swap red currants for pink or white currants, but I highly recommend the red since the bright ribbon of color is just so pretty. 
 
Currant Layer
3 cups fresh red, pink or white currants
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon cornstarch
 
Crumb Base and Topping
2 cups flour
2/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/3 sticks salted butter (5.3 oz.), cut into cubes and chilled
1 egg
 

Preheat the oven to 375°F. Grease an 8×8 or 11×7-inch cake pan and set aside.

For currant layer, gently stir currants, sugar, and cornstarch together until currants are coated with the sugar mixture. Set aside.

For crumb base and topping, whisk dry ingredients together in another bowl until evenly combined. Add butter and egg; cut in with fork or pastry cutter until blended and crumbly.

Press 2/3 of the dough into the prepared pan. Spread currants evenly over crumb base. Clump the remaining dough together and crumble over the currant layer. Bake for 35-45 minutes, until currants are bubbly and crumb topping is golden brown. Remove from oven, cool and cut into squares.

Store in air-tight container – these also freeze incredibly well!


Comments

  1. Evelyn J. says

    FABULOUS!. I replaced 1/4 cup of the flour with 1/4 cup of almond flour. Pressed the dough into the bottom and added the currents,. For the topping, I ground some additional almonds and mixed it into the topping and crumbled on top. They taste amazing!

  2. Christina Ridgeway says

    It is past fresh red currant season but I froze many from the garden beforehand.
    Could I use those in this recipe? Anything to take into consideration in that case?

    • says

      Absolutely! It should work just fine. I would use them frozen. My mom uses them frozen in my Red Currant Pie recipe all the time and that can be more finicky than the bars.

  3. Marion says

    I’ve baked these on sunday and it was pure delish ! I might decrease the butter a little next time to make the topping a little more crumbly but it was delicious as it is. Thank you so much for this wonderful recipe ?

  4. Alex says

    I made these and they were delicious! But I stashed half the squares in the freezer, and now I’m wondering how to defrost them. Should I just leave at room temp? Should I reheat them in the oven? Any tips?

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