These perfectly sweet and crunchy bars have a thick crumbly shortbread base, a middle filled with sweet juicy peaches and it is topped with a sweet streusel. These are the perfect pick me up to enjoy during peach season!

Peach Crumble Bars

I honestly cannot express how excited I am about peach season, I feel like I look forward to it all year, and when it’s here, I honestly cannot get enough of it! So although it’s only May, I am kicking it off with these peach crumble bars which I honestly cannot stop eating. The peaches are so incredibly juicy and they pair so well with the shortbread base (which is a massive weakness of mine!), making them perfectly balanced and the best snack for any time of the day.

So, what are these made of?

These are so simple to make and only require some very basic ingredients:

• Salted butter – shortbread is always better with a little bit of salt!
• Flour
• Sugar – both brown and granulated
• Vanilla extract
• Juicy peaches

A few tips for success

1. Use cold butter – this is honestly the most important tip I could ever give you. Room temperature butter just doesn’t work with shortbread, as it won’t mix well with the sugar and it will make it dense instead of crumbly and short
2. Do not use overripe peaches – you want your peaches to be ripe but firm, otherwise they will go really mushy and it’ll become more of a pure
3. Make your streusel first – it’s getting warmer and your butter can easily melt, I like to prepare my streusel ahead of time and keep it in the fridge until it’s time to use, that way, the butter will stay cold and won’t melt and spread in the oven

Peach Crumble Bars

Ingredients:

For the shortbread base:

• 225 gr of plain flour 
• 150 gr of cold salted butter 
• 75 gr of caster sugar

For the filling:

• 6 medium peaches cut into wedges
• 2 tbsp of flour
• 2 tbsp of brown sugar
• 1 tsp of vanilla extract

For the topping 

• 90 gr of cold butter
• 4 tablespoon brown sugar
• 4 tablespoon granulated sugar
• 100 gr flour
• A pinch salt

Method:

1. Make the streusel topping by mixing all the ingredients using your hands. Put the mix in the fridge until you need it. This will guarantee that your streusel doesn’t melt in the oven.
2. Preheat the oven at 180 degrees celsius. Line an 8×8 inch square baking tray with parchment paper. 
3. In a bowl, mix the flour, cold butter and caster sugar until fully combined, the best way to do this is either with your hands or in a food processor. Once they are mixed, it should have a grainy texture that sticks together when pressed. Press the mixture into the prepared baking tray and bake for 20 minutes until slightly golden on the edges. 
4. While the shortbread base cooks, cut the peaches into slices. Combine them in a bowl with the flour, sugar, vanilla and cinnamon. Set aside until the shortbread base is done.
5. Once the shortbread is ready, take it out of the oven and let it rest for 5 minutes, leave the oven on while this happens. After 5 minutes, layer the peaches on top of the warm shortbread making sure they are evenly spread over it. Then, top them with the streusel. The streusel should have solidified and you should be able to crumb it with your fingers, if it’s still soft, put it in the freezer for a few minutes to allow it to cool faster.
6. Place the bars back in the oven and cook for 30 minutes until the streusel is golden brown. Allow them to cool and cut them into squares or rectangles and enjoy!