Dessert

Mulberries are a surprise luxury that many people overlook.

Don’t be too distracted with the birds making a mess of the mulberries in your yard to realize that they are a wonderful resource for jams and delicious baked goods like these mulberry crumble bars.

When mulberries are ripe they will fall easily into your hand as you grab them. Many people harvest mulberries by laying a sheet out on the ground and shaking the branches of the tree to let the ripe berries fall.

Unlike thimble-shaped raspberries, mulberries retain their small stem. You do not need to worry about removing the stem, you can eat it just like you can eat the seeds of mulberries and raspberries.

If you prefer, you can use a food mill to remove the seeds and stems, but you will need significantly more berries.

Crumble bars are a favorite treat we like to make with raspberries, but mulberries are a great berry to use in crumb bars instead when they are in abundance.

Begin by macerating the mulberries. This means mixing them with sugar to bring out some of the juices. We will also add corn starch and flour to thicken the juices as they cook.

If you have previously made some, you can substitute this set of ingredients with mulberry jam.

Next, make the crumble base by cutting the butter into the dry ingredients with a pastry cutter.

Press two-thirds of the crumble mixture into the base of a 9×13 pan. set the remaining one-third aside.

Spread out the berry mixture over the bottom crust. Crumble the remaining dry mixture over the top. Bake, cool, and enjoy!

I grew up in the southwest and was not familiar with mulberry trees, but my husband knew them and we would forage for them.

Our new farm has a number of large mulberry trees, but there are also small sprouted trees all over our property. we have moved a bunch to make a windbreak. So we will be in the mulberries for a long time into our farm’s future!

Print Recipe

Mulberry Crumble Bars

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Dessert

By Jeanette Merrill

Prep Time: 20 minutes – Cooking Time: 40 minutes – Total Time: 1 hour

Ingredients

• Mulberry Filling
• 3 Cups fresh mulberries
• 2 T granulated sugar
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• juice of one lemon
• Crumble Layer
• 3 cups flour
• 1 1/2 cups melted butter
• 3 cups rolled oats
• 1 1/2 cups brown sugar (loosely packed)
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Instructions

1

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

2

Place mulberries in a medium bowl, mix berries with sugar, flour, cornstarch, and lemon juice. Set aside.

3

Mix the flour, butter, oats, sugar, baking powder, and salt together into a crumbly mixture. Press two thirds of the crumble into the bottom of a 9×13 pan lined with parchment paper.

4

Pour the mulberries and accumulated juices over the bottom crust. Spread into a single layer. Sprinkle the top with remaining crumble mixture. Bake for 40 minutes.

5

Cool before slicing into bars.

Notes

Store up to one week in airtight container. Mulberries may be replaced with raspberries or any berry combination.