These gluten free Raspberry Crumb Bars feature layers of fruity flavor over a buttery cookie crust topped with a brown sugar crumble. Believe it or not, these delicious and fruity bars are also completely dairy free, egg free, and nut free!
Summer is slipping away, but we’re still sharing a few more last minute fruity summer treats before we break out the fall recipes. Our gluten free and dairy free raspberry crumb bars are a nod to late summer fruit flavors before pumpkin spice starts taking over.
We tested this crumble bar recipe so many times (thank you to my neighbors for helping me taste test!), getting the recipe and ingredients just right for everyone. I used the same crust recipe as our allergy friendly lemon bars (which are also amazing) to create a shortbread cookie base topped with fruit-only jam and brown sugar crumbles.
These are guaranteed to be a big hit with adults and kids alike, and no one will know they are allergy friendly!
Our raspberry crumb bars are:
- Gluten free
- Dairy free
- Peanut free
- Tree nut free
- Soy free (depending on the dairy free butter you choose)
- Egg free
How to make gluten free raspberry crumb bars
Our raspberry crumb bars have several steps, but are pretty simple to put together!
Here are the steps for this recipe (the full recipe card is at the end of the post):
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F and line an 8×8-inch square baking pan with parchment paper.
- Make the crust: in a medium bowl, whisk together the gluten free all purpose baking mix and the sugar.
- Melt your dairy free butter in the microwave then stir the melted butter into the flour mixture until a crumbly mixture forms that sticks together when it’s pressed.
- Spread the flour/butter mixture into the bottom of the prepared pan and press evenly using the back of a measuring cup.
- Bake the crust for 20-22 minutes.
- While the crust is baking, make the crumb topping. Stir together the oats, flour, and brown sugar.
- Melt the dairy free butter and pour the butter and vanilla into the oat mixture and stir together until a crumbly mixture forms. Set aside.
- Once the crust is baked, remove it from the oven. Spread the fruit-only preserves on the cooked crust and spread evenly.
- Sprinkle the crumb topping over the preserves evenly and bake for 15 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool at least 30 minutes before cutting. The filling will look pretty liquidy at this point, but the filling will firm up as it cools, promise!
- Cool at least 30 minutes before cutting. For best results, allow these to cool completely before cutting and serving.
- Store leftovers in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.
To save on dishes with this recipe, I use the same mixing bowl for mixing up the crust and the crumble topping!
When you’re spreading out the fruit-only preserves, try to get it spread mostly evenly, but don’t worry about getting it perfect. The filling will melt and spread out completely as it cooks, so any empty spaces you might have missed will be filled in with jam.
What kind of dairy free butter can I use in this recipe?
We used Country Crock plant butter sticks in this recipe (the sticks don’t have soybean oil in them but the tubs do), but you can use your favorite dairy free butter in this recipe.
Since our crumb bars use melted dairy free butter, it won’t matter too much which brand you use since most dairy free butters are really similar once they’re melted.
Just make sure to pick one that tastes great and meets your food allergies. I’ve been trying out Flora dairy free butter blocks and so far I love it for sauteing, I haven’t tried it for baking yet but that’s next. It tastes really good!
Can I make different flavors of crumb bars?
This recipe works great with other flavors of fruit-only jam or a mix of 2 different flavors! We tested this recipe out a ton and we used apricot, peach, raspberry, and a blend of peach and raspberry in the same batch. They all tasted amazing.
I’m quite partial to the apricot crumb bars myself!
Just make sure that if you use different flavors of fruit-only preserves for this recipe that they are very thick preserves. Preserves or jam will work better in this recipe than jelly.
Can I freeze these raspberry crumb bars?
We haven’t tried freezing these ourselves, but we heard from readers who made these bars and froze them with good results!
They placed waxed paper between the pieces and these froze and thawed very well.
UPDATE on the King Arthur all-purpose gluten free baking mix
We have used the King Arthur all-purpose gluten free baking mix for quite a few of our recipes, King Arthur Baking Company recently reformulated their gluten free baking mix to be better for biscuits.
The change in their baking mix results in slight texture changes for our cookies specifically, but our cookie recipes still work with the newly reformulated King Arthur gluten free all-purpose baking mix.
I am testing several of our recipes with the changed flour to make sure that the recipes still work great and if any updates to our recipes will be necessary. So far no changes to the recipes are necessary with what we have been testing, but we’ll update recipe cards if we find changes that need to be made!
Check out our other allergy friendly bar recipes:
- Gluten Free Apple Blondies
- Gluten Free Vegan One Bowl Fudge Brownies
- Gluten Free Chocolate Cookie Bars
- Pumpkin Spice Rice Crispy Treats
Gluten Free Raspberry Crumb Bars (Dairy Free)
Ingredients
Crust:
- 1 ¼ cup King Arthur gluten free all-purpose baking mix
- ¼ cup unbleached sugar
- ⅓ cup + 1 Tablespoon dairy free butter, melted
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Filling:
- 10 ounces fruit-only seedless raspberry preserves (we used Smucker's Simply Fruit brand)
Crumb topping:
- ½ cup gluten free quick oats
- ¼ cup King Arthur gluten free all-purpose baking mix (we used the same flour mix as the crust)
- ¼ cup packed brown sugar (or regular unbleached sugar)
- ¼ cup dairy free butter, melted
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line an 8×8-inch square baking pan with parchment paper and set aside.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the gluten free all purpose baking mix and the sugar.
- Heat the dairy free butter in the microwave for about 30 seconds or until melted, then stir the melted butter and vanilla into the flour mixture until a crumbly mixture forms that sticks together when it's pressed together.
- Spread the flour/butter mixture into the bottom of the prepared pan and press evenly into the bottom of the pan with the back of a measuring cup.
- Bake the crust for 20-22 minutes.
- While the crust is baking, make the crumb topping. Stir together the oats, flour, and brown sugar.
- Melt the butter and pour the butter and vanilla into the oat mixture and stir together until a crumbly mixture forms. Set aside.
- Once the crust is baked, remove it from the oven. Spread the preserves on the crust and spread evenly (it will also melt and spread out evenly as it cooks, too).
- Sprinkle the crumb topping over the preserves evenly and bake for 15 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool at least 30 minutes before cutting (the filling will firm up as it cools). For best results, allow these to cool completely before cutting and serving.
- Store leftovers in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.
Video
Nutrition
Sarah Jane Parker is the founder, recipe creator, and photographer behind The Fit Cookie which she founded in 2011. Sarah is based in Wyoming and has been managing food allergies for herself and her 2 children for over 20 years. Sarah was also a certified personal trainer for 12 years, as well as a group fitness instructor, health coach, running coach, and fitness nutrition specialist.
Hello! I am making these for my sister’s birthday. Will this still work if I double the recipe? Thank you!
Hi Mindy, I think this will work if you double it, you may need to bake it a couple minutes longer if it’s in a larger pan.
Hi there!!! Could you use coconut oil In place of the butter?
Hi Jerilee! You could use coconut oil instead of butter, I’d use less though since it tends to melt easier than butter and might not absorb as well into the flour.
I am looking for dairy free only recipes. Can I use regular flour in these? Would it be same measurement? Thanks!
Hi Linda! I am not sure what the conversion for the flour would be but I think it would be safe to say this could be 1:1 for regular all purpose flour even though the baking mix isn’t exactly labeled as 1:1. Since the gluten free baking mix has some salt, you’ll probably want to add a dash of salt to your flour when making the crust and topping.
Made these for my daughter in law that is gluten and dairy free! I’ve made her some really good treats but she said by far these are her favorite! I used blackberry jam on half and lavender cherry on half! They were so good! I admit better than any regular oatmeal dessert/bar! I ran out of my gluten free flour after making the crust and used almond flour in the crumb topping and still perfection! Thank you so much for sharing such a wonderful recipe!!!!
Thank you so much Cameron! Great tip on the almond flour in the crumb topping as well 🙂
I used peaches and cherries, cooked with lemon juice and cinnamon and added almond extract at the end. They turned out fantastic. I also used cassava flour and it worked just fine. This is a great base recipe for summer fruits.
Thank you for sharing those fruit ideas Cheryl, I love it!
These were amazing! I used raspberry and blackberry jam and it turned out delicious. Thank you!
Thanks Sonya! Great idea with blackberry jam, I’ll have to try that 🙂
What if I can’t do rice flour (the flour blend has the rice flour)? What other gluten free flour you recommend to replace the blend? Do I have to add something if I don’t have a flour blend?
Hi Lianne, you could try using sorghum flour and adding a pinch of xanthan gum, or some cassava flour such as Otto’s. The texture will be slightly different than using a blend, so you may have to adjust the liquid slightly. But this is an easier recipe to swap flours than like a cupcake recipe would, so you have some room to try out the sorghum or cassava flour. Even a paleo blend like the one from Bob’s Red Mill might be a good option here if it’s a one-to-one replacement for all purpose gluten free flour.
I used my homemade blackberry jam with these bars and they are to die for!!!
These sound amazing with homemade blackberry jam!!
Very very delicious! I didn’t have enough raspberry jam so mixed it with apricot jam. Turned out wonderful!
So glad to hear that, thank you Laura!