Peach Crumb Bars

If you have ripe, juicy peaches sitting around your kitchen, please make these bars right now. They are like delicious little peach pie bars. I found the recipe at Annie's Eats. They were definitely best when eaten warm, but we had leftovers for a couple days and they were still yummy.

Recipe from Annie's Eats

1½ cups sugar, divided
1 tsp. baking powder
3 cups all-purpose flour
¼ tsp. salt
Zest of half a lemon
16 tbsp. cold, unsalted butter cut into small pieces
1 large egg
5 cups peeled, chopped peaches (about 5 peaches)
5 tsp. cornstarch
Juice of 1 lemon
Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg (I used ground nutmeg)

Preheat the oven to 375° F. Grease a 9 x 13″ dish; set aside.

In a medium bowl, combine 1 cup of the sugar, the baking powder and flour. Mix in the salt and the lemon zest, and stir together with a fork. Cut in the butter and egg with a pastry blender until the largest chunks are about pea-sized. The mixture should be crumbly without much loose flour. Spread about half of the dough mixture in an even layer over the bottom of the prepared pan and press down firmly to form the bottom crust.

In another bowl, stir together the remaining sugar, cornstarch, lemon juice and nutmeg. Gently mix in the peaches with a rubber spatula until combined. Sprinkle the fruit mixture evenly over the crust. (I used a slotted spoon to transfer the fruit to the baking dish, discarding most of the excess juice, to prevent the crust from getting soggy.) Crumble the remaining dough over the top of the peaches.

Bake for about 45 minutes or until the top is slightly golden brown. Cool completely before cutting into squares and serving.

Enjoy the rest of Peach season!