Peach bars make a wonderful make-ahead breakfast, delicious snack, or an amazing dessert. Made with shortbread and a oat crumble, these peach bars are a favorite!
I’ve been all about peaches lately. I know I have. But when the season is here, I jump right smack dab into the middle of it with my mouth wide open. Last week, I shared a recipe for making peach jelly that extend the peach season throughout the year. These bars use 1 half-pint jar of them or you can simply buy some in your grocery store if you prefer. Either way works fine for these bars.
My peach bars are fairly similar to my other bars that I love to make – peanut butter and jelly and lemon to name a couple – in that they start with that delicious short bread crust. That crust makes my mouth water just thinking about it.
How could any bar not taste out of this world with that as it’s crust?
But, the filling and the topping really do make this peach bar something extra special. A sweet layer of peach jelly topped with a crumb topping of walnuts and oats!
Mercy!
These bars are wonderful to make ahead for breakfast on the go, or to enjoy with a cup of coffee or tea. They are also sturdy enough to be made ahead and packaged to take along on a camping or road trip. Nothing beats homemade goodness when you are out on the road traveling!
And if peach isn’t your thing, you can easily switch out the flavor of the preserves or jelly to one that your family does enjoy. Strawberries, grape, blackberry, or even fig work well.
The possibilities are endless!
Here’s the my peach bars recipe. You will LOVE them!
Peach Bars Recipe | Add a Pinch
Ingredients
For the Crust:
For the Filling:
- 1 half-pint jar peach jelly
For the Crumb Topping:
- 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup brown sugar, packed
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 1/4 cup quick-cooking oats
- 1/4 cup chopped walnuts
- pinch kosher salt
Instructions
For the Crust:
- Make according to shortbread crust instructions. Place into a 9/x13 pan.
For the Filling:
- Spread peach jelly evenly all over the crust.
For the Topping:
- Combine flour, sugar, and butter in a medium bowl with a pastry blender or fork. Stir in oats, walnuts and salt.
- Spread crumb topping evenly over filling.
- Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes until the top is lightly browned.
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely before cutting, about 45 minutes to an hour.
- Cut in equal rows of 3 x 3 or 4 x 4 depending on how large you would like your bars.
- Cover tightly with plastic wrap, under a cake dome or store in an airtight container.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
I hope you enjoy these as much as we do!
Robyn xo
I just made these using apricot jam instead of peaches. I don’t know how I did it, but I waited the 45 minutes cooling time. They are delicious, but I think next time I will increase the baking time to 30-35 minutes. Very easy. I used the food processor for the crust and topping. The crust is to die for. Thank you.
Hi Robyn
I was looking for a way to use up some peach jam I made a while back and thought this recipe looked like the perfect fit. While I’m a relatively experienced baker, I’m stumped by something here. I really can’t tell if you bake off the shortbread crust first before proceeding or if you put down raw shortbread ingredients and bake only once with the bars? Could you clarify that in the instructions? Thanks!
Tom, you will need to follow the instructions for the shortbread crust all the way through baking and cooling the crust, then add the peach jam and follow the topping instructions. Hope you enjoy!
Could I use peach preserves instead of jelly for this?
You could use peach preserves, Donna.
Thank you Robyn! I have a ton of them that need to be used 🙂
Hope you enjoy, Donna!
Thanks for the recipe! I was looking for a jam bar recipe, this one caught my eye as I’ve never had a shortbread base.
I made with a half pint of homemade Peach-Mango jam. I added 1/2tsp of almonds extract to shortbread base and 1/2 tsp of cinnamon to the crumble top otherwise followed recipe to the letter, I did need to increase baking time, probably a lot has to do with the consistency of whatever jam is used.
It’s very good!
That sounds delicious, Tracie. I bet the Peach-Mango jam is incredible!