Passionfruit Crumble Bars

I really like lemon bars, but I think that they can be finicky to make. When I am looking for new recipes to try, when I come across lemon bar cookies I pay close attention. I came across this recipe, which started out as lemon crumble bars. They sounded great, and called for lemon curd. I probably could have made these as the recipe stated, but I wanted to mix it up a little.

A while back, I made a cake that used passionfruit curd, as my boss really likes passionfruit. Passionfruit curd is not the easiest thing to find, but I lucked out and found two different versions, one at Williams Sonoma, and the other at the local Asian grocery store. Passionfruit is popular in Hawaii, where it is called lilikoi, which is why the Asian market carries it. I used the one from Williams Sonoma in the cake-and it was fantastic! I knew this one would be great, too.

This is a very simple recipe for the crust. Perhaps too simple; I would have liked to have had a thicker bottom crust and more crumble on top. I made this in a 9” pan, but an 8” pan would help somewhat. I think you need almost double the crust mixture. If I make these with lemon I will try that. Mine got very dark around the edges, as the sugar in the curd burned as the bars baked. The base of these cookies is crispy, but the curd and the topping are crumbly. The passionfruit curd is excellent, but these would also be wonderful with lemon curd (or whatever flavor of curd you might discover!).

Passionfruit Crumble Bars

1/2 cup of butter

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup packed brown sugar

1 and 1/2 cup flour

1 cup passionfruit curd (or other flavor)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line an 8” square pan with foil and spray the foil with nonstick cooking spray.

Melt the butter in a small microwavable bowl, microwaving in 30 second increments until melted. Transfer the melted butter to a medium bowl. Add the sugar and brown sugar to the butter and stir to combine. Add the flour and stir until the mixture is crumbly.

Set aside ¾ cup of the crust mixture and press the remaining mixture into the prepared pan. Spread the crust with the curd. Sprinkle the reserved crumb topping on top of the curd.

Bake for 35-40 minutes, until the bars are lightly browned. Allow to cool at room temperature for 20 minutes and then refrigerate for at least an hour before cutting into bars.

Recipe from House of Yumm