Merciful God, You are great in compassion and Your tenderness for us is without measure. We ask You to give us today our daily bread, and also provide for the needs of all of Your hungry children around the world. Through Christ Your Son and Our Lord. Amen.

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Blueberry Crumb Bars

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It must be the season for fruit pie bars -- just in the past few days I've seen peach bars, blackberry bars, lemon bars. They are all delicious ways to make an easy-to-bake and easy-to-eat pie. We went to the home of dear friends last week to swim in their pool and enjoy pizza, salad, sangria and dessert. They provided the pool and we provided the rest. The pizza we picked up, the sangria came in a bottle, the salad was just a quick toss, and the dessert was Blueberry Crumb Bars. These yummy little bars were sweet and tart with a little bit of lemon zest and some slightly tart blueberries. If I had tasted the blueberries, I would have added more sugar, but everyone seemed to like the bars with a little zip to them. The recipe is super easy -- you can put them together before the oven preheats. I found the recipe at allrecipes and only modified it a little -- I think the next time I make them I'll substitute half the Crisco with butter -- I bet the crumb would be even tastier.

Blueberry Crumb Bars
24 bars

printer version

1 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup shortening
1 egg
1/4 teaspoon salt (optional)
1 pinch ground cinnamon (optional -- I did not use)
4 cups fresh blueberries
1/2 cup white sugar
3 teaspoons cornstarch
zest of one lemon

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease a 9x13 inch pan. In a large mixing bowl, stir together 1 cup sugar, 3 cups flour, and baking powder. Mix in salt and cinnamon, if desired. Add shortening and using the whisk attachment of the mixer, stir slowly until dough is crumbly (alternately you can cut the egg and shortening in with a pastry cutter). Add egg and mix to combine. Dough will be crumbly. Pat half of dough into the prepared pan. In another bowl, stir together the sugar, cornstarch, and lemon zest. Gently mix in the blueberries. Sprinkle the blueberry mixture evenly over the crust. Crumble remaining dough over the berry layer. Bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes, or until top is slightly brown. Cool completely before cutting into squares.


Source: modified from allrecipes.com

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4 comments:

Natalie said...

ooh yes I made these this summer and LOVED them! Can't go wrong with crumbly buttery bars :)

Abby said...

More crumb bars! I used Martha's recipe, but I have plenty of blueberries frozen to try your recipe, too!

Kelly said...

I have a ton of blueberries in the freezer. This looks like the perfect recipe to pull them out for, perfect for a dessert to put in my lunchbox for work. Thanks for sharing such a gorgeous and classic recipe.

kitchen koala said...

Yum! I love blueberries! Thanks for sharing this recipe with us.