Blueberry Crumb Bars

Berry season is in full swing in Oregon right now.  My freezer is full of strawberries and raspberries that Taelin and I picked within the last month from a local grower.  (Actually..Taelin ate WAY more than she picked, but she was there and helped...kind of).  It was only $1.00 per pound and I will be so grateful for the frozen fruit in the middle of the winter so I can bake something yummy with hint of summer from the berries.  Taelin loves a good smoothie and some days it is all she wants to eat, so it will be nice to have the berries for that too.

Last year, I got a little carried away with the whole berry picking thing.  When I was younger, my family came out to Portland to visit relatives and at one point we went strawberry picking.  I have such a vivid memory of picking strawberries with my cousin (who doesn't like them) and sticking close to her so that I could pick out and eat the best ones that she picked.  (They probably should have weighed me before and after...I ate a lot of strawberries). Anyway, last summer my sister and her husband came out and we went to pick strawberries.  A month later, we went and picked blueberries...a lot of blueberries....I still have 14 cups of blueberries in my freezer from LAST year.  

So, when we were invited to a potluck BBQ this last weekend, we signed up for a dessert and I knew I needed to make something with those blueberries (because there is more produce coming and I need to make room).  I searched and read a bunch of different recipes and landed on one...changed it a little bit and it was quite tasty.

Ingredients

• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup softened butter
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 5 cups fresh or frozen blueberries (if frozen, don't thaw them out)
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 3 teaspoons cornstarch

 

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F and grease a 9x13 inch pan.
2. In a medium bowl, stir together 1 cup sugar, 3 cups flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg.
3. Combine the egg and vanilla and then cut in the butter egg, and vanilla.  (I used my Kitchen Aid Mixer)  Dough will be crumbly. Pat half of dough into the prepared pan.
4. In another bowl, stir together the sugar and cornstarch. Gently mix in the blueberries. Sprinkle the blueberry mixture evenly over the crust. Crumble remaining dough over the berry layer.
5. Bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes, or until top is slightly brown. Cool completely before cutting into squares.

You really do have to let the pan cool before you try to cut into them.  They need to set up otherwise they are kind of gooey and don't really work as a bar.  It tasted fine when it was still warm, I just wanted more of a bar for the BBQ.  I think the best part of this recipe is that you can use any kind of berry or mix and match; just as long as you have 5 cups total.  

I came home with an empty plate from the BBQ which was good for a couple of reasons...people liked them and I didn't have to finish the leftovers!