Print

Blueberry Crumb Bars


Description

If blueberries aren’t available, I think that raspberries or blackberries would work as well. According to Deb, sour cherries or cranberries make a good substitute also. The only thing I missed with these bars was a little vanilla ice cream or some whipped cream — don’t make the same mistake.


Scale

Ingredients

  • 11/2 cups sugar
  • 3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • zest of one lemon
  • 1 large egg
  • 8 ounces cold, unsalted butter, cut into quarters
  • 4 teaspoons cornstarch
  • 1 pint blueberries (could also use frozen — just defrost and drain)

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 375F and butter a 13-x-9-inch pan.
  2. In a large bowl, mix 1 cup of the sugar with the flour and baking powder. Add the salt and the lemon zest.
  3. Then add the egg and butter to form a crumbly dough. It was very hard to mix with my spoon (Deb recommended a fork — who knows why I didn’t listen), made more difficult because I didn’t have a ton of room to groove in my bowl. The butter is a little easier to manage if softened slightly, though the dough becomes a little sticker this way.
  4. Press half of the dough into an even layer in the pans.
  5. In a separate bowl, mix the remaining 1/2 cup of sugar, cornstarch and the juice of one lemon.
  6. Fold the blueberries into the cornstarch mix.
  7. Spread the cornstarch-covered blueberries in an even layer in the pan.
  8. Crumble the remaining dough over the top of the blueberries.
  9. Bake them for 45 minutes, until the top has browned. Let the crumble cool completely before cutting it into pieces.