Blueberry Crumb Bars

 It’s summertime and blueberries are abundant and deliciously sweet. These blueberry bars are great to make and keep in freezer till you need them. I combined a few recipes that I had and kept my fingers crossed and made a mess in the kitchen and used too much butter and here it goes. Sometimes I just don’t feel like using electric mixer even though I seemed to use a lot of different mixing bowls for this one. I had seen another recipe for a blueberry crumble but it called for shortening, so I substituted butter. It’s a lot of butter I know, but how much can be in one piece? My plan is to eat a little of this and freeze the rest for when my family comes out next month. As I was cutting it up to freeze I managed to eat way more than I should have and they were really beautiful and delicious. Just the right amount of sweet. I let them sit in fridge overnight, and they were way easier to cut into right out of the fridge. They are now nestled in the freezer except for the few pieces I left out to eat. I would keep unused and unfrozen pieces in the fridge and take out and bring to room temp. when you’re ready to eat them. You can also heat up in microwave if you prefer them warm. Either way, once you taste this buttery fruity combo you’ll be hooked.

Enjoy! and Happy Fourth of July.

Ingredients:

1 cup sugar plus 1/2 cup sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

2 sticks cold unsalted butter I cut it up into small diced pieces. I sliced stick in half, and then cut up into smaller pieces which would be easier to blend in.

1 egg

3 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

4 teaspoons cornstarch

1/4 cup of lemon juice and zest of one whole lemon ( I did use a large lemon)

4 cups fresh blueberries

9 x 13 inch pan , I used a glass Pyrex and it was perfect

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and Spray 9 x 13 pan. I used Bakers Aid Baking Spray because there is enough butter in this already.

In a medium size bowl, stir together 1 cup sugar, 3 cups flour, and baking powder. Mix in salt and lemon zest. Using a fork or pastry cutter blend in the cold butter pieces and egg. Then with clean hands I played with the dough a bit and got a crumbly texture going. I took half the dough and patted it down gently into pan with my hands. I made as clean an edge as I could, but I wouldn’t worry too much about that.

In another bowl, stir together the sugar, cornstarch and lemon juice. Gently mix into the blueberries. Sprinkle the blueberry mixture evenly over the crust. Crumble with your clean hands the remaining dough over the berry layer.

Bake in preheated oven for about 45 minutes or until top is slightly browned. I baked for 50 minutes , then checked on them. I baked for another 5 minutes. Cool completely before cutting into squares. I actually cooled in refrigerator over night, and cut up the next day.