Every bite of these mouth-watering and easy-to-make bars is bursting with healthy, sweet and juicy blueberries
wrapped in perfectly crunchy and crumbly pastry
I was at the grocery store the other day trying to figure out what to buy for my next baking experiment, and I found fresh blueberries. ON SALE! Can you believe it?!? Woohooo!!
Ok ... Sometimes I get overly excited about little things. But a $1.5 for a 6 oz. box of blueberries is a steal! At least around here, this time of the year.
And I truly love blueberries, with their super-healthy antioxidants and nutrients content, packed in sweet and juicy little cute berries.
So versatile in the kitchen: perfect to eat right out of the box, or in a salad, smoothie, muffins, cake, tart ... There is an infinite amount of choices, but this time (and for good reasons) I decided on these crumble bars. Take a look!
These bars are sooo delicious, with a sweet, slightly tart and lemony flavor, mixed witha shortbread-buttery taste.Perfectly crumbly, with just the right amount of crunchiness, from the rolled oats mixed in the pastry. And the right amount of gooey-ness, from the blueberries exploding in the oven and releasing all their juiciness. These blueberries bars brought a taste of summer right in my kitchen :)
It seems too good to be true that something so delicious can be so easy to make. No mixer or rolling pin is needed for this recipe. Just a bowl (or two) and a spoon or whisk. No need to wait around to bring any ingredients at room temperature before starting with the recipe. Just melt the butter, let it cool down a bit, and mix with the rest of the dough ingredients. Bake the bottom crust for 10 minutes, add the blueberries mixed with a bit of lemon juice, sugar and cornstarch (to keep the juice from the blueberries thick and gooey) and the crumble on top.
Here is the hard part. By far, the worst part of the recipe. What I dread the most when I'm baking, in any recipe like this one.
Waiting.
Yes, waiting for the dessert to come out of the oven, AND wait for it to cool down before cutting the first slice. If you don't wait (believe me - I tried!), you'll really end up with a blueberry messy jumble bars :)
I think in general patience might not be one of my fortes. But waiting for this dessert was pure torture.If you try this recipe, you will see!
Enjoy :)
Ingredients: to make an 8x8 in (20 x 20 cm) dessert, cut in nine squares
For the dough:
- 4 oz (115 gr) of unsalted butter, melted
- 1 ½ cups (225 gr) of all-purpose flour
- 1 cup (90 gr) of old fashion, rolled oats
- ½ cup (100 gr) of sugar
- ¼cup packed (30 gr) of brown sugar
- pinch of salt
- 1 egg
For the filling:
- 12 oz (340 gr) of fresh blueberries
- ½cup of sugar
- 2 tablespoons of lemon juice (about the juice of one small lemon)
- 2 tablespoons (15 gr) of cornstarch
Preparation time: one hour
Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 375° F (190° C). Melt the butter in double boiler, or in the microwave for about 40 or 50 seconds. I set the microwave for 30 seconds, check and check every other 10 seconds. Let it cool down.
2. In a bowl, mix the flour, oats, regular and brown sugars and salt.
3. Add the melted butter and the egg. Mix with whisk at first, and spoon after if easier. Mix until combined. You will get a coarse, crumbly mixture.
4. Move some of the dough to an 8x8 (20x20 cm) pan, covered with parchment paper, or greased with butter and flour. Save about a cup and a half of the mixture for the top.
Press the dough to the bottom of the pan, with the back of your spoon (or your hands). Bake at 375° F (190° C)for 10 minutes.
5. In a bowl, combine the blueberries, with half cup of sugar, two tablespoons of lemon juice and two teaspoons of cornstarch. Mix.
6. Distribute the blueberries evenly over the dough. Sprinkle the top of the blueberries with the remaining dough that was set aside. I like to see bigger pieces of dough on top, so I squeeze the dough in my hand before crumbling it on top. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes until lightly golden on top.
Allow to cool completely before cutting into square. For a better cut, you can refrigerate for a couple of hours before cutting. If you don't need perfectly neat squares, go ahead cut and enjoy :)
Store in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
