One week till blueberry season "opens" around here...so in an attempt to make room in my freezer for this years crop, I'm desperately trying to use up LAST year's crop! About a month ago I made Blueberry Boy Bait from Smitten Kitchen. She adapted an old recipe and made it sound mouth-watering good...and it was good...a rich and moist cake with a taste of blueberries...not quite the blueberry buzz I was after. As luck would have it, a week later I got my copy of Bon Appetit and there, in the July issue, was the recipe for Blueberry Crumb Bars - calling for MORE blueberries than a 9x13 would be expected to hold! Sounded perfect...and it is.
The crust is made from old-fashioned oats, brown sugar and almonds...it's got the perfect blend between crunch and chew. Then there's the center...blueberries combined with strawberry preserves...sweet...over the top sweet! But not to worry, the topping, which is some of the reserved crust mixture, tempers the sweetness to just the right pitch...your taste buds will be singing on key with this one!
Blueberry Crumb Bars - Adapted from Bon Appetit, July 2009 Issue
Crust:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup old-fashioned oats
1 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 cup (2 sticks) chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1/2 cup chopped almonds
Filling:
4 cups frozen blueberries (do not thaw) or 3 1/2 cups fresh
1 cup strawberry preserves
1 1/2 tablespoons flour
1 1/2 teaspoons grated lemon peel
Crust: Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Butter bottom of 13x9x2-inch metal baking pan. Whisk flour, oats, sugar, salt and cinnamon in large bowl. Add 1 cup butter; rub in with fingertips until mixture sticks together in small clumps. Transfer 2 cups to medium bowl; mix in almonds and reserve for topping. Press remaining crumb mixture evenly onto bottom of prepared pan. Bake crust until golden and just firm to touch, about 22 minutes. Cool 10 minutes.
Filling: Mix all ingredients in medium bowl. Spread evenly over crust in pan, then sprinkle reserved topping over. Bake bars until filling bubbles thickly at edges and topping is golden brown, about 40 minutes, cool in pan on rack. Cut lengthwise into 4 strips; then cut each strip into 6 pieces, forming 24 bars.
"If you're going to be able to look back on something and laugh about it, you might as well laugh about it now." ~ Marie Osmond
