Blueberry Crumb Bars
Saturday, August 8, 2009 at 4:02PM 
It's a lovely Saturday here in Brooklyn, one of those New York summer weekend days that make you want to just walk around all afternoon -- warm but not hot, not muggy, and perfectly breezy. Gorgeous! Even errand-running doesn't seem like a chore on a day like this... :)
When I think of summer, I always think of berries (since I do have food pretty much on the brain 24/7... :) -- and blueberries specifically, since they're Mark's favorite. I'm always looking for fun ways to use them that he'll like. A couple of weeks ago I whipped up these bars when we had friends coming over in the afternoon. They're so simple to make and absolutely delicious -- like little blueberry pies, without the fuss.
I always add cassis to anything I make with blueberries -- I learned that years ago from a fabulous blueberry pie recipe in the Silver Palate Good Times Cookbook. You don't taste the alcohol or the currant flavor -- it just brings out the blueberriness of the blueberries.
Enjoy!
Blueberry Crumb Bars
Makes 24
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. plus a pinch of salt
16 Tbsp. (2 sticks) cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1 large egg
4 cups fresh blueberries
2 Tbsp. cassis (optional)
1 Tbsp. cornstarch
1. Preheat oven to 375ºF. Line a 9-by-13-inch baking pan with foil, leaving an overhang over 2 sides. Mist foil with cooking spray.
2. In a food processor, pulse together 1 cup sugar, flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. Add the butter pieces and pulse again until mixture resembles wet sand. Pulse in egg, just to blend. The dough will be crumbly. Pat half into the baking pan.
3. In a bowl, stir the remaining 1/2 cup sugar, cornstarch and pinch of salt. Fold in the blueberries and cassis, if using. Pour the blueberry mixture evenly over the crust. Crumble the reserved dough over the berries. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes, until the top is golden brown and the berries are bubbling. Let cool on a wire rack until room temperature, then cover and chill for at least 1 hour before lifting out and cutting into bars.
Note: These keep beautifully in the fridge, covered, for up to 4 days. You can give them a little toast in the toaster oven to crisp them up again. They're also great with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. I didn't try it but I bet they'd freeze well, too.
Reader Comments (21)
oh my gosh these look So good :) blueberries are my favorite berries in the summer.
I made almost this exact same thing last week! They were SO delicious.
Oh wow I love how you describe that the berries start bubbling! That makes me want to try some b-berry crumble right now :) Yummy!
Oooh, perfect! They look fantastic and just in time for all of the great blueberry sales going on right now.
Yum! These look great. I love this time of year when blueberries are in season.
Well when the weather turns that way, it means it's baking weather :)
Love the classic blueberry bars, I can eat them by the pint, or in this case... the pan :)
As a result of our blueberry and raspberry picking expedition, we mixed in 1/2 blueberries and 1/2 raspberries in our version of this recipe about a week ago...YUM!!!
these look so good! I love summer fruit! :) Nice weekend
Hmmm, I'm not certain what cassis is but if it makes blueberries even better... have you tried it with other berries? I'm really digging blackberries right now.
Your bars look great. Thanks for sharing!
~ingrid
oh my goodness!!!! YUMMM! That's all I have to say :)
-Mini Baker
Those bars are just gorgeous with all of the blueberries bursting out!
Those bars look Yum-me!
Nice bars...blueberries, love it! Yummie!
Thanks for the tip about the cassis. I would have never known it.
I will have to try it. :)
I'm not much of a blueberry pie fan, but these look very doable.
Those bars look wonderful! I have some fresh blueberries hiding out in the fridge that are begging to be turned into these. Great tip about the cassis! I'll have to try that too.
Good tip about the cassis! My boyfriend loves fruit pies so I'll have to save this recipe for him.
Omg these look AMAZING!
i just read another blog post about fruity crumb bars... yum
oh! this look lovely! i have a surfit of peaches this week = i think i will try this with those first!
this week i am using this very same recipe to make plum bars - deep, purple italian plums that are spilling all over my kitchen as i write!