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Buttery crust, fresh blueberry and a hint of lemon. What’s not to love?
The Glorious Blueberry
Blueberries are so mild and delicious that they pair well with many things. They’ve experienced a surge in popularity in the last few years too. They’ve always been available but now you see them everywhere since everyone seemed to rediscover them.
Blueberries are very mild with a subtle flavor. You can coax a lot of flavor out of them with the addition of just a little bit of lemon zest. That’s the secret to great blueberry flavor!
Oh That Crust!
This crust is absolutely divine! It’s rich and buttery and the flavor doesn’t get lost in the translation.
The best advice I can give here is to use a food processor or Ninja to prepare this. Using a pastry blender will just make the process longer and more labor intensive.
The crumbs are supposed to resemble wet sand, so there would be a lot of work involved by doing it by hand.
The jam called for in the crust ingredients is used after you bake and slightly cool the crust. The original recipe (it’s from an old book so I cannot supply a link) calls for blueberry jam. The only time I ever had that variety was when a neighbor gifted me with some she bought whilst on vacation.
Most of us have raspberry jam or grape jelly at our disposal so it’s not necessary to run out and buy blueberry jam. All the jam really does is “seal” the pastry so it doesn’t get too soggy. And on that note, don’t store them covered!!! They’ll get soggy and inedible. Just store them on a rack open to the air.
The Glaze
Even though I used the glaze on the most recent batch I made, my thinking is that it’s an optional ingredient here. As I said before, the bars are soft so any additional liquid ingredient will make them even softer. So if you don’t feel like glazing them–don’t. They’re totally awesome without it.
The Recipe
Blueberry Bars
Ingredients
Crust:
- 1 1/2 cups flour
- 3 tbs confectioners sugar
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 8 tbs cold unsalted butter cubed
- 6 tbs berry jam any variety
Filling:
- 3 cups fresh blueberries
- 2 tbs sugar
- 1 tbs fresh lemon juice
- 2 tsp cornstarch
- 2 tsp lemon zest
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup flour
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 2 eggs slightly beaten
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Glaze:
- 1/2 cup sifted confectioners sugar
- 2-3 tbs heavy cream
- 1 tbs lemon juice
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Lightly spray a 13 x 9-inch pan with non-stick spray.
- Pulse the first 3 crust ingredients in a food processor. Add the cubes of cold butter and pulse until the mixture resembles wet sand. Press the crust evenly in the pan and bake for 15 minutes. Cool for 5 minutes then spread the jam over the top of the crust. Leave the oven on at 375.
- Mix the blueberries, 2 tbs sugar, lemon juice, cornstarch and lemon zest in a medium bowl; set aside. In a large bowl, mix the 1 cup sugar, 1/2 cup flour, baking powder and salt, combining well. Stir in the eggs and vanilla. Fold in the blueberry mixture and spread over crust. Bake for 35-40 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool completely.
- Mix glaze ingredients and drizzle over cooled bars. You may need more (or less) cream to get the right consistency. Always start with the least amount; you can always add more liquid.
Suzy Weintraub says
Can I leave out the lemon zest and lemon juice? Not a fan of the blueberry/lemon flavor though I know it’s the flavor of the moment right now. Thanks!
Judith Hanneman says
Absolutely!
Karen says
Do I use baking powder as in list of ingredients or baking Soda as in method instructions?
Judith Hanneman says
Sorry that’s baking powder and thanks for bringing that typo to my attention!