Spiked Blueberry Crumb Bars
Ingredients:
4 cups fresh Blueberries
3 Tablespoons Rum (I used Bacardi White Rum)
1 cup Granulated Sugar, divided
4 teaspoons Cornstarch
½ cup packed Brown Sugar (I used light brown)
3 cups Flour
1 teaspoon Baking Powder
¼ teaspoons Salt
½ teaspoons Ground Ginger
½ teaspoons Ground Nutmeg
1 cup cold Butter
1 whole Egg
Instructions:
This recipe was super quick to put together and baked like a dream. First, I got all my ingredients lined up and ready to go.
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and grease a 9 x 13 inch baking pan. I did not use parchment paper with this recipe and it was perfect and, because I know my oven runs hot, I adjusted the temperature to 350 degrees and added ten minutes to the cooking time.
In a medium bowl, combine the fresh blueberries and dark rum (or lemon juice). Stir in 1/2 cup granulated sugar and 4 tsp cornstarch and set aside. I used blueberries fresh picked from my yard. This year is a bumper crop and I have more blueberries in the freezer than I know what to do with. I know one thing for sure, keep watching for blueberry recipes!
In another medium bowl, combine 1/2 cup each of the granulated sugar and brown sugar. Stir in flour, baking powder, salt, ground ginger, and ground nutmeg.
Cut in cold butter with a pastry cutter or a fork until the mixture is crumbly. I confess, my butter was room temperature but it can take a while to cut into the dry ingredients. I put it in the microwave on defrost for about 45 seconds just to soften it enough that it crumbled so much quicker.
Whisk one egg in a small bowl and stir into the flour mixture. At this point, the mixture becomes even more crumbled.
Next, press half of the mixture into the bottom of the prepared pan and spread the blueberry mixture over the crust.
Sprinkle the rest of the flour mixture over the blueberries and bake in the preheated oven for 40-45 minutes, or until the top is light brown. Again, I set the oven to 350 degrees and baked for about 50 minutes because I know my oven tends to burn. That’s why I was named the “Burning Baker”.
Once the bars are golden brown, Let the bars cool completely and then put them in the fridge to chill. This will make the bars easier to cut and remove from the pan.
Enjoy!
I made a double batch so I could enjoy them at home and share with my co-workers. Judging by how quickly they were gone, everyone liked them. And you will too!
Recipe from: https://www.cookincanuck.com/spiked-blueberry-crumb-bars/
