Blueberry Crisp Bars
In my head I know it’s September already, but I am having a hard time letting go of summer. However, the world is doing it’s best to let me know that autumn is here. I have to carry a jacket with me since it is no longer guaranteed that it will be meltingly hot outside. There are just a few more leaves lying in the street every morning and a few less on the tree branches, and the flowers outside our apartment are starting to droop and shrivel ever so slightly. The most obvious sign of the changing season, though, is that pumpkin flavored lattes have appeared in every coffee shop in the city. Ever since the birth of flavored coffee drinks, it seems that pumpkin has become the poster food of autumn.
If I could pick the poster food of summer, it would be berries. Any kind of berries. Strawberries, blackberries, blueberries, rasberries; I cannot eat enough of them during the summer months. Growing up in North Carolina, summer always brought with it the appearance of fresh berries on the bushes in our small town. At my Granny’s house I ate blackberries right off the bush until I was sick from them. At my Grandma’s, raspberry bushes were scattered all around her property and my cousins and I would collect them in the morning and be eating cobbler by that afternoon.
One of the best ways to use all of those ripe berries is to make a crisp. For those of you not blessed enough to grow up in the South, a fruit crisp is a dessert comprised of fruit mixed with sugar and topped with a crumbly, sugary crust on top, then baked in the oven until hot and bubbly. It’s similar to a cobbler, except that in cobbler the crust more closely resembles a traditional pie crust. Now, the difference between cobblers and crisps are often a source of heated debate in the South, but this is how I have always defined the two. For any fellow Southerner out there that disagrees, please leave me a comment below with your definition. At any rate, I was filled with an absolute craving for a crisp on a day when I had a picnic planned (I’ve been picnicking a lot…I guess I lived up to my promise). So, in an effort to make my crisp a little more portable, I doubled the recipe for the crust and layered it on both the bottom and the top of the berries and voila! Fruit crisp has been transformed into finger food!
Blueberry Crisp Bars
These bars were made with blueberries because I had some plump ones on hand that needed to be eaten, but you can substitute any berry that you like. If you want to make a traditional berry crisp, halve the recipe for the crust. You should also use a smaller pan and/or double the amount of berries, and toss the berries with a couple tablespoons of flour to soak up the excess juices they produce when cooked.
Ingredients
3 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons milk
1/2 cup butter
3 cups blueberries
1 tablespoons lemon juiceMix together the flour, 1/2 cup of the sugar, cinnamon, vanilla and milk. Cut the butter into the mix, and knead into the flour until it begins to look like course crumbs. Squeeze some of the mixture in your hand, it should stay intact and form a ball, but should break apart easily with your fingers. If it won’t stay together, add more butter. If it won’t come apart, add more flour. Pour half of the mix into a greased 9×13 baking dish. Press down firmly until it forms a crust.
Toss the blueberries, 1/4 cup sugar and lemon juice together. Pour the berries over the crust and spread evenly along the first layer. Sprinkle the rest of the crust mixture over top and lightly press into another layer.
Bake in the oven at 350º 30-40 mintues, or until the crust begins to brown. Allow to cool, and then cut into deliciously imperfect bars of berry goodness.
Oh my. Help me now before I turn all my blueberries into crisp bars and then go on to eat every last crumb!
Loved stumbling upon your blog! I too, am a Southern girl cooking and eating my way through Los Angeles.
Casey – there is absolutely nothing wrong with consuming all of your blueberries in the form of crisp bars. Nothing at all.
Dixie – hope you’re enjoying LA as much as I am! where in the South are you from?
Just baked these! Quick! Someone give me an idea as to what to dip them in!
-Larry <— Faaaaatty!
You’re right on about the cobbler v. crisp difference. And I love that you can cut these and eat them like little fruit bars.
P.S. My foccacia dough didn’t pan out the other night. I’ll try again. You know how that goes..sometimes you just have to move on until the mood strikes you again. Maybe I’m in the mood for blueberry bars now.
I also don’t want the summer to go way… I have winters! Your crisp sounds delicious, can I have a piece?
Those look soooo delicious! Found your blog on Tastespotting – love it! I’ll be back!
Kim – I’m so disappointed for you
I wish I was more experienced in the art of bread-making so I could offer advice, but maybe dough just rises differently on the West Coast… At any rate, you should still whip up some of the tomato mixture and toss with some pasta, and then you should definitely eat some berry crisp bars!
I just made your Blueberry Crisp Bars, and they are wonderful!
Thank you for this and your other recipes!
I found your blog on Tasty Kitchen! So cute!
Excited to follow along!
I found youd blog on Tasty Kitchen! So cute!
Excited to follow along!;
I also found your blog on tasty kitchen! These look great. i think bluberries are my husband’s absolute favorite food of all time, so I am always looking for new recipes to try – especially desserts!
in the oven now, i think maybe 2/3 as crust and 1/3 as topping is more accurate (or seems like it should be at least) i halved the recipe and baked in a 8×8 on account of i didnt have enough blueberries for the 9×13
but i’m still super excited to eat the crap outta these!