Blackberry Pie Bars
Bars ready to eat!
With the bounty of blackberries we have had this summer, I have tried to find some really different recipes that we could try, this is one of them. It comes from the Baker Chick blog and the simplicity of using the same crumble for both the crust and the topping is a fantastic idea. I picked just enough berries to make the recipe itself but as the blog author noted in her page, you can easily double the recipe to make a 13x9 pan. But whoa the ingredients for that would be astronomical as it would take 3 sticks of butter and 6 cups of blackberries! I decided on trying the 8x8 square pan to start and maybe next time I will go larger. I also think that making this using other berries would be a snap! I am thinking blueberry would be awesome as well as raspberry. Imagine adding a few chocolate chips with the raspberries? Now that would be amazing... :)
What you need...
Such simple ingredients
This is a very simple recipe and I didn't even use my electric stand mixer at all. The blackberries were fresh picked about an hour before I made this and were at their peek of flavor! Of course the eggs were ours and everything else was as GMO free as I could make it. I definitely have a Vermont theme going here with King Arthur flour and Cabot sour cream and butter!
Ingredients:
Crust and Topping:
1 1/2 cups flour
3/4 cup sugar
1/8 tsp salt (I omit if using salted butter)
1 1/2 sticks butter chilled
Filling:
2 Large Eggs
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup sour cream
3/8 cup flour (6 T)
1/2 tsp vanilla
3 cups blackberries
Crust and Topping:
1 1/2 cups flour
3/4 cup sugar
1/8 tsp salt (I omit if using salted butter)
1 1/2 sticks butter chilled
Filling:
2 Large Eggs
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup sour cream
3/8 cup flour (6 T)
1/2 tsp vanilla
3 cups blackberries
Step 1 - Crust and Topping
Make sure to use chilled butter
First is measuring the flour and sugar and mixing them together in a bowl. Next using chilled butter, cut this into the mixture using a pastry blender, 2 knives or even a food processor. I didn't want to take the hefalump (aka food processor) out of the cupboard so I opted for my good old fashioned pastry blender.
Creating the crumb
This is a coarse crumb
Once you are done cutting the butter into the flour mixture, the mix should resemble a coarse crumb. My butter was just out of the fridge and rock hard so took a bit of work getting it to this point. Once you have it - you will need to take out 3/4 Cup of the crumb to use as the topping. The rest will be put into the greased 8x8 pan and patted down.
Step 2 - baking the bottom layer
Pat down crumb firmly
Once the crumb is added to the pan and patted down, you will need to bake it in a 350 degree oven for 12-15 minutes. Then remove the pan and allow this to cool for 10 minutes.
Step 3 - Making the filling
Filling blends easily
Here I used the same bowl as I mixed the crumb in - saves on dishes :) - To make the filling you will need to add the eggs, sugar, sour cream, flour and vanilla to the bowl and mix it well using a whisk. The original recipe added a pinch of salt as well but I figured there was enough salt in the butter used that I omitted this. I made this up while the bottom layer was baking in the oven and let it sit. Once the bottom layer was cooled, I added the berries to the filling mixture and spooned this into the pan.
Step 4 - Finishing it off and baking
Bars are ready to bake!
Once the filling was placed on top of the bottom layer, I sprinkled the crumb topping making sure to cover the whole square evenly. Then I popped it into the already pre-heated 350 degree oven and let it bake for 45-50 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool in pan. Then cut into 12 bars and serve! If a bit runny (mine was firm) the blog author recommends putting the pan in the refrigerator to chill before cutting. Enjoy!