Blueberry Crumb Bars

Everybody's mad for blueberries these days! 

These little numbers showed up over on Smitten Kitchen, and -- like most things Deb makes -- the pictures were so crisp and clear, you could almost TASTE them through the computer screen.

I had to have them. 

They really are delicious. My blueberries were just a weee bit tart, and I probably should've added a bit more sugar, but I pretty much followed the recipe exactly.

I also love that they're EASY. So many crumb bar recipes are too many ingredients and too much time!

Mm, mm, mm!!

Blueberry Crumb Bars

(Smitten Kitchen)

(Deb says she got 36 bars. Apparently I cut bigger than her - I got 24)

Crumb

1 cup white sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup cold butter (2 sticks)

1 egg

1/4 teaspoon salt

zest of 1 lemon

Blueberries

4 cups fresh blueberries (Deb does say you can use frozen!)

1/2 cup white sugar

4 teaspoons cornstarch

juice of 1 lemon

Directions

- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F and grease a 9x13 pan

- In a medium bowl, stir together 1 cup sugar, 3 cups flour, and baking powder. Mix in the salt and lemon zest

- Use a fork or pastry cutter to blend the butter and egg into the flour mixture. Dough will be crumbly

- Pat half the dough into the prepared pan

- In another bowl, stir together the sugar, cornstarch and lemon juice. Gently mix in the blueberries

- Sprinkle the blueberry mixture evenly over the prepared crust

- Crumble the remaining dough over the berry layer

- Bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes, or until top is slightly brown (Deb said, and I agree, that this took an additional 12 minutes for me in my oven!)

- Cool completely before cutting into squares

Fruit Salsa and Cinnamon-Sugar Tortilla Chips

This recipe was recently posted on the What's Cooking board that I frequent. Everyone was asked what their "best" item was -- and Robyn said hers was fruit salsa.

We all begged for the recipe, and this was what she told us!

This is AMAZING. Eating the fruit with the chips, it tastes like healthy apple pie! It's deeeeelicious!

Warning: This makes enough to feed an Army. I didn't stop to consider this when chopping the fruit, so now I've got enough fruit salsa for the Armed Forces. If you're making this for 2 people (like I did) you may want to halve everything. If you're making it for company -- make the whole thing. They'll eat every ounce!

Fruit Salsa

(Robyn, on What's Cooking)

2 red apples

2 green apples

2 pears

2 peaches

1 carton raspberries (I used blueberries because DH doesn't like raspberries)

3 tablespoons orange juice

2 teaspoons honey

2 lemons (or equivalent in juice)

Directions

- Dice all fruit very finely and put in a large mixing bowl

- Squeeze 1/2 a lemon's worth of juice after each addition (1/2 lemon after adding all red apple, 1/2 lemon after adding all green apple, etc)

- Whisk together the orange juice and the honey and pour it over the fruit. Carefully mix together

**It's best made the day before, and as long as you use plenty of lemon and orange juice, it won't brown**

Cinnamon-Sugar Tortilla Chips

10-15 10" flour tortillas (I had enourmous burrito tortillas...next time I'll use smaller ones for smaller chips!)

melted butter

cinnamon/sugar mixture

Directions

- Preheat the oven to 250 degrees F

- Brush melted butter on whole tortilla and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar mix

- Use a pizza cutter and cut into 8 sections

- Fill up a baking sheet with them

- Bake at 350 degrees for 10-11 minutes, or until crisped up

"To Die For" Blueberry Muffins -- Almost

When I saw this recipe on BrownEyedChef's blog, I knew I had to try it. I'm batty for blueberry muffins, and I am continuing my quest to find the perfect one.

This muffin was VERY VERY close to perfect...I think my only real problem with it was the crumble mixture on top -- mine didn't crumble...and it had some issues. Or rather, I had issues with it (I think I just let my butter get too soft before I made the crumble mix)

I think next time I'll just sprinkle with some large-granule sugar, and call it deliciousness. But, in the interest of the perfectionist that I am, I'll continue trying blueberry muffin recipes to find the "perfect" one!

Apologies for the bad image -- I was in a hurry on Sunday, and I knew if I didn't get a picture right out of the oven that DH would have them all eaten before I could try.

Apparently, in addition to walking away from my butter and letting it get warm, I also had uneven muffins. Bah. Who cares, they taste good. :-)

To Die For Blueberry Muffins
(BrownEyedChef's Blog)
(Serves 8 according to BrownEyedChef -- I got 9)

Muffin Ingredients
1.5 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup white sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
1/3 cup milk
1 cup fresh blueberries

Crumble Ingredients
1/2 cup white sugar
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup butter, cubed
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Muffin Directions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F
- Grease muffin cups or line with baking cups
- Combine 1.5 cups flour, 3/4 cup sugar, salt, and baking powder
- Place vegetable oilin a 1-cup measuring cup, add the egg and enough milk to fill the cup (1/3 cup milk)
- Mix the wet mixture into the flour mixture
- Fold in blueberries
- Fill muffin cups right to the top and sprinkle with crumb topping

Crumble Topping Directions
- Mix together 1/2 cup sugar, 1/3 cup flour, 1/4 cup butter and 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
- Mix with fork, and sprinkle over muffins before baking

- Bake muffins for 20-25 minutes in the preheated oven, until lightly golden brown