Blueberry Crumb Bars

My MIL and I went to pick blueberries the other day. I was so excited because for one, I had never picked my own blueberries before. Secondly, as much as I love blueberries, I never buy them because they are so crazy $$, so I was happy to be able to get them at a lesser cost. Anyhow, we were picking for nearly 3 hours before I was finally able to almost fill my bucket. When we went to pay, I was completely surprised to see how many I had picked -- nearly 8 pounds! I was even more surprised to hear the girl tell me how much they cost. My almost 8 pounds was only $9.40! Woo hoo! What a steal! I immediately took them home and starting cleaning and freezing them.

I set a few aside to make a quick blueberry recipe. After asking on the What's Cooking forums, Melissa from Delicious Meliscious recommended these Blueberry Crumb Bars. They looked mighty tasty and better yet, super simple, so I decided to give them a try. Here is the recipe with my minor adaptations. For the original, see Melissa's blog or Allrecipes.com.

Ingredients
1 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup shortening (I used butter instead)
1 egg
1/4 teaspoon salt (optional)
1 pinch ground cinnamon (optional)
4 cups fresh blueberries
zest and juice of 1 lemon
1/2 cup white sugar
3 teaspoons cornstarch

Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease a 9x13 inch pan.

2. In a medium bowl, stir together 1 cup sugar, 3 cups flour, and baking powder. Mix in salt and cinnamon, if desired. Use a fork or pastry cutter to blend in the shortening and egg. (I used my food processor.) Dough will be crumbly. Pat half of dough into the prepared pan.

3. In another bowl, gently toss the blueberries with zest and juice of 1 lemon. Stir together the sugar and cornstarch. Gently mix in the blueberries. Sprinkle the blueberry mixture evenly over the crust. Crumble remaining dough over the berry layer.

4. Bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes, or until top is slightly brown. Cool completely before cutting into squares.


I brought these over to my friend's house and both she and her husband loved them! Now I am wondering if 8 pounds of blueberries is going to be enough for this and all the other fab blueberry recipes I'll be making this fall and winter!