Thursday, August 5, 2010

Treat of the Week for Work: Blackberry Pie Bars

Every berry has its day.
Well... most do. This little guy slid off the plate just as all the others were being poured into my lovely Kitchen Aid mixing bowl.
Yeah, I never get tired of saying that. My. Kitchen Aid. Mixer. Ah, it's like poetry. :)
So anyways, you'll be happy to learn that this recipe marks my first completed "section" from the bucket list! I've made all the Bars I had set to make as my goal. But don't think I'm getting off the hook THAT easy. I've still got some surprises up my sleeve... and since discovering my insane passion for bars, I just know these won't be the last ones to come out of my oven.


Blackberry Pie Bars
(with very little adaptation, from
Brown Eyed Baker)

Yield: 18 bars

Prep Time: 30 minutes | Bake Time: 55 minutes

For the Crust and Topping:
Zest of 2 lemons
1 cup granulated sugar
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter + 1/2 cup salted butter, cubed and chilled
(I'm trying to get rid of the extra salted butter we accidentally bought a while ago!)

For the Blackberry Filling:
4 large eggs
2 cups granulated sugar
1 cup light sour cream
¾ cup all-purpose flour
Pinch of salt
2 16-ounce packages of frozen blackberries
(I'm sorry!! My wallet couldn't handle the cost for 8 small crates of Driscoll's $3.99 a package berries!)

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9×13-inch baking pan with butter; set aside.

2. In a small bowl, combine the granulated sugar and the lemon zest. Using your fingers, rub the zest into the sugar until all of the sugar has been moistened. In the bowl of a food processor, combine the lemon sugar, all-purpose flour and salt. Pulse a few times to combine. Add the butter and continue to pulse until the pieces of butter are no larger than the size of peas, about 10 to 12 pulses.

3. Measure out 1½ cups of the crumb mixture to use for the topping and put it in the refrigerator until needed. Press the remaining mixture into the bottom of the pan. Bake the crust until golden brown, about 15 to 20 minutes. Let cool for about 10 minutes while you prepare the filling.

4. To make the filling, whisk the eggs in a large bowl. Whisk in the sugar, sour cream, flour and salt until thoroughly combined. Gently fold in the blackberries. Spoon the mixture evenly over the crust and make sure all of the blackberries are in one layer and not sitting on top of one another.

5. Sprinkle the reserved crust mixture evenly over the filling. Bake until the top is lightly browned, about 45 to 55 minutes. Let cool for at least 1 hour before cutting.

Happy Baking!
Jessica

2 comments:

  1. This sounds delicious! I love recipes that incorporate the much under-rated, blackberry.

    ReplyDelete