The other day, when I posted about that fantastic Blueberry Sour Cream Ice Cream for my weekly Tuesdays with Dorie gig, I also posted this photo.
The tasty looking little confection peeking out from underneath that oozy purple mound of ice cream is a blueberry-almond crumble bar. After I made the ice cream, I wanted to make something to go with it. It had to be something easy, because I was watching the spectacular opening ceremonies of the Olympics and didn't want to miss any of it. I'd seen these on Smitten Kitchen's site a while back and had bookmarked the recipe. It was the perfect thing!
These bars are ridiculously easy to prepare and the end result is a buttery, crumbly shortbread-like crust filled with plump, sweet and juicy blueberry goodness. They were absolutely delicious, with and without the ice cream. In fact, they were so good that I decided they really deserved a post all their own. Apparently, many of you felt the same way, because I had a lot of requests for the recipe. Little did you know that I was planning to write a separate post about the bars all along!
The original recipe calls for fresh lime juice and zest. I decided to switch it up a little bit and swapped out the lime for orange. Since orange and ginger go so well together, I added a little ground ginger to my blueberries for some oomph. With orange and ginger in the game, I just had to somehow fit almonds in too. I ended up substituting a half cup of almond meal for regular flour. I think the almond meal added a subtle nuttiness to the crust, and gave it an even more crumbly texture.
I've never been very successful with a pastry cutter. Also, a car accident a few years ago left me with a permanently damaged rotator cuff. For these reasons, I chose to mix up my dough in the food processor. I've never made it the other way, so I can't tell you how the dough compared, but I can tell you that it worked just fine. So, if you're not up for a shoulder workout, use the processor.
These Blueberry-Almond Crumble Bars were a big hit here in SGCC Land. They were going so fast that I had to hide a few to save for the pictures! While they are certainly terrific paired with ice cream, don't let that stop you from making them on their own. They really are wonderful all by their lonesome!
Blueberry-Almond Crumble Bars (Printable Recipe)
Adapted from allrecipes.com and Smitten Kitchen
1 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup almond meal
1 cup cold butter (2 sticks)
1 egg
1/4 teaspoon salt
Zest and juice of 1/2 of a small orange
4 cups fresh blueberries
1/2 cup white sugar
1/4 tsp ground ginger
4 teaspoons cornstarch
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Butter a 9×13 inch pan.
In a medium bowl, mix together 1 cup sugar, flour, almond flour and baking powder. Add in salt and orange zest. Use a fork or pastry cutter to blend in the butter and egg. The dough will be crumbly. Alternatively, you can pulse the dry ingredients in a food processor with the butter until pebbly, and then mix in the egg until it all comes together. Pat half of the dough into the buttered pan.
In another bowl, stir together the sugar, cornstarch, ginger and orange juice. Gently mix in the blueberries. Sprinkle the blueberry mixture evenly over the dough in the pan. Crumble remaining dough over the berries.
Bake for 45-55 minutes, or until top is a light golden brown. Cool completely before cutting into squares.
Enjoy!
Stumble It!
52 comments:
My goodness, this is so not fair!
Looks yum yum yummy. First time here. Really tempting blog. Nice pics.
oooh, I can see why these got so much attention, they look delish! Your ice cream looks positively sinful and it's such a lovely color. Great job!
I can see why these would be popular in SGCC land - those luscious berries peeking out from the crumbly top have my heart.
whoa! more blueberries! :)
I also saw these on Smitten Kitchen and posted them last week!!! They are sooo good!!! I took them into work and they were devoured!
You are sooo not playing fair! Now I'll have to make them too!
This looks delicious! I bet they were perfect with the ice cream! I'll have to make these soon :)
The blueberry bar looks really delicious! I like that you substituted some of the flavoring to make it your own. :)
My husband is a blueberry fiend and would be all over these! I'll have to make this recipe for him sometime soon....they look fantastic!
I am so glad you posted this.
I would have never thought about adding ginger to a recipe like this and find myself intrigued by that. I'll have to try it. And thanks for all the food porn pictures!
Oh how I love blueberry crumble bars. These look so delicious, especially with that ice cream on top. Yum!
oh my! I think I deserve too!
Shoot! I wsh I had seen this sooner... I had blueberries that I needed to use. They ended up going into some banana muffins, but this recipe looks really great. I like the idea of adding orange.
OK, that's it. I'm making these this weekend. That top photo is killing me!
Hooray!! Thanks so much for posting! :-)
Ooh, these look amazing! Love your blog!
I am crying. Crying! I have a stand of beautiful, healthy blueberry bushes in my backyard. They were loaded this spring. Birds ate all but about 2 cups of my berries. Wah!
Can't wait to try these! I like the orange and ginger in it too!
Ooooh - yum! I saw those on Smitten Kitchen and thought they looked divine -- and I love your take too, with the orange and ginger! Delish!
Goodness, they sure look good!
i've been hypnotized by the oozy goodness of your blueberry filling. hypnotized and mesmerized. they're stunning. :)
Thank you for that wonderful recipe!
Those bars look fantastic! They look so delicious especially with the icecream melting down the sides.
Those bars look fantastic! They look so delicious especially with the icecream melting down the sides.
Those bars look fantastic! They look so delicious especially with the icecream melting down the sides.
yum yum yum! those bars look divine!
Anything with a crumb topping just sucks me right in!!
Now that is just a perfect dessert....or breakfast...or snack... the list can go on! Lovely pictures too!
Those blueberry crumb bars look good!
These have been on my list to make for awhile. I am slowly weeding through all my stuff I have ripped out of magazines. Ugh, it is agonizing and pleasurable all at the same time.
oh my god. i can't get over how good these (and the ice cream) look. That picture with the ice cream is completely amazing. I love the idea of sour cream in ice cream... and everything about these bars!!!
the husband is gonna love this! He loves blueberries with a passion...and I love anything crumble...
Yes PLEASE! That looks sooooo good! :)
Sorry to hear about your shoulder :( At least we have modern conveniences now... Hey, does Mini SGCC help out in the kitchen? :)
I made those bars too! Weren't they fabulous? I made mine with extra crumb topping. But I would love to make homemade ice cream with it. Yum!
The ice cream melting on these bars looks obscenely good! I can't wait to make this recipe.
Im asking... please deliver!!!
Susan, these look absolutely amazing!
Both the bars and the ice cream look wonderful and I bet the two together were fabulous!
What a fantastic combination. And beautiful photos of it, too!
Going to the farmers markey this morning so I will have to pick up some blueberries for sure now:D
Oh...my...gosh....! That looks amazing. What a combination!
If I were you, I'd just hit the pills, booze and ice cream and call it a day. You're a better woman than I.
Oh, your shoulder is hurt?
I can totally jusify this because it has blueberries. I have frozen blueberries...think those will work?
Beautiful bars, with our without the ice cream! I love blueberries - can't wait to try this one!
You delieverd and you delivered! O-M-G!!!!
Awesome, even without the ice cream. Like that the crust can be cone in the food processor...that would make these pretty simple to make, too. YUM!
sinful and delicious..just the way i like it!! you just made my day!!
they look so good susan... i just made some similar bars but they were glutem, dairy and soy free for my godson who has food allergies. these bars with the ice cream must be sinful!
And here I was wondering what this week's sweet treat would be! Thanks for the inspiration.
Oh, Susan. I have been dreaming about those bars ever since I laid eyes on them. And you go and make them even more luscious!
Post a Comment