Blackberry Crunch Bars

appleydapply's Note:

Sweet, sugary, buttery goodness in a pan. This recipe is from Marsee Baking Company in Portland, Oregon. When we lived in that area, we used to pick wild blackberries and I could make this delicious dessert at a very low cost. It was heaven. The original recipe called for marionberries, but they are interchangeable in this recipe. I have never tried using frozen berries for this, so I recommend fresh.

• Total Time: 1 hrs 25 mins
• Prep Time: 20 mins
• Cook Time: 1 hrs 5 mins

Ingredients:

Yield: 24 bars

Crust

• ¾ cup unsalted butter (1 1/2 sticks, at room temperature and cut into chunks)
• ¾ cup powdered sugar
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• ¼ teaspoon salt (reduce this to 1/8 tsp if you must use salted butter)

Filling

• ½ cup granulated sugar (plus 2 TB more if needed)
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 1 pinch salt
• 4 cups fresh blackberries or 4 cups marionberries
• ½ lemon, zest of , grated

Topping

• ½ cup unsalted butter (1 stick, at room temperature and cut into chunks)
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon salt (reduce this to 1/8 tsp if you must use salted butter)
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

1. For the crust:.
2. Preheat oven to 350. Lightly grease a 9x13 glass baking dish.
3. Place the butter, sugar, flour, and salt in the bowl of an electric mixer. On low speed with the paddle attachment, mix until the butter is in small pea-sized chunks. (This could also be done by hand with a pastry blender).
4. Press the mixture evenly into the bottom of the prepared baking dish. You can set aside the bowl to use for the topping.
5. Bake until the surface is dry and the edges are very lightly browned, about 20-22 minutes. Let cool at least 20 minutes before adding filling.
6. For the filling:.
7. Pop a berry into your mouth. If it's an early-season berry from the store, it might be a little tart. If so, and you want make the filling a bit sweeter, add the extra 2 Tablespoons of sugar to the bowl in the next step.
8. In a mixing bowl, combine the 1/2 cup sugar (+ 2 T extra if needed), cornstarch, and salt. Stir in the berries and zest until combined. Set aside.
9. For the topping:.
10. In the bowl of the electric mixer, place the butter, sugar, cinnamon, salt, flour and vanilla. On low speed with the paddle attachment, mix until the butter is in small pea-sized chunks and the mixture begins to clump together. (This could also be done by hand with a pastry blender).
11. To assemble:.
12. Spread the filling on the cooled crust. Especially if the berries are large, the filling might not evenly cover the crust. That's OK.
13. Spread the topping over the filling. The whole thing will look pretty lumpy. That's OK.
14. Bake until the topping has browned lightly and the berry filling is bubbling, about 40 minutes.
15. Cool completely on a wire rack before cutting into bars. They are best eaten with a fork because they're a little crumbly.

Reviews

[scammy]

Made for hubby's crew and they only left him one piece! I added a little cold water to the crust because it seemed on the dry side.

[ShaGun]

These are SO good! They have a buttery shortbread bottom, a blackberry jam filling and a streusal topping. They cut very nicely and easily into bars. We couldn't stop eating them. If only they were healthier... P.S. I made these a second time. Since I didn't have a lemon, I used 1 Tbsp. lemon juice in place of the lemon zest and they still tasted great. I'll probably do this from now on.

[sillyelmo]

These bars are delicious! We found a secret stash of blackberry bushes along a walking trail in our neighborhood, and used our first 2 cups to make these delicious bars! I halved the recipe, and it turned out perfect. These do take a while to make, and are a bit labor intensive, but the flavors are perfect and well worth the effort!