Blueberry crumble

I recently started following a food blog since I'm feeling pretty foodsy and have come across some extra free time for blog reading lately. A couple weeks ago, this blogger posted a blueberry dessert recipe that I was suddenly very anxious to try because I knew that a) I had lots of blueberries in my fridge, and b) I could get more to snack on since they were still on super sale, and bonus) July 4th was coming up and blue food is festive.

So I made some of these blueberry pie bars and they were YUM. We took them to the family BBQ on July 4th, so I only got a little bitty bit and Joseph had none. Since I'm probably bonkers, I made another batch this weekend to share with the other side of our family. (They were still delish, if you're wondering.)

I sort of haphazardly scaled the recipe up to fit a 9 x 13 pan instead of a 8 x 8 pan on my first round, but as you can see, I ended up with a TON of crumble topping on top. I love that shortbready stuff, but also I wanted to taste everything else, so I toned down that part for my second try. 

I also nixed the foil because as much as she says it helps with clean-up, it was mostly just a hassle. They're easy to clean up on their own if you use a glass pan.

And in both cases, I did not let them cool and cut them into bars. We just scooped servings with a big spoon and called it good. Bars shmars, I say.

So! Here's the recipe as I used it for my 9 x 13 creation:

Blueberry Crumble

Crust
1/2 cup butter, melted
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 cups flour

Filling
2 eggs
1 heaping cup sour cream (I used low fat)
2/3 cup sugar
4 teaspoons vanilla
2 tablespoon flour

Blueberries
12-18 ounces fresh blueberries (frozen should work too, but it's blueberry season!)
1/3 cup sugar
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 teaspoons cornstarch

Topping

1/4 cup butter, melted

1/4 cup sugar

2 tablespoons brown sugar

3/4 cup flour

1) Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and spray a 9 x 13 pan. 

2) Make the crust: melt butter in a bowl and add both sugars. Stir together, then add flour all at once and combine. Press with your fingers or with a spatula into the bottom of the pan in one flat and even layer. 

[NOTE: The crust and topping ingredients and methods are literally the exact same, except the topping has half of every ingredient. I made them separate because it was easier for me than reserving some from the beginning (I have very few mixing bowls), but you could add together the ingredients for steps 1 and 5 and then reserve a third of the mixture for the topping later.]

3) Make the filling: combine eggs, sour cream, sugar, and vanilla in a bowl and stir to combine. Then add flour. Pour and spread on top of crust layer to create another flat and even layer.

4) Mix those blueberries together with the sugar, lemon juice, and cornstarch. Pour them on top of the filling layer and spread them out as best as you can. Things will likely start mixing together and that's totally fine.

5) Make the topping: it's made just like the crust, but with smaller ingredient sizes. Sprinkle on top of your blueberry layer, nicely and evenly as usual.

6) Bake for about 40 minutes, or maybe longer. Just watch for the edges of your bars to bubble and the topping to turn just a little bit brown. Scoop with a big spoon to serve while still warm because bars shmars. 

NOTE: These make a great breakfast food, if you're all about starting your day with dessert.

PRO TIP: Blueberries are the cheapest I've ever seen them this week at Sprout's. Like $0.83 per 6-oz package sort of cheap. Go get some!