Blueberry Crumb Bars - Low Sugar

I am sure you  have noticed -I cannot seem to get enough blueberries over the past few months. Every time I go to the store they look and smell better and are bigger and brighter?  How is anyone supposed to resist?  Clearly I haven't!

So armed with a fresh supply of these juicy morsels I happily baked - and have a stack of things to try over the rest of the summer as long as the weather isn't too sweltering here in CA!

The prep was fun and easy!

BLUEBERRY CRUMB BARS

adapted from the Brown Eyed Baker

CRUMB CRUST:

3 cups flour

1/2 cup Truvia Baking Blend (or 1 c. sugar, Splenda or Truvia)

1 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

1 cup cold, unsalted butter,cut into cubes

1 egg

FILLING:

4 cups fresh blueberries

1/4 cup Truvia Baking Blend  (or 1/2 c. sugar, Splenda or Truvia)

4 tsp. cornstarch

juice of 1 lemon

zest of 1 lemon

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 375.  Lightly grease a 13x9" pan.

(The original directions called for using a pastry blender and feel free to do that. But I used a food processor and it came out perfectly crumbly!  So those are the directions I am using!)

In a food processor bowl (at least 9 cup capacity), add flour, Truvia Baking Blend, baking powder , salt and cold butter in cubes.  Quickly pulse the ingredients just until it seems blended and then add the egg and pulse a few more times.  If you overprocess, it will come together like a dough!

Press  half of the mixture (about 3-3 1/2 cups) into the baking pan.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the remaining Truvia Baking Blend, cornstarch, and lemon juice.  Then fold in the blueberries and lemon zest and gently mix until the berries are coated.  Spread the blueberry mixture over the crust, distributing the juice over the filling too.  Crumble the remaining mixture over the top of the blueberry filling. (I sprinkled some mini cinnamon chips over all - purely optional).

Bake for 45-50 minutes or until the top is light golden brown.  Cool before cutting into squares.

DELICIOUS!!

And the finished product was even better!!

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Lovin Lemon!

My lovely lemon tree could be appropriately called "the giving tree".  Except for about 2-3 months of the year  (right now) it just gives and gives and gives.  I can be grabbing the current crop of beautiful yellow lemons and see both new green ones growing and blossoms popping. It rarely rests!   The last crop I had well over 200 lemons and kept neighbors and friends well stocked.

When I have an over-abundance, I cannot possibly use them all up and I hate throwing them out, so I  juice and zest them and put them in the freezer.  The zest is in an airtight container that I can easily access and the juice is first frozen in ice cube trays and then put into freezer bags so I pull out what I need.

I don't know what it is about this lemon tree (and it is even MORE special because it is a Meyer lemon!) but it makes me smile just to see it - whether or not it is lemon bearing season.  Maybe it is just because it knows how much I appreciate all that it shares with me and all of the wonderful things I can make because of its generosity - from lemonade to lemon bars to lemon pound cake to the lemon yogurt muffins below......

The Lemon Yogurt Sugar Muffins from Cinnamon Spice and Everything Nice were very good, but I made some changes that may have affected the outcome.  The recipe called for plain Greek Yogurt and I used vanilla Greek yogurt which may have diluted the lemon flavor,  So next time if I use the vanilla yogurt again, I would substitute the vanilla extract that was also added for lemon extract.  I think that would enhance the flavor. Other than that, they were very good and a treat.  When they were still slightly warm, they were brushed with melted butter and dipped in sugar.  They made a great presentation.

  I use the King Arthur Muffin pans and they are truly a breeze to clean even without liners. I highly recommend their entire line of baking pans.  They are pricey, but you will have them for a lifetime and you can tell when you use them that they are quality,

I had a surplus of  lemons from the last crop and more than enough lemon juice cubes to keep me going for awhile, so I decided to juice more and make a Meyer Lemon Loaf Cake  from the Brown Eyed Baker and I am so glad I did.  As you will see if you follow the link above, the recipe calls for 2 Tablespoons lemon zest and I used 3 Tablespoons.  The lemon smell filled the house with the scent of spring and I could hardly wait for it to cool so I could glaze it and get it out of the house before I devoured it whole!![

The glazing was fun. After it has been out of the oven for 10 minutes, you prick the entire cake (sides too) with a long bamboo skewer, and then brush a mixture of cooked lemon sugar syrup over the cake and let it set until cool.

I would definitely make this again!

And here is a sneak preview of things to come with my energizer lemon tree.  See the little buds that are beginning to populate the tree?? In no time at all there will be 100-200 lemons  gracing the kitchens of  my friends as I share the wealth!!  Here is the evidence of the new lemons coming  I will take a new picture when the tree is bursting with lemons again!

Look at all of those blossoms - and they are all over the tree like that!

You will be amazed!  I still am with every new crop!  And look for more lemon recipes to come!
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