Blueberry Yum-Crumb Bars

Oh, it's so good to be back and trying new recipes for all my lovely guinea piggies out there! My room is done... FINALLY... and (I think) it looks fantastic! Can you tell I'm excited? I'll eventually blog about the whole experience, along with what really works best in that sort of project, but in the meantime, BACK TO THE BAKINGS!

I used a slight variation of a recipe off http://allrecipes.com/Recipe-Tools/Print/Recipe.aspx?RecipeID=10462&origin=detail&servings=15 and must say, these turned out quite delish! (Oh my, I am using a lot of exclamation points. I will try to refrain! Oh, crap. There's another one.)

*Note: I used frozen berries, which worked perfectly fine. I prefer fresh, but the fresh berries were $2.99 for HALF A CUP, and I was not about to pay $24 for some blueberries. Holy cow! I'm all about saving when I can. See that cute littly bowl in the picture? $1 at TJ Maxx. Yeah, you heard me right. (!)


Ingredients:


Crust/Topping:

1 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup shortening
1 egg
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 pinch ground cinnamon

Filling:

4 cups fresh or frozen blueberries (AKA poohberries. I miss you, Leslie!)
Zest of 1 lemon (opt)
1/2 cup white sugar
4 teaspoons cornstarch
Raw Sugar for sprinkling

Grease and flour a 9" x 13" pan. Pre-heat oven to 375.

In a medium bowl, stir together 1 cup sugar, 3 cups flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon.

Use a fork to mix in the shortening and egg until the dough is crumbly.

Press half of the dough into the pan and set aside.

Put the blueberries and lemon zest in another bowl, and gently stir in the sugar and corn starch (which serves as an emulsifier). The original recipe calls to do this in reverse, but I think it requires less stirring if there is no powder hiding on the bottom of the bowl. 

Sprinkle the blueberry mixture evenly over the crust. Crumble remaining dough over the berries.

(I started forgetting to take pictures at this point...so some steps are half done already in the image. Oops. What can I say... I'm out of practice!)

Sprinkle raw sugar over the top, sparingly. I forgot to take a picture of that part. Instead, here is a collage/painting I made for someone many years ago.

Bake in pre-heated oven for 50-55 minutes, or until top is golden.

 Cool completely before cutting into squares. I cut a couple of squares while it was still warm and thoroughly enjoyed it. I was afraid this recipe would be messy and have dry crust, but that's NOT the case at all! I am wondering if using shortening instead of butter gives the crust a better "hold". Any thoughts? 

Enjoy!