It is still early; depending on the weather the first week of August could be pushing it. But I had one half-full quart-sized bag of frozen blackberries from last year in my freezer (I ration them out over the winter months!) to use up now that a new crop is imminent...not quite enough for a half-recipe of oatmeal bars.
Make the fruit filling... In a large bowl, combine blackberries, sugar and zest. Dissolve cornstarch in lemon juice; add to blackberry mixture and gently stir to combine. Spoon or pour mixture over oatmeal base.
Make the topping... In a large bowl, stir together first 5 ingredients of crumble topping to evenly distribute. Cut in butter and continue mixing until it resembles coarse crumbs. Sprinkle generously over berry layer. Bake 30-40 minutes until fruit is bubbling and crumble topping is golden brown.
Cool completely. Slice into bars to serve.
So, I grabbed a stainless steel bowl, threw on some long sleeves and was heading across the field to search out enough early berries to make up the difference. I didn't need to cross the field...the scraggly patch along side my driveway provided plenty of ripe berries to fill out the recipe. WooHoo! Maybe I'll head out to really pick more tomorrow; today I just grabbed enough to make these: Blackberry Oatmeal Bars.
It's basically a riff on my Strawberry-Rhubarb Oatmeal Bar recipe. I reduced it by half and baked it in a 9-inch square pan, so they're thicker and baked a little longer (about 40 minutes in my convection oven...so it would be 50+ without convection). Blackberries are also sweeter than rhubarb (!) so I reduced the sugar, and used lemon instead of orange -- mostly because I had a lemon and no orange. Below is the full recipe (not halved, enough for a half sheet pan, 18x13").
Ingredients, oatmeal base:
1 C butter
2 C brown sugar
2 eggs
½ tsp vanilla
3 C oats
2½ C flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
Ingredients, strawberry-rhubarb layer:
6 C blackberries
½ C sugar
zest of one lemon (approx 2 tsp zest)
¼ C lemon juice
2 T cornstarch
Crumble Topping Ingredients
¾ C flour
1 C rolled oats
¼ C sugar
½ C brown sugar
½ tsp salt
¾ C butter, diced
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350˚. Line a 13x18 jelly roll pan (baking sheet with a 'lip') with parchment paper and coat lightly with non-stick cooking spray. (The parchment's not mandatory, but the bars come out a lot easier and its easier to clean up!)
Make oatmeal base... Cream together butter and brown sugar; beat in eggs and vanilla until smooth. Stir in oats. Add flour, soda and salt all at once, stirring until well combined. Spread evenly over a jelly roll baking sheet (baking sheet with a 'lip'), and just slightly up the edge. Bake 12 minutes; remove and cool slightly while you prepare filling and topping.
1 C butter
2 C brown sugar
2 eggs
½ tsp vanilla
3 C oats
2½ C flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
Ingredients, strawberry-rhubarb layer:
6 C blackberries
½ C sugar
zest of one lemon (approx 2 tsp zest)
¼ C lemon juice
2 T cornstarch
Crumble Topping Ingredients
¾ C flour
1 C rolled oats
¼ C sugar
½ C brown sugar
½ tsp salt
¾ C butter, diced
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350˚. Line a 13x18 jelly roll pan (baking sheet with a 'lip') with parchment paper and coat lightly with non-stick cooking spray. (The parchment's not mandatory, but the bars come out a lot easier and its easier to clean up!)
Make oatmeal base... Cream together butter and brown sugar; beat in eggs and vanilla until smooth. Stir in oats. Add flour, soda and salt all at once, stirring until well combined. Spread evenly over a jelly roll baking sheet (baking sheet with a 'lip'), and just slightly up the edge. Bake 12 minutes; remove and cool slightly while you prepare filling and topping.
Make the fruit filling... In a large bowl, combine blackberries, sugar and zest. Dissolve cornstarch in lemon juice; add to blackberry mixture and gently stir to combine. Spoon or pour mixture over oatmeal base.
Make the topping... In a large bowl, stir together first 5 ingredients of crumble topping to evenly distribute. Cut in butter and continue mixing until it resembles coarse crumbs. Sprinkle generously over berry layer. Bake 30-40 minutes until fruit is bubbling and crumble topping is golden brown.
Cool completely. Slice into bars to serve.
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