Blackberry Oatmeal Bars

It's August, and that means blackberries!  They grow wild all over the place here in the PNW, sometimes aggressively and invasively! They grew all along the edge of the yard when I was a kid and my brother and sister and I would pick bowls of them so my mom could make jelly. Blackberry jelly is still my favorite!

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.

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.

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.

Great with Blackberry Vanilla Bean Ice Cream!

Strawberry-Rhubarb Oatmeal Bars

Depeding on the tartness of the rhubarb, and the sweetness and juiciness of the strawberries, I sometimes adjust the sugar and/or cornstarch a bit with this recipe...

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:
3 C rhubarb, large diced (1")
3 C strawberries, large diced
¾ C sugar
zest of one orange (approx 2 tsp zest)
1/3 C orange 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˚.

To 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, and just slightly up the edge (baking sheet with a 'lip'). Bake 12 minutes; remove and cool slightly while you prepare filling and topping.

To make the fruit filling...
In a large bowl, combine rhubarb, strawberries, sugar and zest. Dissolve cornstarch in orange juice; add to rhubarb-strawberry mixture and gently stir to combine. Spoon or pour mixture over oatmeal base.

In a large bowl, stir together first 5 ingredients of crumble topping to evenly distribute. Cut in butter and continue mixing until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Sprinkle generously over strawberry-rhubarb layer. Bake 30-40 minutes until fruit is bubbling and crumble topping is golden brown.

Cool completely. Slice into bars to serve.

Fudge Brownies

Ingredients
1 C butter
3 C sugar
4 eggs
1 T vanilla extract
1½ C flour
1 C cocoa powder (I use dark)
1 tsp salt
optional: 1 C chocolate chips (or white chips, peanut butter chips...)

Directions
Preheat oven to 350˚. Lightly grease (or coat with non-stick cooking spray) a 9x13" baking dish.

Cream butter and sugar. Beat in eggs and vanilla, mixing until thoroughly blended. Add remaining dry ingredients all at once. If desired, fold in chocolate chips.

Pour and spread batter evenly in prepared 9x13" pan. Bake 30-40 minutes.

Pumpkin Bars

Generally I bake these in a jelly roll pan (baking sheet with a 1" lip) and cut them into bars, though they're more cake-like in texture than like a bar cookie. I'd love a good pumpkin cookie recipe, but I've yet to find a good recipe that really has a cookie-like texture. Most of them are more cake or muffin like in texture. I baked some of these up like mini cupcakes recently (pictured), and that worked just fine too. 

Ingredients
1¹/₃ C sugar
4 eggs
½ C oil
½ C applesauce
15 oz pumpkin puree
2 C flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
½ tsp ground nutmeg

Directions
Preheat oven to 350˚. Grease and flour (or coat with non-stick cooking spray) a jelly roll pan or line with parchment.

Blend first 5 ingredients until smooth. Combine dry ingredients, including spices; add to pumpkin mixture. Pour into prepared pan, smoothing and spreading as needed to an even depth.

Bake 15 to 20 minutes until center is dry (the 'clean toothpick' test works here).

Top with sweetened whipped cream, cream cheese frosting, or a simple powdered sugar icing.
Or do like I did: I didn't use a recipe for the topping...just blended cream cheese with some maple syrup, a little cinnamon, folded in some whipped cream...

Tiger Bites

I had half a bag of pretzels and some marshmallows that were going to go stale if I didn't use them soon. So...Tiger Bites! -- a blending of a couple bar cookie recipes I found. If I wasn't trying to use up the marshmallows I had, I might use mini-marshmallows instead. Although the browned tops of the larger ones give the even, golden "tiger" color under the chocolate drizzled stripes.

Cookie Bar Ingredients
1½ C broken pretzel pieces
1¼ C flour
1½ tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt (optional; pretzels are pretty salty already)
½ C butter
1½ C brown sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
non-stick cooking spray

Topping Ingredients
8 large marshmallows, halved
¼ C chocolate chips (or chopped chocolate)
2 T (about) cream - or milk

Directions
Preheat oven to 350˚. Line a 9" square baking pan with aluminum foil, leaving an overhang (to lift baked cookie bars out of the pan); coat lightly with non-stick cooking spray.

Pulse 1 C of pretzel pieces in food processor until finely ground (or smash in a plastic bag using a rolling pin). Combine with flour, baking powder and salt (if desired).

Melt butter with brown sugar over medium heat. Do not boil. Cool slightly; stir in eggs and vanilla. Combine with pretzel flour mixture until well blended. Pour and spread batter in baking pan. Lightly press remaining pretzel pieces over surface of batter.

Bake 30 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Let cool completely, then lift out of baking pan, onto a sheet pan (spread foil edges out).

Preheat broiler. Gently press marshmallow halves (cut-side down) in rows (4x4) on top of cookie bars. Place under broiler -- moving and rotating as needed to brown all marshmallows evenly.

Place chocolate chips and 1-2 T cream in small microwave-safe bowl. Microwave in SHORT intervals, stirring frequently, to melt chocolate. Drizzle in 'stripes' over tops of cookie bars. Chill or let harden at room temperature to set chocolate before serving. Cut into 16 bars.

"Zit Bars"

I don't know how it's gone this long and this recipe hasn't made its way onto my blog. I used to make these a LOT when I was working with the high school group at the church where I grew up. Never had any leftovers! I don't know what the real/original name is...I've only ever really known them referred to as "zit bars" which sounds pretty disgusting...but they're gooey, fudgey deliciousness with enough oatmeal crust to hold it all together.

(It's not the best photo, they're still in the pan! But I don't want to cut into them yet...I'm taking them to school tomorrow: Happy end of the school year!!)

Ingredients, oatmeal cookie 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, fudge layer:
12 oz chocolate chips
1 14-oz can sweetened condensed milk
2 Tbls butter 
½ tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350˚.

To make cookie 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 about  two-thirds of this mixture over the bottom of a 9x13 pan (or, for thinner cookies, spread evenly over a jelly roll baking sheet).

To make fudge layer...
Combine the chips, sweetened condensed milk, butter and salt in a saucepan over medium-low heat. Stir continually until chocolate is melted and all ingredients are smoothly combined. Stir in vanilla.

Pour fudge sauce -- and spread as needed -- over oatmeal cookie base. Dot with bits of remaining oatmeal mixture. Bake for 25-30 minutes. (20-25 minutes for the thinner bars.)

Serve with lots of cold milk! :)

Lemon Lime Bars

Ingredients:
2 C + 3 Tbls flour 
½ C powdered sugar, additional for garnish
2 Tbls cornstarch 
¼ tsp salt
1 C cold butter, diced
4 eggs
1 C sugar 
¹/₃ C half-and-half
¹/₃ C lemon juice
¹/₃ C lime juice
1 tsp lemon zest, additional for garnish
1 tsp lime zest, additional for garnish
1 drop green food coloring

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350°. Line 9x13" pan with parchment - bottom and up sides.

For the crust...  Sift together 2 cups flour, powdered sugar, cornstarch and salt. Cut in cold butter chunks until the mixture is mealy. It will be a VERY DRY crust. Press firmly to bottom of pan. Bake 15 minutes.

For the lemon & lime filling...  Whisk together eggs, sugar, half-and-half, and 3 Tbls flour. Divide equally into two bowls. Add lemon juice and lemon zest to one. Add lime juice, lime zest, and a drop of green food coloring to the other. (Personally, I think the food coloring looks too artificial. It is kind of nice to see a visual difference between the lemon and lime layers, however; ...one small drop?)

As soon as crust is baked, pour lime filling over hot crust; return to oven for 12 minutes. Next, pour lemon filling over lime filling; bake for another 10-12 minutes until set. Cool completely on a wire rack.

Use parchment to remove cooled, uncut bars from pan. Cut into bars. Dust with additional powdered sugar, lemon and/or lime zest to serve. Store in refrigerator.

Glazed Butter Cookies

This is a basic recipe that is easy to use in lots of variations... Though not excessively rich or decadent, it is perfectly fine as a simple butter cookie. It's also substantial enough (not so light and buttery that it crumbles easily) that it makes a good base for bar cookies topped with fruit preserves, nuts, caramel, chocolate... You can get creative with it!

2½ C flour
¾ C powdered sugar
1 C butter
2 tsp vanilla
2 Tbls cream cheese

Combine flour and powdered sugar; cut butter into pieces and add, one at a time, until mixture is crumbly and damp. Add vanilla and cream cheese, mixing until incorporated. Divide dough in half; shape each half into a disc. Refrigerate 20-30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 375°. Roll out dough and cut into shapes...OR, for bar cookies...press into the bottom of a baking dish, and bake for 10-15 minutes or until golden brown. Glaze and/or decorate...OR top with preserves, nuts, chocolate, etc.

Glaze:
1 Tbls cream cheese
2-3 Tbls milk*
1½ C powdered sugar

* Instead of milk, try pineapple juice, lemon juice, orange juice...

Cranberry Blondies

Ingredients:
½ C butter, softened
½ C sugar
½ C brown sugar
½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
¼ tsp salt
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1¹/₃ C flour
½ C dried cranberries
½ C coarsely chopped white chocolate
½-1 C fresh cranberries

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°. Coat a 9x13 baking pan with non-stick cooking spray.

Cream butter and sugars. Blend in eggs and vanilla.

In a separate bowl, combined flour, soda, powder and salt.

Stir dry ingredients into creamed sugar & egg mixture. Gently blend in dried cranberries and white chocolate chips. Spread mixture evenly in 9x13 pan. Sprinkle with fresh cranberries and gently press them in halfway using a rubber spatula.

Bake 25 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Let cool in pan at least 10-15 minutes before cutting into squares or bars for serving.

Makes 12 roughly 3” squares, or 24  3” x 1½” bars (or 48 1½" bite-sized squares...pictured).

Scotch Shortbread

So simple, and oh so delicious!

½ C powdered sugar
1 C softened butter
2 C flour
pinch salt
1 tsp vanilla

Mix all ingredients thoroughly. Roll or press, cut into wedges or bars, etc.*
Bake 20 minutes at 315°.

* I don't have a shortbread mold, but I do have a 2" thistle stamp, so I roll mine into balls, then stamp them.

Southern Hospitality Lemon Bars

Mix:
1 C flour
1/2 C butter, softened
1/4 C powdered sugar
Press into 8x8" pan.
Bake 20 minutes at 350°.

While crust bakes, mix:
2 eggs
1 C sugar
4+ Tblsp lemon juice
2 Tbls flour
1 tsp finely grated lemon rind

When crust is done, quicly wisk 1/2 tsp baking powder into lemon mixture. Pour lemon topping over crust; bake 25 minutes. Cool. Dust with additional powdered sugar.