so, i've been getting a bunch of blueberries in my farmshare. love them, but what do i do with them all? and of course, i had an actual reason to cook them! because a coworker (who is a fantastic cook herself) is in the process of remodeling her new (new to her, quite old to the world) farmhouse, and got the renovations to a point where she could have a house party. and so i needed to bring something! and needed to find a good blueberry recipe! initially, i was thinking of just doing a blueberry bread, and just adapting my bananabread recipe (which, come to think of it, i might do this week since i bought more blueberries at the market as they were on sale!)
it just so happened that this past week i came across a lovely food blog, smitten kitchen, with all kinds of lovely recipes. perhaps some day my blog will be a bit more like that, when i am creating my own recipes more than just using other recipes posted online or in books. in any event, i saw this blueberry crumb bar recipe, and they looked so incredibly delicious, i had to make them!
i was rather surprised at the way the bars are made, with the blueberries all in one layer. i would have expected it to be too juicy that way, but perhaps the cornstarch made up for that and helped to bake it into a thicker jammy layer.
i did make one slight alteration to the recipe. and that was that i waited to add the egg to the dough until after i had incorporated the butter. yes yes i know that isnt really an alteration, i am sure that is how miss smittenkitchen did it as well, because that is generally how all flaky butter-based doughs are made (dry ingredients --> butter --> wet ingredients). i think my butter might not have been cold enough, because it is so freakin hot in my apartment right now, so that probably also contributed to my dough being just a bit more wet and together. it really came together, which was nice for the bottom layer of the dough, but a bit too-together for the top - i think that it should have been more crumbly.
on the whole, they were very delicious, and nice and cakey. the lemon gave it a very nice touch, unsurprisingly, considering how well blueberries and lemons go together. and while they went pretty quick since i brought them to a party, and thus didnt have a chance to test the storing-in-the-fridge thing, i think that would make them even better. i wonder if they might be better with a more crumbly top in general though. i think that using the same topping as the bottom layer detracts a bit. i am remembering back to the blueberry muffins my mother used to make, with a sugary crumbly topping. am thinking i might try a bread more similar to that this weekend, with a sugary crumbly topping. hmmmm...
No comments:
Post a Comment