The other day, when I posted about that fantastic Blueberry Sour Cream Ice Cream for my weekly Tuesdays with Dorie gig, I also posted this photo.
The tasty looking little confection peeking out from underneath that oozy purple mound of ice cream is a blueberry-almond crumble bar. After I made the ice cream, I wanted to make something to go with it. It had to be something easy, because I was watching the spectacular opening ceremonies of the Olympics and didn’t want to miss any of it. I’d seen these on Smitten Kitchen’s site a while back and had bookmarked the recipe. It was the perfect thing!
These bars are ridiculously easy to prepare and the end result is a buttery, crumbly shortbread-like crust filled with plump, sweet and juicy blueberry goodness. They were absolutely delicious, with and without the ice cream. In fact, they were so good that I decided they really deserved a post all their own. Apparently, many of you felt the same way, because I had a lot of requests for the recipe. Little did you know that I was planning to write a separate post about the bars all along!
The original recipe calls for fresh lime juice and zest. I decided to switch it up a little bit and swapped out the lime for orange. Since orange and ginger go so well together, I added a little ground ginger to my blueberries for some oomph. With orange and ginger in the game, I just had to somehow fit almonds in too. I ended up substituting a half cup of almond meal for regular flour. I think the almond meal added a subtle nuttiness to the crust, and gave it an even more crumbly texture.
I’ve never been very successful with a pastry cutter. Also, a car accident a few years ago left me with a permanently damaged rotator cuff. For these reasons, I chose to mix up my dough in the food processor. I’ve never made it the other way, so I can’t tell you how the dough compared, but I can tell you that it worked just fine. So, if you’re not up for a shoulder workout, use the processor.
These Blueberry-Almond Crumble Bars were a big hit here in SGCC Land. They were going so fast that I had to hide a few to save for the pictures! While they are certainly terrific paired with ice cream, don’t let that stop you from making them on their own. They really are wonderful all by their lonesome!
Blueberry-Almond Crumble Bars
Adapted from allrecipes.com and Smitten Kitchen
1 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup almond meal
1 cup cold butter (2 sticks)
1 egg
1/4 teaspoon salt
Zest and juice of 1/2 of a small orange
4 cups fresh blueberries
1/2 cup white sugar
1/4 tsp ground ginger
4 teaspoons cornstarch
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Butter a 9×13 inch pan.
In a medium bowl, mix together 1 cup sugar, flour, almond flour and baking powder. Add in salt and orange zest. Use a fork or pastry cutter to blend in the butter and egg. The dough will be crumbly. Alternatively, you can pulse the dry ingredients in a food processor with the butter until pebbly, and then mix in the egg until it all comes together. Pat half of the dough into the buttered pan.
In another bowl, stir together the sugar, cornstarch, ginger and orange juice. Gently mix in the blueberries. Sprinkle the blueberry mixture evenly over the dough in the pan. Crumble remaining dough over the berries.
Bake for 45-55 minutes, or until top is a light golden brown. Cool completely before cutting into squares.
Enjoy!
Filed Under: Baking, Cookies and Brownies, Desserts, Fruits, Recipes
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On August 14, 2008 at 12:26am, [eatingclub] vancouver || js said...
My goodness, this is so not fair!
On August 14, 2008 at 1:39am, Kitchen Flavours said...
Looks yum yum yummy. First time here. Really tempting blog. Nice pics.
On August 14, 2008 at 2:00am, Jacque said...
oooh, I can see why these got so much attention, they look delish! Your ice cream looks positively sinful and it’s such a lovely color. Great job!
On August 14, 2008 at 2:51am, Cakelaw said...
I can see why these would be popular in SGCC land - those luscious berries peeking out from the crumbly top have my heart.
On August 14, 2008 at 3:37am, Mochachocolata Rita said...
whoa! more blueberries!
On August 14, 2008 at 5:28am, Debbie said...
I also saw these on Smitten Kitchen and posted them last week!!! They are sooo good!!! I took them into work and they were devoured!
On August 14, 2008 at 7:43am, Donna said...
You are sooo not playing fair! Now I’ll have to make them too!
On August 14, 2008 at 7:52am, Erin said...
This looks delicious! I bet they were perfect with the ice cream! I’ll have to make these soon
On August 14, 2008 at 8:27am, Mandy said...
The blueberry bar looks really delicious! I like that you substituted some of the flavoring to make it your own.
On August 14, 2008 at 8:36am, Leah said...
My husband is a blueberry fiend and would be all over these! I’ll have to make this recipe for him sometime soon….they look fantastic!
On August 14, 2008 at 9:41am, noble pig said...
I am so glad you posted this.
I would have never thought about adding ginger to a recipe like this and find myself intrigued by that. I’ll have to try it. And thanks for all the food porn pictures!
On August 14, 2008 at 10:09am, Tanya said...
Oh how I love blueberry crumble bars. These look so delicious, especially with that ice cream on top. Yum!
On August 14, 2008 at 11:04am, J.Danger said...
oh my! I think I deserve too!
On August 14, 2008 at 11:13am, Maven said...
Shoot! I wsh I had seen this sooner… I had blueberries that I needed to use. They ended up going into some banana muffins, but this recipe looks really great. I like the idea of adding orange.
On August 14, 2008 at 11:20am, Lori said...
OK, that’s it. I’m making these this weekend. That top photo is killing me!
On August 14, 2008 at 11:54am, PaniniKathy said...
Hooray!! Thanks so much for posting!
On August 14, 2008 at 12:13pm, Jodie said...
Ooh, these look amazing! Love your blog!
On August 14, 2008 at 1:41pm, Paris said...
I am crying. Crying! I have a stand of beautiful, healthy blueberry bushes in my backyard. They were loaded this spring. Birds ate all but about 2 cups of my berries. Wah!
On August 14, 2008 at 2:12pm, Judy@nofearentertaining said...
Can’t wait to try these! I like the orange and ginger in it too!
On August 14, 2008 at 4:18pm, CookiePie said...
Ooooh - yum! I saw those on Smitten Kitchen and thought they looked divine — and I love your take too, with the orange and ginger! Delish!
On August 14, 2008 at 4:24pm, Katrina said...
Goodness, they sure look good!
On August 14, 2008 at 4:25pm, Grace said...
i’ve been hypnotized by the oozy goodness of your blueberry filling. hypnotized and mesmerized. they’re stunning.
On August 14, 2008 at 5:02pm, Farmer Jen said...
Thank you for that wonderful recipe!
On August 14, 2008 at 6:54pm, Steph said...
Those bars look fantastic! They look so delicious especially with the icecream melting down the sides.
On August 14, 2008 at 6:56pm, Half Baked said...
yum yum yum! those bars look divine!
On August 14, 2008 at 7:34pm, Leslie said...
Anything with a crumb topping just sucks me right in!!
On August 14, 2008 at 7:36pm, Bridgett said...
Now that is just a perfect dessert….or breakfast…or snack… the list can go on! Lovely pictures too!
On August 14, 2008 at 8:18pm, Kevin said...
Those blueberry crumb bars look good!
On August 14, 2008 at 9:12pm, Obsessive Foodie or Food Addict....You Decide said...
These have been on my list to make for awhile. I am slowly weeding through all my stuff I have ripped out of magazines. Ugh, it is agonizing and pleasurable all at the same time.
On August 14, 2008 at 9:34pm, Heather said...
oh my god. i can’t get over how good these (and the ice cream) look. That picture with the ice cream is completely amazing. I love the idea of sour cream in ice cream… and everything about these bars!!!
On August 15, 2008 at 6:06am, veron said...
the husband is gonna love this! He loves blueberries with a passion…and I love anything crumble…
On August 15, 2008 at 7:58am, Manggy said...
Yes PLEASE! That looks sooooo good!
Sorry to hear about your shoulder
At least we have modern conveniences now… Hey, does Mini SGCC help out in the kitchen? 
On August 15, 2008 at 9:17am, Dawn said...
I made those bars too! Weren’t they fabulous? I made mine with extra crumb topping. But I would love to make homemade ice cream with it. Yum!
On August 15, 2008 at 2:50pm, Zoe Francois said...
The ice cream melting on these bars looks obscenely good! I can’t wait to make this recipe.
On August 15, 2008 at 5:44pm, Lina said...
Im asking… please deliver!!!
On August 15, 2008 at 7:36pm, Jen of A2eatwrite said...
Susan, these look absolutely amazing!
On August 15, 2008 at 8:43pm, Tartelette said...
Both the bars and the ice cream look wonderful and I bet the two together were fabulous!
On August 16, 2008 at 4:56am, Tom Aarons said...
What a fantastic combination. And beautiful photos of it, too!
On August 16, 2008 at 6:12am, Bellini Valli said...
Going to the farmers markey this morning so I will have to pick up some blueberries for sure now:D
On August 16, 2008 at 7:33am, Kristen said...
Oh…my…gosh….! That looks amazing. What a combination!
On August 16, 2008 at 1:12pm, Heather said...
If I were you, I’d just hit the pills, booze and ice cream and call it a day. You’re a better woman than I.
Oh, your shoulder is hurt?
On August 16, 2008 at 11:57pm, Trysha said...
I can totally jusify this because it has blueberries. I have frozen blueberries…think those will work?
On August 17, 2008 at 4:17pm, Cookie baker Lynn said...
Beautiful bars, with our without the ice cream! I love blueberries - can’t wait to try this one!
On August 17, 2008 at 6:32pm, Cynthia said...
You delieverd and you delivered! O-M-G!!!!
On August 17, 2008 at 9:06pm, Elle said...
Awesome, even without the ice cream. Like that the crust can be cone in the food processor…that would make these pretty simple to make, too. YUM!
On August 18, 2008 at 3:04am, Dhanggit said...
sinful and delicious..just the way i like it!! you just made my day!!
On August 18, 2008 at 6:30am, Aran said...
they look so good susan… i just made some similar bars but they were glutem, dairy and soy free for my godson who has food allergies. these bars with the ice cream must be sinful!
On August 18, 2008 at 7:08am, The Short (dis)Order Cook said...
And here I was wondering what this week’s sweet treat would be! Thanks for the inspiration.
On August 18, 2008 at 12:01pm, Patricia Scarpin said...
Oh, Susan. I have been dreaming about those bars ever since I laid eyes on them. And you go and make them even more luscious!
On November 30, 2009 at 7:05pm, Ellie Park said...
I absolutely love your site and your food! Everything looks so delicious and I cannot wait to try it!!