Berry Crumb Bars

When we think about Summer one of the first foods that come to mind are berries. So to celebrate the official start of Summer we made Berry Crumb Bars. These bars make a wonderful breakfast pastry or snack. Besides being delicious they are totally worth making for the wonderful aroma that will be coming from your kitchen once the berries start cooking.

Filling Ingredients: 3 cups fresh or frozen berries (we used 2 cups strawberries and 1 cup blueberries but use any combination of strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, or blackberries you want)
1 tbsp lemon juice
3/4 cup sugar
2 tbsp cornstarch

Directions for Filling:
1. In a saucepan stir berries and lemon juice together and cook until tender. Strawberries take a little longer to cook so we put them in first and allowed them to cook about 3 minutes before adding the blueberries. Total time cooking is around 8-10 minutes. 2. In a small bowl combine sugar and cornstarch. Then stir into fruit mixture. Continue cooking until the mixture boils. Allow it to boil 1-2 minutes so that mixture thickens. 3. Scrap berry filling into a bowl and set aside. Ingredients for Crumb and Crust: 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 cups rolled oats (quick-cooking or regular)
1 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup butter, softened and cut into chunks
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions for Crust:
1. Preheat oven to 350 and lightly grease a 9×13″ baking pan.
2. In a large bowl combine flour, oats, brown sugar, butter, baking soda , salt and vanilla extract. 3. Using your hands mix until mixture is thoroughly blended and resembles coarse crumbs. 4. Set aside 1 and 1/4 cups of mixture.
5. Pour remaining mixture into the bottom of the prepared baking dish, spread evenly and pat down. 6. Spread berries over crust. 7. Sprinkle remaining crumbs over the fruit filling. Bake until golden brown, about 30 to 35 minutes. 8. Cool completely on a wire rack before slicing. Happy Baking,
Sunny & Star