Blueberry lemon crumble bars

Who doesn't love a delicious crumble? I mean, it's butter, flour and sugar mashed in a bowl and baked. Crumbles are delicious, and summery blueberry crumbles are even more delicious. When a friend of mine invited us to a dinner at her house tonight, I knew these bars would be a hit and given that there was a sale on blueberries at our market, it was like the stars were aligned for this dessert.

Funny story about these blueberries though. Ready for it? Okay, I decided to go pick up 4 pints of blueberries (they were $1.47 a pint. Who wouldn't want a 8 cups of blueberries at that price?) So, I got to the store ready to score a great deal on these blue beauties when I see a little printed sign that says "Correction". Now, our produce market is a solid 10 minute drive from our house and blueberries were my one and only purpose for venturing across town, lots and lots of blueberries, and I wasn't a huge fan of that correction sign at this point. Anyways, the sign went on to tell me that due to increased heat in the Midwest, the blueberries printed in the flyer were not available and a substitution was made for the 1 pint for $1.47 deal to two pints for $1.47. That's great right? No. The limit was two half-pints per customer, and for my recipe alone I needed 4 half pints and that didn't even include the blueberry muffins, ice cream and pancakes I was already making in my head on the way to the store.

Well, this is pretty much how it went down after that. Seeing hundreds of stay at home moms eyeing the blueberry display that read "While supplies last", I grabbed my four half-pint plastic bins and made a bee line for the peanut butter aisle. I then proceeded to hide two of my half pints behind the stack of almond butter and proceeded to the checkout. I acted calm, cool and collected as I checked out for my two blueberries and two Kind bars (those things are delicious!). I then went out to my car where I stashed the newly purchased berry goodness and walked across the parking lot and into the door on the other side of the store. I was being inconspicuous, don't ya know. After re-entering the store, I walked the perimeter of the store, ensuring that the clerk who had already rung me up once didn't spot me and grabbed my hidden beauties from behind their almond hideaway. I then went to the register on the far side of the store, opposite the register I first visited and stood in line. As I was paying for the last two half-pints and feeling quite crafty, the bag boy comes up and says "Weren't you just in line over there? You were in here less than 5 minutes ago. Dejavu."

I. was. busted. Needless to say the only response I had was "I know right" and I finished my transactions, grabbed my blueberries sans a bag and left. Upon exiting the store I turned the wrong way in the parking lot and had to re-drive by the front of the store. If anyone had been watching everything that had happened since I pulled into the parking lot at Sunflower Market they would have called someone on me. It was quite the journey. I also had to hand zest my lemon, so I had to peel it with a knife and then chop the peel into tiny little pieces. Yes, Hailey and Dan, I wanted you guys to have the best dessert ever. 

Anyways, that journey led me here, to this recipe on this blog with over yellowed pictures. I'm still trying to figure it out, so bear with me and enjoy this delicious summer treat from above, and to see the incredible dinner that accompanied this treat skip on over to Rustique Living and let Hailey show you how to whirl around a kitchen during a hail storm. 


Blueberry Lemon Crumb Bars 
Taken from SmittenKitchen.com

I didn't eveny try to adapt this recipe to my taste; if I had, I probably would have added some pecans on top of the crumble. If you have some handy, do that.

• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup (2 sticks) cold unsalted butter
• 1 large egg
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• zest and juice from one lemon
• 4 cups fresh blueberries
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 4 tsps. cornstarch

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and grease a 9X13 inch baking pan.
2. In a bowl, stir together 1 cup sugar, 3 cups flour and baking powder. Mix in salt and lemon zest. Use a  pastry cutter, knives or your hands to blend in the butter and egg. The dough will be in little balls and crumbly. Pat half the dough into the bottom of the prepared pan.
3. In another bowl, mix together sugar, cornstarch and lemon juice. Gently stir in blueberries and spoon berries onto dough. Crumble remaining dough mixture on top.
4. Bake for 45 minutes or until the top is slightly brown. Allow to cool completely before cutting.