Blueberry Crumble Shortbread Bars & a New Cookie-Concept

I have gained a new cookie concept: the 'shortbread bottom-jam layer middle-something good on top' concept.
 
And I have Melissa Clark to thank for it.  Between this recipe and another one for dark chocolate cherry ganache bars (a nytimes link), the cookie possibilities that have now opened before me seem endless.

You start with the shortbread on bottom: plain or chocolate, nutty or lemony.  Then slather on some delicious jam.  Blueberry, strawberry, cherry, peach, ... lemon curd (why not!).  Finish it off with a fun top.  This one has a crumble top.  But the other one had a ganache top.  Any kind of melted chocolate would do... perhaps sprinkled with salted almonds.  Vary as you see fit. 

This particular combination is fantastic.  I love crumbles because of their texture and how delightful to encounter it again and again in these cookies, without having to turn the oven on each time.  And these bars are not too sweet.  Instead, everything from the hint of lemon in the jam, the hint of cinnamon in the crumble, and the hint of butter from the shortbread makes the blueberry flavor ramify.  

It all makes you feel like you could eat lots of them.  At once.

Start by making the jam.  It is so quick, you won't believe it.  Sprinkle the berries with lemon zest.

Throw in some sugar and a cinnamon stick.

Smash them slightly in the pan and bring them to a simmer.

Simmer 20 minutes, and that's that.

Next for the shortbread.  Throw the ingredients in the food processor and pulse until it just forms a ball.

Press it into a pan.  Put it in the oven.

Remove from oven when slightly golden.  Let it cool.

For the crumble, combine you oats, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt. and walnuts.  Add in the butter in with your fingertips. 

Slather 
 
the blueberry jam
 
over the shortbread layer.

Sprinkle the crumble on top.

Pop it in the oven.  It instantly starts smelling divine.

Remove.  Cool, for as long as you can resist.

Then... enjoy.  Lots of times.

And once you vary this concept... enjoy in lots of ways!

Blueberry Crumble Shortbread Bars (from Melissa Clark)
Ingredients:
For the jam:
1 pint blueberries
2 Tbs sugar
zest from one large lemon
small cinnamon stick
Juice from half a lemon, more to taste

For the shortbread crust:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/2 tsp fine sea salt
12 Tbs unsalted butter (1 1/2 sticks), cubed

For the crumble:
1/2 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 tsp fine sea salt
4 Tbs butter, at room temperature

Directions:
To make the jam, in a small saucepan, add blueberries, sugar, and lemon zest.  Mash berries slightly with the back of a large spoon, just to release some of their juices.  Add cinnamon stick and simmer over low heat for about 20 minutes.  Remove cinnamon stick and allow jam to cool.  Taste and add lemon juice.

Preheat the oven to 350.  Great a 9-inch square baking pan.*  In a food processor, pulse together the flour, sugar, and salt.  Add the butter and pulse until mixture just comes together in one ball.  Press into the bottom of the prepared pan.  Bake until crust is pale and golden, 25-30 minutes.  Cool.  Spread blueberry jam evenly over shortbread.

To make crumble, in a small bowl, whisk together oats, sugar, walnuts, flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt.  Blend in the butter with your finger tips, forming pea-sized crumbs.  Sprinkle the crumble over the blueberry jam.  Bake until topping is golden brown and crisp, about 20 minutes.  Cool and cut into bars.

*I didn't have one so I used an 8-inch glass pan and kept all the times the same.  It worked just fine.

Black&Blueberry Muffins

Sometimes I look around my refrigerator and it is excessive how many cartons of berries I find.  Does one person really need two cartons of blueberries, two cartons of blackberries, and a carton of strawberries to boot?
 
No, of course not, but when it is finally spring and the berries are gorgeous and tasty, I feel the need to horde them.  Which, of course, is absurd.

On the upside, it leads me to all sorts of new ways to use them, like these yogurt-based berry muffins.

The muffin itself is not too sweet (in fact, next time I might add some decorators sugar to the top), and the crumb is not fluffy like cake, and not dense like bread, but somewhere nicely in between.  The lemon zest also adds a nice brightness.

All in all, at least one way out of an excessive berry crisis.

As ever, these muffins are so easy to make.  Begin by rubbing the lemon zest into the sugar, and then whisking the sugar with the other dry ingredients.  Now,

toss the berries with a tablespoon of those dry ingredients, to keep them from sinking to the bottom.

Time for the wet ingredients, including good yogurt.
 
Whisk them together in a big measuring cup.
 
Make a well and add them to your dry ingredients, mixing until not quite incorporated.
 
Then toss in the berries, and mix gently until everything is just incorporated.

Ice-cream scoop them into the muffin tins.

Bake until the berries are oozing and you can't stand how delicious the air smells.

Let them cool in the tin for about five minutes.

Then remove to a wire rack, and enjoy the benefits of making the most (and then some) of spring!

Black & Blue Berry Muffins (adapted from joyofbaking)
Ingredients:
1/2 cup granulated white sugar
1 tsp lemon zest
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/4 cups fresh or frozen blueberries and/or blackberries (and/or raspberries) [don't defrost if frozen]
1 cup plain yogurt (regular or low fat [I would go for regular])
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/4 cup saffron, canola, or corn oil [I would go for saffron]
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
decorator's sugar (optional)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375. Butter or line 12 muffin cups with paper liners.

In a medium bowl, rub the lemon zest into the sugar with your fingertips, until moist and fragrant.  Whisk the lemon-sugar together with the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.  Remove 1 tablespoon of the dry ingredients and toss them with the berries.

In a measuring cup, whisk together the yogurt, egg, oil, and vanilla extract.

Make a well in the middle of the dry ingredients, and add the wet ingredients.  With a rubber spatula, mix until almost combined.  Gently stir in the berries, until the ingredients are just combined.

Using an ice-cream scoop (or spoon), fill the muffin cups with the batter.  Sprinkle each with some decorator's sugar [optional].  Place in the oven and bake for about 15-20 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.  Transfer to a wire rack and let cool for about five  minutes, before removing from pan.

Berry Preserves, the Blueberry and Strawberry Varieties

In the backyard of the house I grew up in there were these blackberry bushes. Every summer they would produce buckets and buckets of blackberries. Now these berries, well, words fail me... suffice it to say, they were perfect. And what better thing to do with perfection than eat it? And what better to do with the buckets that you cannot cram into your mouth? Preserve them.

While those blackberry preserves were my go-to for biscuits, toast, and peanut-butter and jelly sandwiches for the past four years, a week ago, tragedy struck: I just got to the end of my last jar. My parents have moved, so those blackberry bushes of gold were out of reach. What was left for me to do but make my own preserves with, gulp, store-bought berries?

Fortunately,
things worked out.

Just look at how gorgeous these blueberry preserves are.
And they taste gorgeous as gorgeous as they look.

According to my father, and I quite agree, all you need for really terrific preserves are good berries and a little sugar. No mounds of sugar and no pectin. If you have those gorgeous berries, why not let them sing?

To make berry preserves, you obviously need to start with berries,
and start with good berries. (Oh, summer, the ways I love thee).
Now, get your berries into a pot with a wide mouth. I like to use my Dutch oven for this.
Pour some sugar over them.
And, now for my favorite part. with your hands, squnch the berries and the sugar together. This will reduce your cooking time a bit, as you don't have to wait for the heat to burst the skin of all the berries. And it is so fun.
Once everything is suitably squnched, bring your berries to a simmer over medium heat.
(How stunning is that purple, just starting to peep through?)

Cook for about 25 or 30 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes or so to make sure that nothing gets stuck to the bottom. Towards the end of the cooking time, you may need to stir more frequently.
This process is exactly the same if you use strawberries instead of blueberries, except for the fact that you need to hull the strawberries first.

But from that point on, it is the same: strawberries in pot, add sugar, squnch, and simmer.


So, how do you know when they are done? If you are like my father, you just know. If you are like me, you need a test. Enter: the plate test. At the beginning of the preserving process, put a couple of plates in the freezer. In order to check to see if your berries are done, take a plate out of the freezer and put a small spoonful of syrup on the plate. Pop it back in the freezer for another 3 minutes. Take it out and run your finger through the middle. If the two sides very slowly move back together then you have a soft-set preserve on your hands. Now, you can cook it a bunch more to get those preserves firm, in which case the lines won't move at all, but I prefer to cook as little as possible, to retain the fresh taste.
If you are going to put the preserves up in cans, let me introduce you to your new best friend.
Meet the jar lifter. If you are at all interested in canning, buy one of these. It is a life/burned fingers saver. To seal your jars, add preserves to sterilized jars. Add the seals, screw on the tops, jar-lift them into a pot of boiling water, and boil for 10 minutes.

And there you have it: completely delicious homemade preserves.
Good on biscuits, good on toast, good straight from the jar.

Berry Preserves (adapted from my father and Jamie at Home)
Ingredients:
2 lbs fresh berries (blackberries, strawberries, blueberries, raspberries)
1/2 cup sugar

Directions:
Sterilize jars* and put a couple plates in the freezer.

Wash and dry the berries. Pour the berries into a 10-inch wide pot. Pour the sugar on top of the berries. Squnch the berries with your hands until all of the sugar has dissolved. Put the pan over medium heat, and simmer the berries for 20-30 minutes. Skim off the foam and stir every five minutes. Stir more frequently towards the end.

In order to test for doneness, remove the pot from the heat. Then, take the plate out of the freezer and put a small spoonful of the syrup on the plate. Put the plate back in the freezer for 3 minutes. Take the plate out and draw your finger through the middle. If the two sides of the syrup slowly come back together, then you have soft set preserves. If the two sides do not come back together at all, then you have medium-firm set preserves. If the lines quickly run together, return the pot to heat and continue to simmer until done.

Ladle the preserves into the sterilized jars, and process in boiling water for 10 minutes.

*In order to sterilize jars, wash the jars and then place them in a pot of boiling water for 10 minutes. Leave the jars in the hot water while your berries are cooking down.

Blueberry Muffins, aka Why Canola Oil is the Bane of My Baking Existence

My obsession with blueberries this summer knows no limits.
But, just look at that gorgeous berry, bursting with goodness? How could I resist?

While this story ended happily with these delicious blueberry muffins,
there was darkness before there was light.

And the villain? Canola oil.

I will not mince words here: I think canola oil ruins baked goods. There, I said it. But, I can back it up. I made two batches of these blueberry muffins. The first ones were with canola oil and as soon as I bit into one, I had this gross vegetably taste in my mouth. And, as I was spitting the muffin out, I flashed back to another bad muffin I once made that had an equally vegetably taste: pumpkin muffins too gross to blog about. I rushed to compare recipes, and I soon discovered the culprit, with its insidious vegetably-muffin-ruining-flavor: canola oil.

To test my theory that canola oil is the devil, I made a second batch of these blueberry muffins, swapping out canola oil for safflower oil. And the second batch was delightful. Everything you want a blueberry muffin to be.

The scientific conclusion from this test:
Okay, now that I have ranted, time to tell you about this gorgeous blueberry muffins. They are really lovely little muffins: not too sweet, and with a slightly cake-y texture. But the lemon, oh the lemon, makes them perfect.
(Just looking at them you know they are best friends)

These muffins are a cinch to make. You don't even need two bowls: just one bowl and a liquid measuring come. How great is that? To start, combine your dry ingredients with the zest of one lemon.
Next, in a large measuring cup, mix together your not-canola oil (I used safflower), buttermilk, vanilla, and egg. Set aside.
Now, add those wonderful blueberries to the dry ingredients.
And fold them in lightly.
Then, make a well in the middle of the dry ingredients and pour in your liquid ingredients. The well helps you make sure all the dry ingredients, even the pesky ones on the bottom, get incorporated.
Fold everything until just incorporated. As ever, no overmixing unless you like tough muffins.
Now, bust out your muffin tin's best friend: the ice cream scoop.
Scoop the batter into the muffin tins, so each tin is full.
Pop them in the oven for 20 minutes.
And!
Get ready to love what you just made!

Buttermilk Blueberry Muffins (from joyofbaking.com)
Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup granulated white sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
Zest of one lemon or orange
1 egg, lightly beaten
3/4 cup buttermilk
2/3 cup safflower oil (not canola oil)
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries*

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375.** Position rack in center of oven. Butter or spray a muffin tin. Set aside.

In a large measuring cup, whisk together the egg, buttermilk, oil, and vanilla. Set aside.

In another large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and lemon zest. Gently fold in the berries. Make a well in the middle of the dry ingredients and pour in the wet ingredients. With a rubber spatula fold in the wet ingredients and stir only until the ingredients are combined.

Fill each muffin cup almost full of batter, using two spoons or an ice cream scoop. Place in oven and bake until toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clear, about 20 minutes.*** Transfer to a wire rack and let cool for about 5 minutes before removing from pan.

*Raspberries, strawberries, or blackberries would also do.
**Since I have a non-stick muffin tin, I lowered the temperature to 350 on the first batch. But, this was a bad idea, as the muffins didn't get very golden on top. So, for the second batch, I had it at 375, and they turned out much better.
***If you are using frozen berries, it might take a little longer.