What a beautiful weekend we just had, right? I hope everyone enjoyed their weekend, I know that we sure did. I mean, how could you not enjoy your weekend when you get to wake up to a view/sunrise like this nearly every morning? We have certainly been blessed with some gorgeous weather lately. {Minus the dreary skies yesterday for most of the day}.
I’m not complaining! 😉
Like I said, we had a good weekend! We spent time at our favorite place {The Parkway} on Friday, with some of our favorite people, drinking some good brews.
On Saturday we spent an hour or so at the IPA Fest and then headed out to a friend’s house… for more good times and good people! There is something so relaxing about summer dinners with friends. It was so nice to relax in the back yard, eat dinner and just talk. I even learned to play bocce ball! However, I am fairly certain that my husband carried our team. I think it is safe to say that I do not have a future in bocce ball. 😉 Haha.
For dinner, it was suggested that if I felt up to baking that dessert would be welcomed… so of course I didn’t hesitate and immediately started looking up different recipe options. Unlike some bloggers who are in other areas of the United States who are ready to start baking fall recipes, summer is just now kicking off here in the Northwest. So, I wanted to find something refreshing and summery. I always jump to the idea of cupcakes, but my friends aren’t big fans of cake so that was out. And, it was probably a good thing… I always seem to first think of baking cupcakes. I think they’ve become a ‘comfort zone’ for me. After much searching I found something that seemed super yummy… and screamed summer… blackberry pie bars! Can you say yum?! Once I saw the picture I was sold. And the best part? These babies were so easy to make. They turned out looking great and I think the review was unanimous… yummy! You know it’s always a good thing when people go back for seconds on dessert. That is what I love so much about food. Seeing people enjoy food that I have put my hard work and love into… there is nothing better to me then smiling faces!
Mmmmm.. Yeah… served up with a nice little scoop of vanilla ice cream {or rice cream!}. I also think this recipe would be a great base for any type of berry: raspberry, blueberry, etc. It was a perfect combination of pie and cobbler.
Oh yeah. I could almost lick the knife clean. Isn’t there something magical about berries baked up in a pie or cobbler? Or is it just me? 😀
I know summer is almost over for most of the U.S. but for us here in the PNW, it’s really just starting. So be sure to snag this recipe and give it a try before our summer is really over! This is so easy… the hardest part is waiting for it to bake. 😉
Blackberry Pie Bars
Ingredients:
Crust and topping:
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups unsalted butter, chilled
Fruit filling:
4 large eggs
2 cups sugar
1 cup sour cream
3/4 cup flour
pinch salt
zest of 1/2 lemon
juice of 1/2 lemon
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 lbs fresh blackberries or 2Â (16 oz) packages frozen blackberries, thawed and drained
Directions:
To make the crust and topping, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9×13 inch baking pan.
Combine the flour, sugar, and salt in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse a few times to mix. Cut the butter into 1/2-inch cubes, and add to the flour mixture. Process until the butter is evenly distributed but the mixture is still crumbly, 30-60 seconds.
Reserve 1 1/2 cups of the mixture to use as the topping. Press the remaining mixture into the bottom of the pan, and bake 12-15 minutes. Cool for at least 10 minutes.
To make the filling, whisk the eggs in a large bowl, then add the sour cream and whisk until smooth. Add the sugar, flour, salt, lemon zest, lemon juice and vanilla extract. Whisk until combined. Gently fold in the berries and spoon the mixture over the crust. Sprinkle the remaining flour mixture evenly over the filling, and bake 45 to 55 minutes, or until bubbly {My oven required much more time, I added about 12 minutes onto the bake time, and simply covered the edges with foil so they did not get over brown}.
Cool at least 1 hour before cutting into bars, or scoop out of the pan to serve cobbler-style.
Source & Recipe: Slightly adapted from Pink Parsley and originally from, The Pastry Queen.
{Santies. Sunnyside Up} 