Blueberry Pie Bars

blueberry-pie-bars-05 Last week, I found my freezer chock-full of frozen blueberries. The only problem was, we were moving in a few days (more on that later) and I didn’t want them to go to waste. I looked up numerous dessert recipes trying to find one that would use the most berries–since I had four pounds to use quickly.

blueberry-pie-bars-01I was searching for a recipe that would be fairly quick and easy to make, while using the most blueberries possible. Blueberry pie was an obvious choice, but I didn’t have the patience, amongst moving boxes, to roll out a fancy pie crust. Instead, I found a blueberry pie bars recipe that was a perfect solution to my over-abundance of berries. The recipe promised to use 4 cups of berries and had a simple crust recipe that could be made in a food processor.

blueberry-pie-bars-03blueberry-pie-bars-04Even better, this recipe can use fresh or frozen berries. The original recipe called for greek yogurt in the filling, but I chose instead to add one extra egg so the filling would be firmer (the other reason being that my husband hates greek yogurt, so I wanted to make sure he would eat these bars too). Adding the extra egg helped to thicken the filling so these bars weren’t at all runny, like fruit pies sometimes are.

blueberry-pie-bars-08blueberry-pie-bars-07These blueberry pie bars are so yummy. The blueberry filling is sweet while the crust adds just a touch of savory buttery goodness. They have all the flavor of blueberry pie but are more portable and so much easier to make. I’m so glad I found this recipe so my berries didn’t go to waste.

What is your favorite way to use frozen berries?

Blueberry Pie Bars

Adapted from Beantown Baker

Ingredients:

Crust and Toppings

1 1/2 Cups Flour

3/4 Cups Sugar

Pinch of Salt

12 Tbsp Unsalted Butter, Chilled

Fruit Filling

3 Eggs

3/4 Cup Sugar

6 Tbsp Flour

Pinch of Salt

1/2 tsp Vanilla

4 Cups Frozen (or fresh) Blueberries

Directions:

To make the crust and topping, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease an 8×8 inch baking pan.

Combine the flour, sugar, and salt in a food processor and pulse to combine. Cut the butter into 1/2 inch cubes and add to the flour mixture. Pulse 10-20 times, until the butter is evenly distributed but the mixture is still crumbly.

Reserve 3/4 cup 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 20 minutes.

To make the filling, whisk the eggs in a large bowl, then add the sugar, flour, salt, and vanilla. Gently fold in the berries and spoon the mixture over the crust. Sprinkle the remaining flour mixture evenly over the filling, and bake 60-75 minutes until the top is starting to brown.

Cool at least 1 hour before cutting into bars, or scoop out of the pan to serve cobbler-style.

Cutting tip: once cooled, place the bars in the refrigerator for at least 1-2 hours, then use a sharp knife to cut the bars. Refrigerating them helps firm up the filling so you can get clean lines when you cut.

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