Blueberry Crumb Bars

The other day I came across two wonderful things: A pint of fresh local blueberries at the supermarket, and a recipe for Blueberry bars on Pinterest.  The fates were smiling down at me that lovely day.  And so, last night I whipped up a quick dessert for the hubby and I, just for fun and because we've had a crappy couple of weeks.

I made quite a few changes to the original recipe for several different reasons (lack of ingredients, total Shannon whim, and my love of cinnamon and brown sugar).

Ingredients:
crust and topping
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 cups flour
dash salt
tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup cold butter
1 egg

filling
2 cups blueberries
1 1/2 teaspoons corn starch
1/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons lemon juice

topping additions
1/4 cup oatmeal
3 tablespoons brown sugar

First mix together the dry ingredients for  your crust in a medium bowl, then cut in your butter with a pastry blender, or by criss crossing two knives. When the butter is blended to the size of small peas, add in your egg and mix, I just used my hands,

Take 1/2 of the dough and press it into an 8x8 brownie pan that had been greased and floured. Save the other half of the dough for the topping.  Mix together your filling ingredients, in a small bowl.

Then pour on top of your pressed crust.

Spread your blueberries out evenly over the crust.  now its time to pump up the remaining dough to make a slightly more complex crumb topping.  Add your oatmeal and brown sugar to the remaining dough, and mix until evenly combined.  Then sprinkle that on top of the blueberries.

Bake at 375F for about 40 minutes, or until the blueberries are bubbling and your crust is a golden brown color.

Now, at this point you could just dig in there with a spoon and eat this like a blueberry crisp.  However, if you're going for the bar look, you will have to wait a bit longer, until the bars are completely cool, to cut them.  I stuck them in the fridge while we ate dinner.

Yummy Yum!  These are definitely a winner.  This is a good recipe for an at home dessert, but if you're bringing them to a party or something I would suggest doubling it.  Definitely a must if you spot some in season blueberries this summer!

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

Oh pregnancy.....a time of insatiable hunger, restless mornings (and nights), and undeniable cravings for fresh baked goods....

Good thing I have all of this stuff handy!

I woke up last Saturday morning at approximately 6:30 AM and I really really really wanted a muffin.  Not a dunkin donuts muffin that was probably sitting on the shelf for a good 48 hours.  I'm talking about the good stuff.  Fortunately, my pantry was stocked with the following:

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 ripe bananas, mashed
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1tsp cinnamon
1/3 cup melted butter
Chocolate chips

Since I was half asleep while making these muffins, I pretty much just threw everything in a bowl and mixed it up with my hand mixer. Not the usual step by step guide, I know, but this was desperation.

After I filled up my regular-sized muffin pan I still had quite a bit of batter left. So I busted out the mini muffin pan as well, topping most of the muffins with a cluster of chocolate chips.

Bake in a 350F oven for 12 minutes (minis) or 25 min (maxis) and enjoy your sweet sweet craving satisfaction in your PJ's, with some coffee.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Patriotic brownies

Hey everyone!  Quick post for you all!  I hope everyone had a fun Fourth of July, I myself had the pleasure of seeing some good friends, and hanging outside all day by the grill.  I also whipped up some quick from scratch brownies complete with white chocolate and red sprinkles for a festive touch!

These came out pretty delicious! However, I was distracted by my lovely company, and totally forgot about them.

So the only people who got to enjoy them were Joe and I, around 11 PM before we called it a night.

Oh well.  More for us.

Happy Baking!  I'll bake some new/fun cookies soon, I promise.