Ingredients
- Blackberry Crumb Bar
- You could also use fresh raspberries and raspberry jam or even blueberries if you add 3 more teaspoons of cornstarch to the mixture. If you don't have cream cheese, you could also make a glaze with powdered sugar and milk or cream.
- Bar ingredients:
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 tablespoon of fresh lemon zest (about 1 medium-sized lemon)
- 3 cups flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla powder (optional)
- 1 cup (2 sticks) of butter, Cold and cut into pieces
- 1 egg, room temperature
- Filling:
- 2 cups fresh blackberries
- 1 1/4 cups blackberry jam
- 3 tablespoons sugar
- 3 teaspoons cornstarch
- Drizzle Ingredients:
- 3 ounces of cream cheese, softened
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- 1-2 tablespoons of half and half or milk
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 375 F. Line a 9×13 inch pan with foil and butter/spray the foil.
In a food processor, combine the lemon zest and 1 cup sugar and pulse several times. Add the flour, baking powder, salt and vanilla powder and quickly pulse to combine. Add butter and pulse until the butter is a little smaller than peas. Add egg and quickly pulse until the dough is crumbly and course.
(Alternatively – Put sugar and lemon zest in a bowl and use your fingertips and rub the zest into the sugar until it becomes moist and fragrant. Add the flour, baking powder, salt and vanilla powder and with a pastry cutter or fork, blend the butter into the flour. Stir in the egg and mix until crumbly.)
Pat half of dough into the prepared pan.
In a mixing bowl, add blackberries, jam, 3 tablespoons sugar and the cornstarch and gently mix.
Carefully sprinkle/spread the blackberry mixture evenly over the crust (leave about a 1/4-inch border around the edges of the pan so the berries won’t burn.) Crumble remaining dough over the berry layer.
Bake for 35-45 minutes, or until top is lightly golden brown.
In a mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese until smooth. Add powdered sugar and half and half or milk and mix well. Add more half and half if the drizzle is too thick to thin in out.
Drizzle the cream cheese mixture over the top of the warm bars. Cool completely before cutting into squares.
