PPQ: Blackberry Pie Bars

It's my turn again for Project Pastry Queen.  I flipped through the book and chose these bars immediately.  I had actually made them two years ago, but adapted them to be Raspberry Pie Bars.  I remember loving them, but sadly I never blogged them.  I've been wanting to make them ever since, but just hadn't gotten around to it... what with all the other decadent, delicious recipes I've been making from The Pastry Queen.

While these are called "pie" bars, I don't really think they were like pie.  To me, it was more like a double-crusted crumble, but that's okay too.  They were still super yummy - buttery pastry, sweet filling, crumbly topping.  They are a cinch to throw together, and are a great way to use up frozen berries - you know, to make room for more berries in your freezer this summer.

While I was tempted to recreate the raspberry bars from before, I stuck with blackberries this time.  I added a little lemon zest and almond extract to the filling, and I think it brightened up the flavor nicely.  I served these as a simple dessert with vanilla ice cream when we had friends over for dinner, and I've eaten one every day since.  As much as I liked them warm and fresh from the oven, they are equally delicious straight from the fridge.

Check out Project Pastry Queen to see how everyone else liked these bars, and come back next week - we are making another bar recipe - one that I've been drooling over for years now!


Blackberry Pie Bars
adapted from Rebecca Rather, The Pastry Queen

Crust and Topping

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) 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
• 1 tsp almond extract
• 2 (16-oz) packages frozen blackberries, thawed and drained

To make the crust and topping, preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Grease a 9x13 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 sugar, sour cream, flour, salt, lemon zest, and almond extract.  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.

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