Recipe Review: Raspberry Breakfast Bars

Raspberry Breakfast Bars

http://smittenkitchen.com/2008/09/raspberry-breakfast-bars/

The recipe at the bottom of this post (in bold) is taken from smitten kitchen. Have you been on Smitten Kitchen? If you have you know it’s genius and if not, hurry over to that fantastic, seriously delicious blog.

My lovely friend Ashley and I went raspberry picking on Thursday. She treated me to a huge basket of beautiful naturally grown raspberries from a very sweet farm about half an hour outside the city. This is a family run operation that doesn’t spray their berries or bushes at all. I love to meet directly with farmers and feel that connection with my food.

Back to the recipe, it’s amazing. I LOVED these bars and would make them again in a heartbeat. YUM. Cameron would have preferred if they were a bit sweeter but I liked that they weren’t desert. The only changes I made to the recipe were substituting whole-wheat flour for half of the white. I try to do a lot of my baking with at least a little of Red Fyfe Wheat. It’s beautiful heritage wheat that’s grown all over Canada. I buy it from the Ukrainian Village here in Edmonton. It’s delicious stuff.

Don’t try to skimp on the berries, you need the full pound to make a nice layer. The bars were a lot softer then I thought they would be but they did get a lot more ‘ bar like’ once cooled in the fridge. This isn’t a one bowl, whip em’ up in 5 minuets breakfast option. They are a bit time consuming for an everyday recipe. But I’ll make them again for sure, double the recipe and freeze one full batch. My guess if that they would freeze/thaw beautifully.

Raspberry Breakfast Bars

For the crust and crumb:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
1 1/4 cups rolled oats
3/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch pieces

For the raspberry filling:
1/4 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
1 tablespoon grated lemon zest
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 pound raspberries, fresh or frozen
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled

Make the crust and crumb: Preheat the oven to 350°F. Butter the bottom and sides of a 9-by-13-inch glass or light-colored metal baking pan. Put a long piece of parchment paper in the bottom of the pan, letting the parchment extend up the two short sides of the pan and overhang slightly on both ends. (This will make it easy to remove the bars from the pan after they have baked.) Butter the parchment.

Put the flour, brown sugar, oats, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon in a food processor. Pulse in short bursts until combined. Add the butter and pulse until loose crumbs form.

Reserve 1 1/2 cup of the mixture and set aside. (Note: The book suggests you reserve one cup only. My gut told me that was too little, and I upped it. I wanted to make sure the top of the raspberries were mostly covered, at least for packing purposes, and was glad I had changed it.) Pour the rest of the mixture into the prepared pan and use your hans or the back of a large wooden spoon to push the crust into an even layer at the bottom of the pan. The crust should touch the sides of the pan. Bake until golden brown, 12 to 15 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and let the crust cool. Keep the oven on while you make the raspberry filling.

Make the raspberry filling: In a medium bowl, whisk the sugar, lemon zest, cinnamon and flour together. Add the raspberries, lemon juice and butter and use your hands to toss gently until the raspberries are evenly coated.

Assemble and bake the bars: Spread the raspberry filling evenly on top of the cooled crust. Sprinkle the reserved crust mixture evenly on top of the filling.

Bake for 35 to 45 minutes, rotating the pan every 15 minutes, until the top is golden brown and the filling starts to bubble around the edges.

Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely, then cut into squares and serve. The bars can be stored in the refrigerator in an airtight container for up to two days.

Make these you won't be disappointed!

All the happiness on earth - C