Blueberry Crumb Bars

Med school is off to an intense start with a 6 week block of anatomy. We had our first exam after only three days of class. I’m pretty much in class and lab for 8 hours a day and studying the rest of my day so when I say I have no free time, that’s why. I told myself going into this that blogging is a priority, but not important enough to lose my precious sleep over. I do still want to keep it up, and right now were in the eye of the tornado so to speak so I have some time to squeeze this update in.

The last few months, my blogging frequency has dropped significantly due to a variety of reasons and Ive always been making updates trying to explain myself (making excuses) and making outlandish goals ("101 Things to Cook This Summer" ring a bell?) in an attempt to get back to the way things were. Sadly, as much as I wish I could, I wont be able to post multiple times a week for, most likely, a very long time. With this final update post, I want to let everyone know that I will be busy indefinitely and if I haven’t posted for weeks, Im probably studying my ass off. I will still be posting recipes but I wont be able to visit and comment on my food blogging buddies’ blogs as much as I want to. I also won’t be able to answer the comments on here individually like I have been in the past but even though I may not answer your comment, please do continue to leave comments because I do read each and every one of them! If you have a burning question about something, especially about a recipe, shoot me an email and I will answer it. If you leave a comment I might not get around to answering it for a few days. Please dont hate me or think Im being selfish because at this point Im just trying to stay sane. After the content stealing fiasco, a rude comment someone left, and just the time consuming maintenance and upkeep (I still havent updated the banner, which Ive been meaning to do since spring... but hey if you want to make me a banner lemme know) I wanted to take some time to remember why I blog.

At first I started this blog as a way of talking about food and release all my nerdy excitement when talking about cooking that no one I know wants to hear about. In the beginning days, with only a handful of readers, it was essentially a one way conversation. But now after blogging for over a year, I love sharing my recipes with my small-but-growing reader base. The best part is when you guys write me an email or leave a comment saying that you tried a recipe and it turned out great. That is my absolute favorite part about it all. Blogging has made me more aware about eating seasonally and locally. When you see 10 different recipes on 10 different blogs using apples in the fall or fava beans in the spring, its kinda hard to be oblivious to fact that food is supposed to be enjoyed at its peak. On a similar note, Steven and I are eating more locally sustainable and organic foods too, especially after signing up for our CSA box, which is totally awesome by the way. Not only do we eat our 5-a-day, but we feel good about where we get them. And finally, while I already have hundreds of things I want to cook, I still see creative and delicious looking recipes on other blogs that make me say to myself "Wow I have to make that!" Food bloggers as a group never fail to impress me with their originality and creativity.

This recipe is an example of why I love the food blogging community—because we inspire each other. I made this a month ago at the height of blueberry season. Blueberries have disappeared by now but if youre lucky you may have some stashed away in the freezer. Right now my freezer is filled with strawberries from July, as well as blueberries and blackberries (from my backyard) from August. Im hoping this berry stash will carry me through the dreary winter. I first saw this recipe on Susans blog Sticky, Gooey, Creamy, Chewy. The instant I saw this, it was one of those "gotta make this" moments and I went ahead and made it later that week. Susan had seen these on Debs Smitten Kitchen who got the recipe from All Recipes.com. Now Im making my version with very minor adjustments from Debs recipe (which had minor adjustments from the All Recipes recipe).

I definitely recommend this recipe especially if you need to make a quick dessert for a party. I brought this to a potluck and it was just one of the best potluck desserts Ive ever made. Its one of those ridiculously simple things to make that tastes so unbelievably good.

Blueberry Crumb Bars
From Smitten Kitchen and Allrecipes.com

3 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 C white sugar (original recipe calls for 1 C, feel free to use that much if you like sweeter desserts)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup cold butter (2 sticks or 8 ounces)
1 egg, beaten
1 tsp of vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
Zest and juice of one lemon
4 cups fresh blueberries
1/4 cup white sugar
4 teaspoons cornstarch

Topping:
Confectioners/powdered sugar

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Butter and flour a 9 x 13 baking pan.

In a medium bowl whisk together the 3 cups of flour, 3/4 C sugar, baking powder, salt, and lemon zest. Use a pastry cutter or fork to cut into the butter until the butter is in peices no larger than a pea then mix in the egg. Or you can do this in a food processor. The dough will be crumbly but stick together when you squeeze it. Pat half of the dough into the pan.

In another bowl, mix the sugar, cornstarch, and lemon juice. Add the blueberries and gently toss them to coat. Pour the blueberry mixture on top of the dough in the pan. Then crumble the rest of the dough evenly over the surface of the berries.

Bake in the preheated oven for 45 to 60 minutes, or until the top is slightly browned. Cool completely then cut into squares. Dust with powdered sugar if preferred. Can be stored in the fridge for a few days.

Oh also, I havent forgotten about the xiao long bao and croissant recipes, both of them are just extremely long. In fact I have the xiao long bao post all written up but its 4 pages long (yeah, I know) and I havent gotten around to editing it. Im sure there are some pretty embarrassing grammatical errors interspersed in there. Ill post that after I get around to editing it.

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Caramel Apple Cheesecake Bars



        Hmm.. where do I begin? How do I even start to describe how WONDERFUL and SINFULLY DELICIOUS these little guys are?!! When I tasted one last night after waiting for them to chill in the fridge, I devoured it in two seconds.. They are sooo good, and so different! I am a huge cheesecake fan and I love apple pie.. so the combination together I thought was such a genious idea!! When I saw this recipe I knew I had to make them as soon as possible!

        This recipe is from Paula Dean! She is on Food Network, as Im sure most of you know. She is just the cutest, funniest southern gal who makes awesome comfort food! I have made a bunch of her recipes. I totally fell inlove with this one! You have got to try it.. Trust me :)

CARAMEL APPLE CHEESECAKE BARS

CRUST:

2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1 cup butter, softened

CHEESECAKE FILLING:

3 (8 OZ) packages of cream cheese, softened

3/4 cup sugar, plus 2 tablespoons, divided

3 large eggs

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

APPLES:

3 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and finely chopped

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

STREUSEL TOPPING:

1 cup packed brown sugar

1 cup all purpose flour

1/2 cup quick cooking oats

1/2 cup butter, softened

              Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line a 9x13 inch glass baking dish with heavy duty tinfoil.

In a medium bowl combine your CRUST ingredients together with a pastry cutter or 2 forks ( Im no proffesional baker so I used 2 forks :)  until mixture turns crumbly. Press evenly into the baking dish. Bake crust for 15 minutes or until golden brown.

             In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese with the 3/4 cup sugar in an electric mixter at medium speed until smooth. Then add the eggs, one at a time, and the vanilla. Stir to combine. Pour over the warm crust.

             In a small bowl, stir together the chopped apples, remaining 2 TBS sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg. Spoon evenly over the cream cheese filling.  Then combine all your STREUSEL TOPPING ingredients into a small bowl mixing well, and then pour all of the streusel topping over the apples.

             Bake for 45 minutes in 350 degree oven, or until filling is set. Let cool for 1 hour on countertop, then chill for a few hours or overnight in the fridge! ENJOY :)

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Recipe for DIY Bounty bites aka homemade Mounds candy bars

Some home-made candy bars for a change. If you live in the US, then youd think of these as Mounds, the candy bar produced by Hersheys. Everywhere else - including UK and Canada - youd recognise these as Bounty, the candy bar produced by Mars Inc. A dense and sweet coconut centre, enrobed with either dark or milk chocolate.

I used milk chocolate (the American equivalent would be Almond Joy without the almonds :)), and made small cubes instead of the traditional oblong bar shape. I must admit we ate half of the coconut cubes before we even dipped them into chocolate :)

There are links to several homemade Bounty/Mounds recipes at the end of this post - do check these out as well.

DIY Bounty bites aka home-made Mounds candy bars
(Kodune Bounty)
Makes about 3 dozen



Coconut filling:
300 g desiccated unsweetened coconut flakes
300 g sweetened condensed milk
150 g butter, at room temperature

Chocolate glaze:
300 g dark or milk chocolate

I used the mixing bowl of my standing mixer, but you could also simply use your hand muscles to prepare the coconut mixture.

Place the butter and coconut into the mixing bowl and mix thoroughly - about 1-2 minutes. Add the condensed milk and mix for another 2-3 minutes, until thoroughly combined.

Line a small baking sheet/tray/tin with a parchment/baking paper. Transfer the coconut mixture into the tin and press into a block about 2 cm/0.8 inches high. Cover and put into the fridge for about 3 hours or freezer for about 1 hour.

Remove from the fridge/freezer, transfer the coconut block onto a cutting board and cut into 2x2 cm (0.8 x 0.8 inch) cubes. Like this:



Now there are two ways to proceed. First, cover a small tray with parchment paper and put aside.

If you prefer your candy bars at room temperature, then melt and temper your chocolate (heres a good article about tempering the chocolate or see my instructions below), dip each coconut cube into the melted chocolate until coated, then place onto the prepared tray. Cool completely, then keep in a cool place until ready to serve.

If you want to avoid tempering the chocolate - or simply like your sweets cold - then you can simply dip these into melted chocolate to coat, then place onto the prepared tray and put into the freezer. The butter and sweetened condensed milk keep these blocks from freezing completely, so you can always just grab one candy bar and enjoy straight from frozen. (This is how I enjoyed them, but then I also like my brownie bites straight from the freezer).

Why and how to temper the chocolate? The Internet - and food blogs - are full of detailed instructions on how to temper chocolate - and why. The latter is easy - unless you temper the chocolate, the chocolate-glazed candy bars/bites will lack the shine and the snap, both very desirable elements. "How" is trickier and indeed, tempering can be a hit-and-miss. Ive followed this simplified seed-technique for tempering. Place about 2/3 of your chopped up chocolate (or, indeed, chocolate pellets - and NOT compound chocolate!) into a heat-proof bowl and place the bowl on top of a small saucepan, where youve brought about 5 cm/2 inches of water into simmer. Let the chocolate melt slowly, stirring as you go along. Remove from the heat, stick a chocolate thermometer into the bowl. Now add the "seed chocolate" or the chocolate you put aside at the beginning in two or three installments and keep stirring the chocolate and cooling it. Once all the added chocolate pellets have melted, you must continue stirring the chocolate, until it registers 28 C on the thermometer - that will probably take about 15-20 minutes of active stirring, so be patient! You can then gently re-heat the chocolate - either over the waterbath, on top of a hot water bottle or by hovering your hair-drier over the chocolate - until its about 30-31 C (best temperature for working with chocolate). 


Other foodbloggers making these:
Batoniki a la Bounty by Ania @ Strawberries from Poland (recipe in Polish)

Similar recipes:
Nourishing and scrumptious "Mounds" candy bars by Kimi @ The Nourishing Gourmet
Homemade Bounty by Dagmar @ A Cat in the Kitchen
Homemade coconut Bounty candy bars by Christina @ Scientifically Sweet
Mounds candy bars by Elena @ Elenas Pantry
Homemade Bounty bars by Louise @ Lick that Spoon
Homemade Bounty by Eva @ Made by Eva
Easy homemade Bounty bars aka Mounds by Marie @ Not Enough Cinnamon
DIY Bounty barres by Emilie @ Emilie and Leas Secrets (recipe in French)
Isetehtud Bounty šokolaad by Sandra @ Sentjurin Food Production (recipe in Estonian)
Kookoskommid šokolaadis ehk kodused Bountyd by Teevi @ Ampsukas (recipe in Estonian)
Kookostrühvlid by Silja @ Jagatud rõõm (recipe in Estonian)

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