Super Easy Fruit Crumb Bars

I can't believe I haven't posted in a month.  I can't even start describing how busy I have been, I don't even have time to check my favorite blogs, so frustrating!  Work is ridiculously busy since my co-worker hurt her wrists so I am working almost every day to do the morning baking.  I can't seem to catch up with sleep and when I get home there are millions things to do, blogging is the last thing in my mind, sadly.  I am in survival mode when it comes to cooking, so nothing fancy or remotely interesting has been made recently.  I catered a huge party two weeks ago and that was such a big undertaking but it went so well.  I made these bars for the party and they were a huge success, tasty, simple, and super fruity.  They were so good I had to make them gluten free so I could eat them too.  The recipe comes from Smitten Kitchen, who in turn adapted it from allrecipes.com.

The second time I made them I changed the recipe a little, adding almond meal, but the regular recipe it tasty as well.  I used Jeanne's gluten free mix, and I couldn't tell the difference, I tested this mix in few recipes and it is so wonderful.  Be warned though, these bars are addictive!

Ingredients

• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 2 cups all-purpose flour of Jeanne's GF mix
• 1 cup almond meal
• 1 cup cold unsalted butter
• 1 egg
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 4 cups fresh or frozen blueberries or cherries
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 3 teaspoons cornstarch

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease and line a 9x13 inch pan.
2. In a medium bowl, stir together the sugar, the flour, the almond meal, salt, and baking powder.  Use a fork or pastry cutter to blend in the butter and egg, or use an electric mixer. Dough will be crumbly. Pat half of dough into the prepared pan.
3. In another bowl, stir together the sugar and cornstarch. Gently mix in the blueberries. Sprinkle the blueberry mixture evenly over the crust. Crumble remaining dough over the berry layer.
4. Bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes, or until top is slightly brown. Cool completely before cutting into squares. 

These bars come together so easily and I used frozen blueberries and small tart cherries.  They store well in the fridge and it is better to cut them in the desired size once chilled.

And now a photo of my new love, my sweet puppy,  isn't  she sweet and adorable?  We couldn't have asked for a better dog. 

Basking in the sun