Blueberry Oat Bars

Nothing heralds the beginning of summer like berries, especially blueberries! These hearty, very lightly sweet fruit bars are a perfect breakfast/snack/dessert for your next brunch/picnic/get together!  Think blueberry Nutrigrain bars, but 10 million times better.

Blueberry Oat Bars (adapted from The Kitchen Sink Recipes)

Ingredients:

2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats

2 cups whole-wheat flour

1/3-1/2 cup sugar (this is my addition, so add to your taste--the original crust had NO sugar! talk about healthy)

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, frozen, in one big chunk

1 cup milk

1 tablespoon fresh-squeezed lemon juice

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1/2 cup sugar

1 tablespoon cornstarch

2 & 1/2 cups frozen blueberries

2 tablespoons brown sugar

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a 9x13 inch pan by lining with parchment paper and spraying with nonstick spray. Put aside.

In a bowl, mix together the oats, flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Grate up the butter with large hole grater (be careful of your fingers when the butter chunk gets small, just cut the last bit of butter into small pieces with a knife) and add to flour mixture. Toss to coat evenly and use your fingers to incorporate the butter into the flour mixture quickly just until the whole mixture is slightly clumpy and the butter chunks are about size of peas.

In another bowl, whisk together the milk, lemon juice, and vanilla. Add to flour mixture and mix together with a fork until the whole thing just comes together, kind of how one makes biscuits or scones.

In a small food chopper/processor, pulse together the cornstarch and sugar until blended. Add about 1 cup of the blueberries and blend until berries are broken down. Mix the slurry in with the remaining blueberries.

In your prepared pan, press half of the oat and flour mixture onto the bottom of the pan in an even layer. Wet your fingers to aid in this process. A flat surface (e.g. flat bottom of a drinking glass) can aid in this too. Spread the blueberry mixture evenly over this layer. Then drop chunks of the remaining oat mixture evenly over the surface of the pan. Press down the chunks gently to make the height approximately even across the pan if needed. Sprinkle the brown sugar evenly over everything.

Bake at 350 degrees for approximately 50-55 minutes. You want to see that the blueberry mixture is cooked down and a bit bubbly and jam-like, and that the oat topping is starting to brown.  Cool completely before removing from pan and cutting into bars.