deliciousness

blueberry crumb bars

via smitten kitchen
makes 9x13 pan (24 bars for me)

1 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup cold unsalted butter (2 sticks or 8 ounces)
1 egg
1/4 teaspoon salt
Zest and juice of one lemon
4 cups fresh blueberries
1/2 cup white sugar
4 teaspoons cornstarch

preheat the oven to 375 degrees. grease a 9×13 inch pan.

in a medium bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, and 1 cup sugar. mix in salt and lemon zest. use a fork or pastry cutter to blend in the butter and egg, until dough becomes crumbly. pat half of dough into the prepared pan.

in another bowl, stir together the rest of sugar, cornstarch, and lemon juice. gently mix in the blueberries. sprinkle the blueberry mixture evenly over the crust. crumble remaining dough over the berry layer.

bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes, or until top is slightly brown. (this took an extra 10 to 15 minutes in my oven.) cool completely before cutting into squares.

pear and apple crumble

from nytimes
yield: 6-8 servings

For the topping:
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon apple pie spice
¼ pound (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into small cubes
3 tablespoons sugar
3 tablespoons Demerara sugar

For the filling:
3 Gala apples
3 pears
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons sugar
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons cornstarch
½ teaspoon cinnamon.

Heat oven to 375 degrees. Prepare topping: In a mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder and apple pie spice. Add butter cubes. Using your fingers, rub butter into flour until mixture resembles rolled oats. Add white and Demerara sugars and mix well. Refrigerate until needed.

Prepare filling: Peel and core apples. Cut them into quarters, then halve each quarter crosswise. Keeping apples and pears separate, peel, core and cut pears the same way. In a wide saucepan, combine butter, sugar and lemon juice. Place over low heat until butter is melted.

Stir in the apples. Partly cover and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes. Add pears and stir, uncovered, for 1 to 2 minutes, depending on ripeness of pears. Remove pan from heat and add cornstarch and cinnamon; mix well.

Transfer fruit mixture to a 9-inch deep-dish pie plate. Remove topping from refrigerator and cover fruit thickly and evenly with topping. Place pie plate on a baking sheet, and bake until crumble topping is golden brown in places and fruit is bubbling beneath, about 35 minutes.