This recipe is nabbed and adapted from Annie's Eats. When I saw the berries nestled in the shortbread crust with tart yogurt filling and buttery crumb topping, I had to make these bars. I added some spices and cut the sugar in the original recipe by half. The bars were still as sweet as pie.
for a 9 × 17 pan
feeds quite a lot of people, as the bars have so much butter, you'd topple over were you to eat more than one serving
3 cups pastry flour
¾ cup sugar
dash salt
zest of one lemon
3 sticks butter, cold
4 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 cup Greek yogurt
12 Tbsp pastry flour (I'm sure there's a more effective cup measurement)
dash salt
1 tsp or more of cinnamon
1/2 tsp ginger
a few flutterings of freshly grated nutmeg
hint of allspice
juice of one lemon
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp. almond extract
30-32 oz. blackberries (two large crates and one small, plus a handful more, if desired)
sugar and cinnamon for topping
Preheat the oven to 350.
Grease the baking pan.
In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, salt, and lemon zest.
Slice the butter, then add to the bowl with the dry ingredients. Process with an implement or with your bare hands, Dothraki-style, until you get a uniform pebbly consistency.
Take out 1 1/2 cups of the mixture and put in a smaller bowl. Put bowl in freezer.
Pour the rest of the mixture into the pan and press to form an even layer of crust along the bottom and sides.
Bake 12-15 minutes, until light golden. Let cool at least 10 minutes before adding filling.
In another bowl, combine eggs, sugar, yogurt, flour, salt, spices, lemon juice, vanilla, and almond extract. Whisk until smooth. Gently stir in the blackberries with a spatula.
Spread the filling over the crust in the baking pan.
Take the topping mixture from the freezer. Mix some sugar and cinnamon together and fluff into the topping mixture. Pour the topping over the filling so that it is roughly uniform.
Bake 45-55 minutes, until the top is beginning to brown and the bars are just set.
Let cool completely on a rack. Chill for a few hours or overnight to firm up before slicing and serving.
for a 9 × 17 pan
feeds quite a lot of people, as the bars have so much butter, you'd topple over were you to eat more than one serving
Ingredients
3 cups pastry flour
¾ cup sugar
dash salt
zest of one lemon
3 sticks butter, cold
4 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 cup Greek yogurt
12 Tbsp pastry flour (I'm sure there's a more effective cup measurement)
dash salt
1 tsp or more of cinnamon
1/2 tsp ginger
a few flutterings of freshly grated nutmeg
hint of allspice
juice of one lemon
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp. almond extract
30-32 oz. blackberries (two large crates and one small, plus a handful more, if desired)
sugar and cinnamon for topping
Process
Preheat the oven to 350.
Grease the baking pan.
In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, salt, and lemon zest.
Slice the butter, then add to the bowl with the dry ingredients. Process with an implement or with your bare hands, Dothraki-style, until you get a uniform pebbly consistency.
Take out 1 1/2 cups of the mixture and put in a smaller bowl. Put bowl in freezer.
Pour the rest of the mixture into the pan and press to form an even layer of crust along the bottom and sides.
Bake 12-15 minutes, until light golden. Let cool at least 10 minutes before adding filling.
In another bowl, combine eggs, sugar, yogurt, flour, salt, spices, lemon juice, vanilla, and almond extract. Whisk until smooth. Gently stir in the blackberries with a spatula.
Spread the filling over the crust in the baking pan.
Take the topping mixture from the freezer. Mix some sugar and cinnamon together and fluff into the topping mixture. Pour the topping over the filling so that it is roughly uniform.
Bake 45-55 minutes, until the top is beginning to brown and the bars are just set.
Let cool completely on a rack. Chill for a few hours or overnight to firm up before slicing and serving.
Notes
- It would be interesting to try this with lemon, orange, or vanilla Greek yogurt.
- The original recipe called for sour cream as an alternative to yogurt, but these bars are so rich, I wouldn't go there. The yogurt provides a medicinal tang to balance the sweetness.
- These bars may end up gooey toward the center of the pan. This caused my boyfriend to refer to them unflatteringly as "bubbling mush." That is some TASTY mush that anyone but a killjoy would want to eat.
Verdict
3 stars--these will be lapped up by everyone at your picnic, office party, or brunch. However, they're not "alternative" enough for me to get wildly excited about them. Throw in some flax, and we're golden.
