Blueberry Crumb Bars

I've been chuckling off and on all week at the comments and emails I've received after my last post of Perfection Salad.  Most agreed they could live without salad in a gelatin mold, and that's okay; I still love it.

Here's a recipe that's probably a little more universally appealing.  This  recipe that is pretty darned simple to make and the results are greater than the effort expended.  Ole Sweetie-Pi loved this for breakfast, remarked several times how good it was, and he's one not to emote over how much he liked what he ate.  I shared several pieces with my next door neighbors and they ate for dessert, reported back to Ole Sweetie-Pi that it was declared delicious.  No matter when you eat indulge, this is good!

I was perusing the King Arthur Flour's Baking Circle, and a member had posted this recipe. The poster attributed the recipe to Smitten Kitchen, who had adapted it  from one she discovered on Allrecipes.  The recipe on the KAF forum had a slight change (no egg was used), and that's the recipe I went with.  The crust is similar to a shortbread cookie, and works well here.

Blueberry Crumb Bars
(King Arthur Flour Forum)

For the crust topping:
1 cup of white sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
3 cups all purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt (a good pinch)
Zest of one lemon
1 cup of cold butter

For the filling:
4 cups (2 pints) fresh or frozen blueberries
1/3 cup sugar
4 teaspoons cornstarch
Juice of one lemon

Preheat oven to 375*F.  Have ready an ungreased 9 inch x 13 inch pan. (There's enough butter in the crust to preclude the need of having to butter the pan.)

Rinse the berries, pick out anything that looks undesirable, such as stems or berries that look too smushed.

Combine the dry ingredients.  Cut the butter in using two knives in a criss-cross cutting motion, or a pastry blender, or freeze it first and grate it in.** Mix until the mixture is crumbly.  Pat half the mixture into the pan and reserve the remaining half for the crumb topping.

To make the filling, combine the dry ingredients with the blueberries.  Sprinkle the lemon juice over the berries and gently stir.  Pour the berries over the crust in an even layer.

Sprinkle the remaining crust topping over the blueberries.  Bake for 45 minutes or until golden brown.  Remove from oven and allow to cool completely.  Cut into squares when cool.  Refrigerate unused portion.
Still very good the next day.

**My Notes:  Depending on how tactile you are, using your impeccably clean hands, first dice the cold butter and add to the dry ingredients.  Rub the butter into the flour mixture with your fingers.  The flour will start to look raggedy, and once that happens, grab a wee handful and gently squeeze it; if it holds together, stop, and go on with the rest of the recipe.

Orange Fool Pudding

This is a "hmmmm" dessert. I loved the orange flavor and the bit of spice that enhanced the flavor.  This was easy enough to do, the ingredients are simple enough.  So what's the issue?  Texture.  This is a very soft pudding, with consistency similar to  melted ice cream, not thick the way one imagines a pudding to be.  It doesn't put me off, but others may not feel quite so inclined. This is a terrific dessert if you want something that can be made hours ahead of time as it needs to be cold when served.

Orange Fool Pudding

Juice of 3 large oranges
2 tablespoons orange rind (I used dried orange rind)
3 eggs, well beaten
2 cups cream
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
2/3 cup white sugar
1 tablespoon butter

Combine all the ingredients in a heavy saucepan  or double boiler.  Cook very slowly until mixture thickens slightly, about 25 minutes.  Do not allow the pudding to boil or it could curdle. 

Pour the cooked pudding into individual dishes or wine glasses.  Chill thoroughly; serve cold.

My notes:  I felt that the pudding had not really thickened at the end of 25 minutes so I cooked it an additional 10 minutes (I was using a makeshift double boiler and turned up the heat a bit as well). 

It takes several hours to chill thoroughly which does help it to thicken a wee bit, but as I said, this is a very soft custard.

Broiled Grapefruit

I think I should be embarrassed to post this, but when I served this for breakfast this morning, Ole Sweet-Pi said he had never in his life seen a broiled grapefruit.  At first I thought he was kidding, because this is something that we'd have on rare occasion when I was growing up, but when he sincerely insisted he had never seen this, I thought, naturally, photo-op!

There's not really a recipe for this.  Just a how to.

Broiled Grapefruit

Preheat your broiler.  Cut one ripe grapefruit in half (for 2 servings).  Using the point of a sharp knife, gently cut completely around the grapefruit between the fruit and the rind, and then cut between the fruit and the membrane that separates the sections of the grapefruit.  Sprinkle the top with a couple teaspoons of brown sugar.  Place in a baking dish and broil about five minutes or so.  Place a maraschino cherry in the center and serve while warm.