Blueberry Bars

Happy Easter!  I hope everyone is enjoying this weekend with family and friends.  This post will be very quick as I am home for Easter and there is much visiting to do:)

We arrived on Thursday night and my father in law had these Blueberry Bars in the fridge.  I was actually thinking about these exact Blueberry Bars on the drive out and was so happy to see them in the refrigerator!!!  I’ve had his Blueberry Bars a few times now, with different fillings, and they are all amazing.  I wanted to share with you today his recipe!

The batter is so good and the beauty of these bars is that you can add whatever jam you have on hand….blueberries, apple, cranberry, partridgeberry even strawberry rhubarb!! Also a great recipe for a lemon or lime pie filling….endless possibilities! A very quick and easy recipe to make, especially if you already have your jam jarred and ready to use.  A keeper recipe for the family cookbook.

Blueberry Bars (makes 4 dozen bars)

PRINTABLE RECIPE

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 3/4 cup sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 3 cups all purpose flour
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3 cups blueberry jam (or whatever filling you choose to use) (RECIPE BELOW)
• 1/8 tsp ground nutmeg

Glaze

• 1 1/4 cups icing sugar
• 2 TBSP lemon juice
• 1 TBSP milk

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9 x 13 pan.

In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after ever addition.  Beat in vanilla. Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt; add to the creamed mixture and mix just until combined.

Spread half of the batter in prepared pan. Gently spread filling over batter, sprinkle with nutmeg.  Drop remaining batter by teaspoonfuls over the top. Spread to cover filling.

Bake 40 – 45 minutes until golden brown.

In a small bowl, combine the icing sugar, lemon juice and milk until smooth.  Drizzle over warm bars. Cool completely before cutting and serving.

ENJOY! 🙂

Blueberry Preserves

• 5 cups fresh blueberries (cleaned and destemmed)
• 2 Cups granulated sugar
• 1 TBSP lemon juice

Preparation:

In a large saucepan combine blueberries, sugar, lemon juice.

Bring to a boil and squish/press the blueberries with a potato masher.

Continue to boil, stirring frequently until preserves thicken, about 15 to 20 minutes.

Pour preserves into a sealed container and store in the refrigerator until ready to use.

NOTE:  If you don’t have blueberry jam, you can always use canned blueberry filling in a pinch!  

 

DD