Blueberry Crumb Bars

 I have been enjoying blueberries so much this summer, and these bars are one of the recipes I adore. These Blueberry Crumb Bars have a delicious, crisp crust, a yummy blueberry filling with just a hint of lemon from some lemon zest, and the topping is full of toasted almonds. They are addictive to me and taste delicious anytime of day. I love them with my morning coffee, or for an afternoon pick-me-up. I first shared this recipe the first year I had my blog, so I wanted to share again because it is so good, plus I have adjusted it a little. Hope you give these delicious bars a try.

Blueberry Crumb Bars
Adapted from Epicurious

Crust:
2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup old-fashioned oats
1 cup light brown sugar, packed
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 cup (2 sticks), chilled, unsalted butter
1/2 cup sliced almonds-used in the top crust

Filling:
3 1/2 - 4 cups of fresh or frozen (unthawed) blueberries
1/2 cup granulated sugar
3 tablespoon flour
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest

Preparation:
For Crust:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Butter bottom of a 9x13 inch baking dish. Mix together the flour, salt, oats, sugar, and cinnamon in a large bowl. Add the 1 cup of cold butter and mix with a pastry blender or your fingers. The mixture should resemble small crumbs about the size of peas.
Transfer 2 cups of the crust mixture to a small bowl. Mix in the almonds and reserve this for the topping.
Press remaining crumb mixture evenly onto the bottom of prepared pan. Bake crust 15 -20 minutes, until lightly golden. Cool 10 minutes.

For Filling:
In a bowl, mix sugar, flour and lemon zest together. Add the blueberries and toss well. Spread blueberry mixture evenly over the crust in pan, then sprinkle the reserved topping evenly over the filling.
Bake bars until filling bubbles thickly at edges and topping is golden brown, about 40 minutes. Cool in pan on rack. When cool cut into bars and enjoy as is or with a scoop of vanilla ice cream

NOTE: These bars are best served the day they are made, because of the nice crisp crust and topping. They soften the next day, but they are certainly still delicious.