Healthier Blueberry Crumb Bars

I have meaning to try this crumb bars with a lighter butter to see if the results are truly worth sharing.

I am happy to say it did come out well ( picture speaks for itself) but it didn't taste as rich as it would hv if full fat butter had been used.  And the original recipe had asked for an egg yolk which I wasn't keen on using since I am trying an eggless diet.

Nevertheless, it is worth giving it a shot if you would like something close to the original but a healthier version. Again, it is a very easy quick dish to prepare. It took me half an hour to prepare and another half hour to bake. 

Ingredients ( 16 bars)

1.5 cups all purpose flour, sifted

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/2 cup cold light butter ( see note)

1/2 tsp ice water

3/4 cup blueberries

Method

Preheat the oven to 375 deg F ( 190 deg C) and get a square glass baking dish of size 9x9 inch ready to use.

Mix the flour, sugar and baking powder in a medium bowl.

Using your fingers, cut the frozen light butter into the flour mixture until it resembles crumbs. Drizzle in the ice water and combine again. The dough should come together but not as much as a pizza dough.

Take 3/4 of this crumb mixture and put it into the baking dish. Level it with a back of a spoon till firmly packed and of even height.

Spread blueberries over this firm dough and top off with the remaining crumb mixture. Press down lightly.

Bake in the preheated oven for 30 mins till edges are light brown.

Most important - let it cool completely ( like 2 hrs ) before you cut them into bars. If you do it while it is still warm, it will all crumble and you'll be not be left with bars.

To serve - warm up slightly in microwave ( 10 secs) with a cup of coffee or tea.



Note ;

Make sure the butter is cold and just taken out from the freezer. This is important to get the crumbly texture.

Looking at the recipe again, I admit I could hv made it even healthier with brown sugar instead of white and could hv substituted half the flour with almond meal. I am going to give this another shot and will update soon.

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