The recipe on the schedule this week for Baked Sunday Mornings is the Raspberry Crumb Breakfast Bar. The gentlemen bakers describe it as being like a "thin raspberry sandwich"; the bottom crust and crumb topping are made from the same oat-based mixture and they surround a sweetened layer of fresh raspberries. I made these bars back in 2010 and thought they were good, but not worth the cost of the pound of raspberries required to make them (you can read my previous post on the bars here).
I didn't intend to make the bars again and was planning to go rogue today. But yesterday I spotted black raspberries at the farmers market and I couldn't help myself from buying some. I didn't have a specific project in mind for the black raspberries and figured I might as well use them to make the raspberry crumb breakfast bars again. But I did scale down the bars to a half batch that I baked in an 8-inch square pan, because black raspberries are so expensive that I paid almost $10 for a pint.
These bars are easy to put together, but you do have to break out your food processor to make the crust and crumb topping. You mix flour, dark brown sugar, rolled oats, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt; add cubed butter; and pulse the mixture in the food processor until crumbs form. You reserve a small amount for the topping and press the remaining mixture into the bottom of a parchment-lined pan and bake it until golden. After the crust is cooled, you add a filling made from raspberries, dark brown sugar, lemon zest, cinnamon, flour, lemon juice, and melted butter. Then you sprinkle on the reserved crumb mixture and bake.
You're supposed to bake the bars until the filling starts to bubble around the edges. My black raspberries hardly gave off any juice during baking and there were no bubbling juices to been seen; I took the bars out of the oven when they otherwise looked like they were done. The last time I made the bars I discovered that the the crust went soggy at room temperature, so as soon as the black raspberry bars cooled to room temperature, I stored them in the fridge.
I cut the bars after they were chilled and they looked quite different from the previous time I made them. It wasn't just the color of the raspberries. Last time the red raspberries produced a lot of juice and the fruit layer in the middle was quite wet. This time the fruit layer looked a little sparse because all of the raspberries remained intact. But I thought the bars were great. The substantial crust was firm and hearty and I liked the touch of cinnamon in the bars. The black raspberries were intense and delicious. And even though the fruit layer looked skimpy, I thought the ratio of crust to filling to topping seemed about right.
I'm glad that I gave these bars another try because I liked them much better this time around!
Recipe: "Raspberry Crumb Breakfast Bar" from Baked: New Frontiers in Baking by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito.
Previous Post: "For Breakfast, Lunch, or Dinner: Raspberry Crumb Breakfast Bars," August 14, 2010.
I didn't intend to make the bars again and was planning to go rogue today. But yesterday I spotted black raspberries at the farmers market and I couldn't help myself from buying some. I didn't have a specific project in mind for the black raspberries and figured I might as well use them to make the raspberry crumb breakfast bars again. But I did scale down the bars to a half batch that I baked in an 8-inch square pan, because black raspberries are so expensive that I paid almost $10 for a pint.
These bars are easy to put together, but you do have to break out your food processor to make the crust and crumb topping. You mix flour, dark brown sugar, rolled oats, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt; add cubed butter; and pulse the mixture in the food processor until crumbs form. You reserve a small amount for the topping and press the remaining mixture into the bottom of a parchment-lined pan and bake it until golden. After the crust is cooled, you add a filling made from raspberries, dark brown sugar, lemon zest, cinnamon, flour, lemon juice, and melted butter. Then you sprinkle on the reserved crumb mixture and bake.
I cut the bars after they were chilled and they looked quite different from the previous time I made them. It wasn't just the color of the raspberries. Last time the red raspberries produced a lot of juice and the fruit layer in the middle was quite wet. This time the fruit layer looked a little sparse because all of the raspberries remained intact. But I thought the bars were great. The substantial crust was firm and hearty and I liked the touch of cinnamon in the bars. The black raspberries were intense and delicious. And even though the fruit layer looked skimpy, I thought the ratio of crust to filling to topping seemed about right.
I'm glad that I gave these bars another try because I liked them much better this time around!
Recipe: "Raspberry Crumb Breakfast Bar" from Baked: New Frontiers in Baking by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito.
Previous Post: "For Breakfast, Lunch, or Dinner: Raspberry Crumb Breakfast Bars," August 14, 2010.
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