Blueberry Oatmeal Bars

My little one calls blueberries, b-berries. He is a great fan of them, and he loves oatmeal as well. I know... strange kid, but my husband also like the combination so I thought these would make a fit and easy breakfast treat. Here is the recipe adapted from day dream kitchen.

What you need:
2 cups of rolled oats
1 1/2 cups of flour
1 cup of packed brown sugar
1 tablespoon of orange zest
1/4 teaspoon of salt
1 cup of cold cubed butter

3 cups of fresh blueberries
1/2 cup of sugar
1/3 cup of fresh orange juice
4 teaspoons of cornstarch

What you do:

1. Zest a large orange, and juice save the juice and zest separately. 
2. In a heavy bottomed sauce pan add the blueberries, sugar. Mix the cornstarch and orange juice to form a slurry, whisk any lumps, add to the blueberries and sugar, cook for 5 minutes or so until thick. Set aside to cool. 
3. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. 
4. In your food processor pulse together the oats, flour, brown sugar, orange zest, salt, and cubed butter. 
5. Place parchment paper in a 8 inch square pan. 
6. Pour half of the oat mixture into the pan and press down with your hands. Pour over the cooled blueberry sauce. Then cover with the oat crumbles. 
7. Bake for about 45 minutes. 
8. Let cool completely, refrigerate and cut into squares. Enjoy for breakfast, snack, or dessert with whipped cream. 

They also freeze beautifully so you can keep them in the chiller and take one out when you want a semi healthy dessert, just pop it in the microwave for a minute. 

As always, much love, many blessings, happy baking. 

Apple Pie

So this is my apple pie recipe as of yesterday, it changes often and without notice, but we all really enjoyed the current incarnation. I prefer a crumb crust to a double crust, because I love the crunchy texture. I like to cook my apples ahead of time because I think it makes them taste better and less runny in the pie. I add slivered almonds because that is what I had handy but you could add any nut or even oats to the top crumble.

Here is what you need: 

A pie crust any good pie crust either homemade or store-bought

8-10 apples depending on size

1 teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice or your own spice blend

1/4 cup of brown sugar for the filling 

1/2 cup of water

1/2 a lemon squeezed for juice

1/4 cup flour

1/4 cup of nuts or oats

1/4 cup of brown sugar for the topping

2 Tablespoons of melted butter

Here is what I did: 

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. 

2. Peel and slice your apples. I love using my mother's apple corer slicer tool. I don't know why I just do. Dump them in a heavy bottomed skillet, add the spices, sugar, water, and lemon juice, let cook for 10 minutes or so while you roll out your dough and make the pie crumble topping.  

3. Roll out your dough and lay your pie crust in your baking dish. I like a glass pie dish so you can check the bottom of the pie to make sure it is done. 

4. In a bowl mix together the flour, nuts/oats, brown sugar, and melted butter. Mix with your fingers until you have some clumps, some dust, and some rubble. This would be an excellent job if you have a little chef in the kitchen providing they have clean hands and won't eat it all. 

5. Ladle your apples into the pie crust using a slotted spoon, so that you don't bring in extra liquid. You can save that delicious juice for something else, but you don't want it in your pie because it will make your crust soggy. 

6. Put the crumble topping over the apples and bake in the oven for 30-35 minutes until the apples are bubbling and the crumble is toasted gold brown.

7. Let the pie cool and enjoy with coffee and ice cream or whipped cream, and good friends.

As always, lots of love, many blessings, and happy baking.