Home again

It's great to be blogging again!  After a two-week holiday with limited Internet acess, I'm back. Today's entry is a short one, as I'm jet-lagged beyond belief, but I promise to write about our trip at a later date.  To pique your interest, I'll tell you that we saw Roger Moore (yes! my favourite James Bond!), stumbled across the Copenhagen Pride parade, and ate pickled seaweed.  And that was all just yesterday!

Sunday is normally the day I share a recipe, so I'll pass along this one that I made earlier this summer.  I baked it once with frozen cherries and once with fresh blueberries.  They were both fantastic, although I might give a slight edge to the sour cherry version.  I freeze cherries in the summer so I can enjoy wonderful recipes like this all winter long.  Not that winter is coming any time soon, right?

Cherry Crumb Bars (or Blueberry Crumb Bars)

(adapted from smitten kitten)

1 cup white sugar

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cup whole wheat flour

1 tsp baking powder

¼ tsp salt

zest of one orange (note: if using blueberries, substitute lemon rind)

1 cup (two sticks) butter, room temperature

1 egg

4 cups frozen cherries, thawed and drained (fresh or frozen blueberries can be used instead)

½ cup white sugar

4 tsp cornstarch

2 Tbsp juice freshly squeezed from an orange (if using blueberries, substitute fresh lemon juice)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Grease a 9 x 13 inch pan.

In a medium bowl, beat the butter, then add the egg and beat until well blended.  Stir in 1 cup sugar, both flours and baking powder.  Mix in salt and orange zest. Pat two-thirds of the dough into the prepared pan.

In another bowl, stir together 1/2 cup white sugar, cornstarch and orange juice.  Gently mix in the cherries.  Sprinkle the cherry mixture evenly over the base.  Crumble remaining dough over the cherry layer.

Bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes, or until top is slightly brown.  Cool completely before cutting into squares.