Fruit Crumble Bars

I had leftover fruit in the freezer from those Christmas pies and it was Sunday so... I started with this recipe from smitten kitchen which uses fresh blueberries and I modified it a bit and ended up with this blueberry/cherry mash-up recipe: two types of bars, one pan. Based on this experiment, I'd say any type of fruit could be used and that frozen fruit works fine.

First, preheat the oven to 375 degrees and grease a 9x13 baking tin.

For the CRUST combine the following ingredients in a large bowl
     1 cup sugar
     1 tsp baking powder 
     3 cups flour 
     1/4 tsp salt 
     lemon zest from one lemon  
Once combined, cut in (with pastry cutter, a fork or your fingers)
     1 cup cold butter (2 sticks / 8 oz) cut in small pieces 
     1 egg
Until all ingredients are combined and the mixture is a course crumble.
Press half the crust into the bottom of the greased baking pan. 


For the BLUEBERRY FILLING combine the following in a small bowl
     1/4 cup sugar
     1 Tbs lemon juice
     2 tsp cornstarch
     dash of cloves
     1/2 tsp cinnamon
Toss this mixture with fruit to coat.
     2 cups of blueberries (frozen)

For the CHERRY FILLING combine the following in a small bowl
     1/4 cup sugar (+ 1/8 cup if the cherries are sour rather than sweet)
     1 Tbs lemon juice
     2 tsp cornstarch
    1/2 tsp almond extract
Toss this mixture with the fruit to coat.
    2 cups of cherries (frozen)

Pour filling(s) over prepared crust


Crumble the remaining crust evenly over the filling


Bake 55 minutes (check after 45) - until top is browned and filling is bubbling


Chill completely and cut into squares

NOTE: These were pretty good the day they were made but they went downhill fast. Make them the day you want to eat them. They are best when the crust is crisp and cookie-like but the crust gets a bit soft by the next day, quite soft by the day after and not-worth-the-calories soft by the day after that.