Blueberry Crunch Bars #SummerDessertWeek

This post and recipe was created for #SummerDessertWeek! I was not paid for this post but am thrilled to team up with some blogging friends and great sponsors (prize giveaways for you!) share our mutual love of desserts! All opinions are my own. Enter the giveaways at the bottom of this post.

Blueberry Crunch Bars first appeared in my third cookbook, Sweetness: Southern Recipes to Celebrate the Warmth, the Love, an the Blessings of a Full Life.

This recipe is from my friend, Valerie Holt, who teaches Home Economics at Woodland High School in  in Cartersville, Georgia. We met at the National Cornbread Festival and became fast friends. The more we talk, the more we realized we have in common! She told me that I was living her dream, which surprised me because I had always intended to use my Home Economics degree to do exactly what she does now. I reckon we’d all be surprised if we knew how many people look at our lives as the one they dreamed of having. In the end, the best dreams come true are always the ones you never planned anyway. The Agriculture teacher at Valerie’s school has a father in middle Georgia who raises blueberries.  All of the teachers at her school wait eagerly each summer for him to bring gallons of berries back from his visit with his dad and Valerie makes these bars with them. As a blueberry lover myself, I have to tell you that I made these the moment Valerie shared the recipe with me and have already lost count of how many times I’ve made them since! The recipe is in printable format at the bottom of this post but I want to share some exciting news as well! This is SUMMER DESSERT WEEK! I have joined up with several food bloggers to share delicious summer dessert recipes all week long – and to celebrate we have teamed up with some great sponsors to offer giveaways as well!

Special thanks to Ranier Fruit for the gorgeous blueberries! Make sure you read the end of this post for details on all of the giveaways, more recipes for Summer Dessert Week, and the printable version of these amazing Blueberry Crunch Bars.

Blueberry Crunch Bars

 

Print

Ingredients

• 1 cup sugar
• 1 ½ cups all purpose flour
• 1 ½ cups quick oats
• ¾ cup cold unsalted butter cubed
• ⅛ tsp salt
• ½ tsp baking soda
• ½ tsp cinnamon
• 3 cups fresh or frozen blueberries
• 2 TB cornstarch
• 3 TB lemon juice
• ¾ cup sugar

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375. Grease a 9 x 13 metal baking pan.
2. Put first 7 ingredients in the food processor and process until crumbly not a ball. Reserve 2 cups for topping.
3. Press remaining crumb mixture into pan. Set aside.
4. Put rest of ingredients into a small sauce pan and bring to a boil for 2-3 minutes until thick. It will look like blueberry jam. Spread over crust. Put on reserved topping and bake 25-30 minutes or until golden. Cool completely and enjoy!

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• No Churn Strawberry Cheesecake Ice Cream from Big Bear’s Wife
• No Churn Cherry Crisp Ice Cream from Miss in the Kitchen
• No-Churn Peanut Butter Lovers Ice Cream from Home Sweet Homestead
• No Churn Banana Walnut Ice Cream from Kudos Kitchen by Renee
• Grilled Pineapple Ring Rum Sundae from Daily Dish Recipes
• Creamy No Churn Peach Ice Cream from 4 Sons ‘R’ Us

Pies of Summer:

• Lattice Topped Blueberry Peach Pie from That Skinny Chick Can Bake
• Coconut Key Lime Pie from The Domestic Kitchen
• Berry Cherry Pie from A Blender Mom

Sweet Summertime Cakes:

• Cherry Almond Cake from Food Hunter’s Guide to Cuisine
• Homemade Angel Food Cake with Sugared Berries from Me and My Pink Mixer
• Cherry Vanilla Poke Cake from The Bitter Side of Sweet
• Gooey Nutella Microwave Mug Cake from For the Love of Food

No Bake Treats:

• Blueberry Coconut Gelato Pie from The Whimsy One
• Blueberry Parfait from Bowl Me Over

Baked Desserts:

• Churro Bites with Mexican Chocolate Dipping Sauce from Love Bakes Good Cakes
• Ice Cream Cone Cupcakes from The JavaCupcake Blog
• Blueberry Limencello Cobbler from Sweet ReciPeas
• Blueberry Biscuits from Fake Ginger
• Blueberry Crumb Bars from Southern Plate
• Cherry Struesel Muffins from My Baking Heart
• Rustic Cherry Galette from Jen Around the World
• Roasted Cherry Meringue Fool from Cooking In Stilettos
• Cherry Rosemary Cobbler from The Spiffy Cookie
• Cherry Almond Cobbler from Southern From Scratch

Welcome to the first #SummerDessertWeek event hosted by Angie from Big Bear’s Wife. We’re so glad that you’ve joined us for this week long event of desserts and giveaways. You’re going to love what we have in store for you. There are 25 amazing bloggers participating in this year’s event! Throughout the week we’ll be share tons of fantastic summer dessert recipes with you. With over 70 recipes being shared this week we just know that you’re going to find a new summer favorite! Plus, don’t forget that we have 6 (six) great giveaways for you this week thanks to our amazing sponsors! Scroll down to take a look!

Prize #1

Prize #1 — Dixie Crystals is giving one winner a $100 Willimas Sonoma Gift Card OR a $100 Sur la Table! Winner of prize #1 gets to pick which gift card they would like!

Prize #2

Prize #2 — Rainier Fruit is giving one winner a Pie dish, Cherry Pitter, Serving Spatula, Pinch Bowls, Pie Carrier! Everything you need to make the perfect cherry or blueberry pie!

Prize #3

Prize #3– OXO is giving one winner an 8 Piece Glass Bake, Serve & Store Set. OXO Glass Bakeware is made of thermal shock resistant borosilicate glass, which means it can go from freezer to oven without the need to thaw. The OXO 8 Piece Glass Bake, Serve & Store Set is the perfect partner for all of your baking adventures. The Set includes a Glass 3 Qt Baking Dish, Glass 2 Qt Baking Dish, Glass Loaf Pan, Glass Pie Plate, 1 Cup Round SNAP Container, and 2 Cup Round SNAP Container.

Prize #4

Prize #4 — Adam’s Extract is giving one winner a Pyrex with baking utensils and 4oz Adams Best, 1.5 oz Pure Lemon, Almond, Peppermint and Vanilla.

Prize #5

Prize #5 — General Mills Cereal is giving one winner 4 boxes of cereal, 2 Big G Cereal character bowls, 2 Big G Cereal character , 2 “Good Morning” spoons, 2 Cheerios tumblers with straws 1 long-sleeve Cereal Character hooded t-shirt, 1 short-sleeve Cereal Character t-shirt.

Prize #6

Prize #6 — Land O’Lakes is giving one winner a branded insulated tote with a stainless steel water bottle, two mugs with cocoa mix, a dish towel and coasters.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Giveaway open to US Residents 18 years or older.. All entries will be verified. No PO Boxes Please. Prizes will be sent directly from sponsors to winners, bloggers are not responsible for prizes. This giveaway runs from July 24th until July 30th at 12AMEST. Winners will be selected soon afterwards and contacted by e-mail. Winners will have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be chosen. There are a total of 6 (six) prizes and therefore we will have a total of 6 (six) winners. No purchase necessary. Void where prohibited by law.

  Disclaimer: These posts and recipes are part of the week long event, #SummerDessertWeek but all opinions are 100% mine! We would like Thank our amazing sponsors: Dixie Crystals, Rainier Fruit, OXO, Adam’s Extract, Land O’Lakes and General Mills Cereal! These wonderful sponsors provided the prize packs for our giveaways and also sent samples and products to the #SummerDessertWeek bloggers to use in their recipes.