Blackberry Whole Grain Crumble Bars

Sometimes when I’m searching for recipes to use blackberries, I tend to lean towards the dessert route. So when I saw this crumble bar recipe contained whole grains, I knew I had to give it a try. Trust me when I say you won’t even know these have whole grain in them because it’s buried so deep beneath the delicious taste! I think these are a perfect alternative to a Nutri-grain bar!

Ingredients

Crust:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1/3 cups brown sugar
1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 cup butter, melted and cooled
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Blackberry Filling:
3 cups blackberries
1/2 cups granulated sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
2 teaspoons lemon juice

Crumble Topping:
1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
1/4 cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/4 cups whole wheat flour
1/4 cups brown sugar
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons butter, melted

Directions

Crust:
Grease a 9-inch square pan or line your pan with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, stir together flours, brown sugar and salt until mixture is smooth and lumps are gone. Add melted butter and vanilla and stir until combined.

Press dough evenly into prepared pan and place in freezer for 30 minutes.

Filling:
Preheat oven to 300 F.

In a medium saucepan over medium heat, combine blackberries, sugar, cornstarch, and lemon juice. Bring mixture to a boil, stirring constantly. Reduce heat and continue to stir while simmering until fruit thickens slightly. Remove from heat.

Topping:
Place oats, flours, sugars and salt in a food processor {or blender} and process until oats are partially ground. Move mixture to a large mixing bowl and add melted butter, stirring until small clumps form.

Bake frozen crust 45 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from oven and increase oven temp to 350 F. Spread blackberry filling over crust and sprinkle evenly with crumb topping.

Bake 45-50 minutes or until golden brown, rotating the pan halfway through baking. Cool completely before cutting into bars. Enjoy.