Sometimes you don’t know what you have until you actually have it. And in this case by ‘have it’ I mean taste it. And so it was with this recipe for Lemon Blueberry Bars. Loved mixing lemon and blueberries together but was kind of put off by the sweetened condensed milk (I think it has a bit of a floury taste to it – although it does tend to disappear once baked.). But the picture of the bar looked so delicious that I had to try it. Thank goodness for that picture. Because these bars are killer thanks to the luscious creamy layer (mainly egg yolks and the sweetened condensed milk) that bakes into the blueberries.
Although the recipe calls for 2 cups of fresh blueberries, I’ve made them with frozen blueberries with great success. Use them in their frozen state, tho, do not thaw. Also, I often freeze leftover bars (if there are any:) – the results have been great!
Creamy Lemon Blueberry Bars (adapted from CookieMadness.net, 2008)
Make a 13 x 9 inch pan of bars
- 1 3/4 cups flour
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/4 tsp. salt
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 14 Tbsp. unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
- 1 1/2 cups old fashioned rolled oats, not quick cooking
- 2 large egg yolks
- 1 can (14 oz.) sweetened condensed milk
- 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
- 2 tsp. lemon zest
- 2 cups blueberries
- 1/2 cup chopped pecans, optional
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease a 9 x 13 inch metal baking pan.
- Combine the flour, both sugars, salt and baking soda in a bowl of a food processor* and pulse to mix. Add butter and pulse until mixture is coarse and crumbly. Add oats and pulse to mix.
- Press about 2/3 of crumb mixture into prepared pan and set remainder aside. Bake crust for 12 minutes minutes.
- Meanwhile, prepare filling. Whisk the condensed milk, lemon juice, lemon zest and egg yolks together in a medium bowl and let stand for 5 minutes.
- Arrange blueberries evenly over the crust; pour lemon mixture over the blueberries. Spread gently with a spatula to distribute as evenly as possible. Bake until the lemon mixture just begins to form a shiny skin; 7 to 8 minutes.
- Sprinkle reserved topping over the lemon layer, then sprinkle pecans over topping. Base for 25 minutes.
- Let the bars cool in the pan on a rack until just warm, about an hour. When cool, transfer to chill for at least 2 hours. The longer the chill time, the better they will be!
- Serve and Enjoy!
*Although the recipe calls for using a food processor – the ingredients can easily be combined using a pastry cutter.
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Your receipes are the best. They are well wriiten and simple to follow. And best yet DELICIOUS. Can’t wait to make these
These look great! Blueberries are my all time favorite fruit! Thanks, Debra, for the pic and recipe.”