Plum Cobbler Bars

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Ingredients

• 2 1/2 pounds black or purple plums (pits removed and roughly chopped--about 6 cups)
• 1 1/2 C. plus 1/3 C. granulated sugar
• 1/4 C. cornstarch
• 2 t. vanilla extract
• 3 C. old-fashioned oats
• 2 1/2 C. all-purpose flour
• 3/4 C. whole-wheat flour
• 1 1/2 C. light brown sugar
• 1 t. baking powder
• 1 t. coarse kosher salt
• 1 t. ground cinnamon
• 1 1/2 C. unsalted butter (melted)

Instructions

1. Put a small plate in the refrigerator. You will use the cold plate to test the jam later in this recipe.
2. Combine chopped plums and 1 1/2 cups of sugar in a large pot. Heat the plums over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally. Cook the plums and sugar until the plums release their juices and become very tender. This will take 12 to 15 minutes.
3. Puree the cooked plum mixture with an immersion blender or in a regular blender until almost smooth. Be careful here; you are working with very hot liquids. You want a little texture in your jam. Return the puree to the pot (if you didn't use the immersion blender) and continue to cook at medium to low heat until the mixture thickens and reduces by half. This will take about 10 minutes. When your jam is finished cooking, you should have approximately 3 1/2 cups of plum jam. At this point, you can test your jam by putting a spoonful on the chilled plate. The jam should be thick and, after two minutes, when you drag your finger through the jam, it should leave a clean separation between the two remaining sections of jam. If it doesn't, cook your jam for a few more minutes.
4. In a small bowl, whisk the remaining 1/3 C. granulated sugar with the cornstarch. Then, whisk this cornstarch mixture into the jam. Stir occasionally. Cook until the jam reaches a simmer. When it does, simmer for one minute more (be careful at this point not to scorch your jam). Stir in the vanilla extract. Cool the jam until it reaches room temperature.
5. Heat your oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 9 by 13 baking sheet with parchment paper, overhanging the paper on all the sides.
6. In a large bowl, combine oats, flour, whole wheat flour, brown sugar, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Then, add the melted butter and mix until the mixture reaches a crumbly consistency. I used my hands to mix the butter with the oat mixture. Press 2/3 of the crumb mixture into an even layer on the parchment-lined baking pan. Spread the jam evenly over the oat mixture. Sprinkle the remaining crumb mixture evenly over the top of the jam.
7. Bake bars at 350 degrees F until the jam bubbles on the edges of the bars and until the oat mixture is a light borwn. This will bake from 45 to 55 minutes. Cool completely.
8. Slice the bars into 16 even pieces.
9. Note: I found that the bars were at their very best about three days after baking them.

Nutrition

Calories

6307 cal

Fat

25 g

Carbs

1251 g

Protein

88 g

Click Here For Full Nutrition, Exchanges, and My Plate Info

Blueberry Muffins and A Little Refrigerator Drama

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Ingredients

• 1/2 C. butter (at room temperature)
• 1 C. sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 2 t. baking powder
• 1/2 t. salt
• 1 t. vanilla extract
• 2 C. all-purpose flour
• 1/2 C. milk
• 2 1/2 C. blueberries (preferably fresh)
• 1/4 C. sugar (for topping)

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. and prepare a 12-cup muffin tin by lining cups with parchment and greasing the parchment or by inserting paper cupcake cups. (It is possible to make 16 or so muffins by reducing the amount of batter you put into each muffin tin. I did this and the muffin size was perfect.)
2. In the bowl of your stand mixer, beat butter and sugar together until it is well-mixed. Add the eggs one at a time. Beat the mixture well after the addition of each egg. Add the baking powder, salt and vanilla. Mix well, scraping the bottom of your bowl to be sure that all the ingredients are incorporated into the batter.
3. Add the flour alternating with the milk. Mix these ingredients together gently--just to combine. Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl to be sure all the ingredients are mixed together.
4. Mash 1/2 C. of blueberries. Add these mashed berries to the batter along with the remainder of the whole berries. Mix just to combine.
5. Using a 1/4 C. measure, scoop portions of the batter into the muffin tins.
6. Sprinkle 1/2 t. granulated sugar on top of each muffin and bake for about 30 minutes. You want the tops of your muffins to be a light golden brown. Your muffins are done when you can stick a toothpick into the center of a muffin comes out clean. (I gave my muffins a few extra minutes of baking to get just the golden brown color that I wanted. Baking times will vary from oven to oven.)
7. Remove muffins from the oven. Gently (the muffins will be tender at this point) loosen the edges of the muffins from the edges of the pan, or, if you are using cupcake cups, loosen the cups within the muffin tins. Let the muffins sit for about 5 minutes and them remove them from the muffin pan. Cool on a rack.
8. These muffins were delicious but very tender on the first day. They were perfect on the second day.

Hand Pies!

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Ingredients

Pastry
• 8 1/2 ounces (2 C.) King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
• 3/4 t. salt
• 1/2 t. baking powder
• 8 ounces (1 C.) cold unsalted butter
• 4 ounces (1/2 C.) cold sour cream
Filling
• 2 C. blueberries (fresh or frozen)
• 1 ounce (2 T.) cornstarch
• 2 3/8 ounces (1/3 C.) sugar
• 1/8 t. salt
• 1/2 ounce (1 T.) lemon juice
• (Note: If you are using frozen berries, increase the amount of cornstarch to 2 1/2 T.)
Topping
• 1 large egg (*beaten)
• 7/8 ounce (2 T.) white sparkling sugar (for garnish)

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
Pastry
2. Whisk together flour, salt, and baking powder. Using your hands or a processor, mix in the butter. You want the butter to be in large, pea-sized pieces distributed through the flour.
3. Stir in the sour cream until the sour cream is incorporated into the flour mixture and until the flour mixture begins to come together. I found this was a pretty crumbly mixture at this point; it didn't come together into a solid ball until I kneaded it a few times on my counter.
4. Turn the dough out onto your counter (lightly floured) , knead it a few times to form it into a ball and then shape it into a rough log. Next, using a rolling pin, roll the dough out into an 8 inch by 10 inch rectangle. Dust both sides of the rectangle with flour and, starting with the shorter end, fold the dough into three parts like a business letter.
5. Turn your dough over and give it a 90 degree turn. Roll it out again into an 8 inch by 10 inch rectange. Again, fold it into three.
6. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and chill in your refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.
Filling
7. Wash and drain your berries if you are using fresh berries. Put the berries into a saucepan. Whisk cornstarch and sugar together and pour over the berries. Add salt and lemon juice and stir. Heat this mixture over medium-high heat until the liquid in the pan begins to simmer. Then turn the heat down to medium and cook for about 5 minutes. Be sure to stir the mixture as it is cooking and take it off the heat when it begins to thicken.
To Assemble The Pies
8. Remove the dough from the refrigerator and roll into a 14 inch by 14 inch square. Cut the dough into 3 1/2 inch squares. You will have sixteen squares. If the dough begins to heat up and becomes sticky and hard to handle, put it back in the refrigerator for 20 minutes or so. I've had to do this and the dough firmed up nicely.
9. Place one heaping tablespoonful of the blueberry filling on each of 8 squares. Brush the edges of the squares with beaten egg; this will help seal the edges of the pies.
10. Cut vent holes in each of the remaining squares. Place these dough squares over the squares with the blueberry filling. Press the edges closed using the tines of a fork.
11. Brush the top of each hand pie with beaten egg and sprinkle with sparkling sugar. Again, if the dough has become soft and sticky, put the hand pies into the refrigerator for about 20 minutes to firm up.
12. Bake for 18-20 minutes at 425 degrees F. When they are done, your hand pies will be a light golden brown color.
13. Remove the hand pies from the oven and let them cool on your counter for about 20 minutes.