Thursday 8 May 2014

Berry Streusel Bars

 My lovely sister and her boyfriend have finally got their first house up together, and were able to host their house warming party a couple of weekends ago. My contribution was a dessert buffet for their party, and this is the first of three recipes I'll be sharing from the buffet. As there were going to be a lot of people there, I opted for a couple of tray-bakes and some muffins, things that are easy to eat with your fingers whist standing around chatting. I first made these about 5 years ago, and they've been a firm favourite with my family ever since so I re-invented them slightly for the party.


Ingredients:
For the streusel:
200g caster sugar 
375g plain flour 
1 tsp baking powder 
1 tsp mixed spice 
200g butter, cubed
1 egg

For the filling:
100g caster sugar
1 tbsp cornflour
300g fresh berries (I used a mix of blueberries and raspberries)

Preheat your oven to 180c and line a deep sided baking tray with greaseproof paper.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the sugar, flour, baking powder and mixed spice. Rub the butter and egg into the dry ingredients using the tips of your fingers. The dough should resemble rough bread crumbs - you can use a knife to cut it in to start, and then finish off with your fingers if you'd rather. Put to one side.


In a separate bowl, mix the sugar and cornflour together. Add the berries and mix them in, making sure that they're all coated in the sugar mix. It's doesn't matter if any of the berries get squashed.

Now you've got your dough and your filling ready. Tip two thirds of the dough into the prepared tray and press down firmly. Scatter the berries and the sugar mix evenly over the dough in the tin, and then crumble remaining dough over the berry layer.

Bake for 45 minutes, until the top is lightly golden. Leave to cool for a few minutes in the tray before moving to a wire rack to cool completely. Once cool, you can cut into squares/bars.

 


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