I love blueberries and wanted to use some today. Digging into my ever growing bundles of recipes I came across this one for Blueberry Crumb Bars. A slice goes down well with a cup of coffee or they work well for a quick dessert with a scoop of ice cream or a spoonful of whipped cream.

While typing out the recipe, I automatically typed ‘Swiss roll’ to describe the tin. That is what we called them back in Mammy’s kitchen. Who makes Swiss rolls today? I used to be a dab hand at it back in the day. Maybe they will come back into favour along with baked Alaska, one of these days.

Blueberry Crumb Bars
Preheat the oven to 190°C

1 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
3 cups plain/all-purpose flour
1 cup cold butter/8 ounces
1 egg
¼ teaspoon salt
Zest and juice of one lemon
4 cups fresh blueberries
½ cup white sugar
4 teaspoons cornstarch

Grease a 9×13 inch Swiss roll tin.
In a medium bowl, stir together 1 cup sugar, 3 cups flour, and baking powder. Mix in salt and lemon zest. Use a fork or pastry cutter to blend in the butter and egg. Dough will be crumbly. Pat half of dough into the prepared pan.

In another bowl, stir together the ½ cup white sugar, cornstarch and lemon juice. Gently mix in the blueberries. Sprinkle the blueberry mixture evenly over the crust. Crumble remaining dough over the berry layer.
Bake in the oven for 45-50 minutes, or until top is slightly brown.

Cool completely before cutting into squares.
These are easiest to cut once chilled, and store even better in the fridge than they do at room temperature–something unusual for cookies!

For variation why not try sour cherries or cranberries when they are available. I prefer to use orange instead of lemon with cranberries.