Blueberry & Rose Almond Bars
There was nothing for it, with a fridge load of blueberries in need of using up, I just had to do some baking. Interrogating my books, via Eat Your Books, two recipes appealed: Dan Lepard’s blueberry almond bar from Short and Sweet and blueberry streusel muffins from Tea with Bea. It was a tough choice, but in the end Dan won out. Shockingly, chocolate did not feature in this recipe, so I added some. I also decided to cook the blueberries in rose syrup, as I’d recently made another batch. I tried to upscale the recipe a little as I didn’t have the required 20 cm tin.
This is how I did it:
- Washed 300g blueberries and put them in a pan.
- Added 100ml of rose syrup and 25g caster sugar.
- Bought the mixture to a gentle simmer.
- Mixed 2 rounded tsp of arrowroot in about 40ml water.
- Added this and stirred well, continuing to simmer for about 5 minutes, until the mixture had thickened and was a very deep blue.
- Sifted 180g flour (80g spelt, 100g white) into a bowl with 3/4 tsp baking powder.
- Added 60g ground almonds and 75g cardamom sugar (caster).
- Cut 110g unsalted butter into pieces and rubbed this into the flour.
- Added 1 duck egg and mixed.
- Poured this into a 21cm square tin lined with baking parchment and pressed it flat.
- Poured 50ml milk into a small pan.
- Added 2 tsp honey, 100g light brown sugar, 75g flaked almonds, 25g ground almonds and a drop of almond extract.
- Bought mixture to a simmer and cooked for a few minutes until mixture thickened slightly.
- Took off the heat and added 30g dark chocolate (G&B Maya Gold).
- Spooned the blueberry compote over the biscuit base.
- Spooned the almond caramel over the blueberries.
- Baked at 180C for 30 minutes.
The blueberry and caramel mixtures amalgamated completely during cooking, which was a little disappointing. But that was where the disappointment ended. They tasted fruity and the almond shortbread base was delicious and just the right texture, with the caramel adding just the right amount of sweetness. Remarkably some of these survived for several days and the last ones tasted just as good as the first.
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Foodycat
8th September 2012
This sounds lovely! What a great combination of flavours!
Chele
8th September 2012
Yes I quite agree, when there is a fridge full of berries your only option is to bake ;0)
And I like how you added chocolate too, for everything is a million times better with this addition. They do sound like a lovely flavor combo.
Janice
8th September 2012
i’m sure the chocolate made all the difference!
A Little Bit of Heaven on a Plate
8th September 2012
Oh yum, they look very nice and squidgey…x
Miss C Flash
8th September 2012
Another delicious bake, your blueberry bars look lush. A perfect treat x
rita cooks italian
9th September 2012
Sticky and fruity squares get always my attention. These look tempting, fruity topping with a hint of chocolate, of course. I like Dan Lepard recipes too.
belleau kitchen
9th September 2012
so glazey and shiny and sticky and just so bloody drool-worthy… need it need it need it NOW!!!… plus, adding the chocolate has taken them a level about perfection!
The Caked Crusader
9th September 2012
That shiny topping looks amazing…bet it tasted amazing too!
laura@howtocookgoodfood
9th September 2012
I really love the sound of the almondy caramel topping the blueberry compote as well as a shortbread base. You are so good at creating new ideas I just wish I could try them all out. Rose syrup with the blueberries must be amazing!
Baking Addict
9th September 2012
I love how you manage to add chocolate to everything 🙂 These look gorgeous – I love the sound of blueberry and rose, a combination I’ve never tried before.
Caroline
9th September 2012
They look lovely, it’s great how you’ve adapted them to include the flavours you enjoy. I remember making these when the recipe first appeared in the Guardian but I didn’t blog them as I didn’t get a decent photograph. Must remake and blog because they were great. I had a disaster with the topping though (although I can’t quite remember why, and obviously I wasn’t using almonds). Hmm, I really must look at this recipe again ASAP, thanks for the reminder!
Gloria
10th September 2012
These look awesome!!!
Recipe Junkie
10th September 2012
lush :-)Was flicking through Short & Sweet yesterday…
Alida
10th September 2012
excellent this bars. Something very original. I am bookmarking this. Ciao!