Blueberry Lime Crumb Bars

My baby boy starts 11th grade today. Wahhh!! I cannot believe he only has two full years of high school left. He is also lamenting this fact and is not quite ready to be closer and closer to being a "grown up" and having to work and make life decisions... at least he knows it's coming and will hopefully appreciate these next couple years a little more. It is crazy to me to think that when I was his age I was actually newly pregnant with him and not long after we were living on our own raising a wrinkly little redhead and finishing high school. Good gravy, the time does fly.

These blueberry crumb bars soften the blow, just a little. I saw these the other day and saved it in my Pinterest Breakfast board.

I decided over the weekend to make these up, because I had some extra fresh squeezed lime juice in the refrigerator that needed a home and decided this would be a good one for it.

These are like little bites of blueberry cobbler. A good combination of citrus to brighten the dish, the pop and beautiful color of the blueberries and the base that bakes up crunchy on bottom and oh so soft on top where the juices from the blueberries mix with it.

I had a bit of a baking disaster with this one! I was half asleep after waking up three mornings in a row at 5:40am with my adorable toddler when this one was in progress. I dumped the cornstarch into the batter base instead of the blueberries bowl (then dug it back out and mixed it into the blueberries anyway), then When it was time to dump the batter base into the baking pan, I started dumping it on top of the blueberries instead... that's not where that goes!! I blame it all on VERY tired mommy brain. However it didn't matter, this baked up just perfectly. I loved the textures of the crisped base, the gooey fruity center, and soft cobbler-esque topping. Yumm!

Blueberry Lime Crumb Bars from A Kitchen Addiction

Ingredients
For the Crumble and Base Layers
1½ cup white whole wheat or all-purpose flour
½ cup sugar
½ tsp baking powder
⅛ tsp salt
1 tsp dry lemon zest
1 large egg yolk
1 tsp Nielsen-Massey Madagascar Vanilla Bean Paste
½ cup (1 stick) butter, cold and cut into pieces

For the Filling
¼ cup sugar
2 tsp cornstarch
1 tbsp fresh lime juice
2¼ cup frozen blueberries

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375. Line an 8×8 or 9×9 inch (I used a 9×9) baking dish with parchment paper.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and lime zest.
3. In a small bowl, whisk together egg yolk and vanilla extract. Stir into dry ingredients. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
4. Press about ⅔ of mixture into the bottom of prepared baking dish.
5. In a separate large bowl, whisk together sugar and cornstarch. Stir in lime juice. Add in blueberries and stir until blueberries are coated. Spread blueberry filling on top of crust.
6. Top with remaining crumb mixture. Bake for 35-40 minutes or until top is golden brown.
7. Allow to cool for about 20 minutes before cutting into bars.