These were so good, I had to make them twice. 🙂 Yep, that’s right. I sampled one from the first batch and before I knew it, I had eaten half my giveaway. Whoopsie! At least I had a lot of Blueberry Jam hanging around. It is blueberry season and if you can get the good ones from Maine (or at very minimum, a jar of Stonewall Kitchen stuff), definitely go with the “Wild blueberry” variety. You won’t be sorry!
Ingredients
1 cup plus 4 tablespoons (2 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and cooled to just warm
1 cup granulated sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 large egg yolks
1 teaspoon lemon extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups blueberry jam
1/2 cup almond slices
Directions
Create a foil or parchment sling for your 9 x 11-inch baking pan and spray generously with baking spray.
In a medium bowl, mix together butter, sugar, salt, egg yolks and lemon extract with a spoon until smooth. Add in the flour and mix until just combined. Remove 1/2 cup of the crust mixture (to be sprinkled on later) and press remainder into the lined pan. Set aside the remaining 1/2 cup, covered with plastic wrap,
but do not put in the refrigerator. Place the pan in the freezer for 30-60 minutes or so; the chilling of the crust prevents it from expanding and rising too much during baking.
Preheat oven to 325F.
Remove the crust from the freezer and place in the oven to bake for 30 minutes, or until the sides are lightly browned. Then remove from the oven, and increase oven temperature to 350F. Spread the blueberry jam on top on the crust, sprinkle on the almond slices and the left-over crust dough on top. Bake another 25-30 minutes, or until the crumble is lightly browned.
Allow the pan to cool completely before taking the bars out of the pan. Remove the bars by lifting out with the sling and cut.
