Oh summer…..

 Being in a tropical country, summer is an all-year round season. In fact, it is the only season. The weather here is so so hot. This few weeks have been even more unbearable. My friend Chris is leaving for Canada soon and will be holding a farewell party at his place. I am so jealous! Blueberries are in the season now so I decided to make a blueberry crumb bar for the party. I used a  food processor to cut the butter as it is much faster. I reckon the butter will probably soften in minutes if I use a pastry cutter instead. It turned out pretty good, but don’t look too pretty for the party.

Blueberry Crumb Bars
(Adapted from Smitten Kitchen)

1 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup cold butter (2 sticks or 8 ounces), cut in to 1 inch cubes
1 egg
1/4 teaspoon salt
Zest and juice of one lemon
4 cups fresh blueberries
1/2 cup white sugar
4 teaspoons cornstarch

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease a 9×13 inch pan.

2. In the food processor, pulse together 1 cup sugar, 3 cups flour, and baking powder. Mix in salt and lemon zest. Add in the cold butter cubes and pulse. Add in the egg and pulse to combine. Dough will be crumbly. Pat half of dough into the prepared pan.

3. In another bowl, stir together the 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.

4. Bake in preheated oven for 50 minutes, or until top is slightly brown. Cool completely before cutting into squares.

Dreaming a little dream of you

Every now and then, I get a burst of genius ideas. Okay, not ALL ideas are clever I was attending a course today when it suddenly hit me that a chopped almond, blueberry and chocolate chip cookie would seem like a brilliant idea. This could have be the unconscious part of my brain attempting to pass time in a boring lecture. Not to mention, it kept me happily occupied for pretty much the whole afternoon.

Soon, I was in my own little cookie dream. Chopped almonds or macadamia? I am in the mood for some almonds. Will white chocolate work as well? Possibly, but I have some Ghirardelli bittersweet chocolate chips in my fridge right now. How about a little oats to go along? Hmm… Could complicate the whole thing. I was happily doodling the amounts and proportions on my lecture notes. Nobody could disturb me and my cookie dream! Absolutely nobody!

Until my lecturer asked me to explain something to the class. Oops. Like a drunkard just awakened from her stupor, I looked up at him. Thank god I knew the answer, or else, that could have been the end of me. >____< Anyway, I modelled this cookie very closely to the famous NY Times Chocolate Chip cookie, but added slightly less butter because I wanted a firmer dough. I also lessened the salt as my point was not to marry sweet and salty. Lastly, I used less sugar so as not to overpower the natural sweetness of the blueberries. I left my dough in the fridge for a little over a day. I reckon this recipe is pretty flexible, you can add any nut, chocolate and fruit combination as you like. I love mine this way (for now). What is your favourite combination?

Chopped Almond, Blueberry & Chocolate Chip Cookie

2 cups minus 2 tbsp cake flour                            

1 2/3 cups bread flour

1 1/4 tsp baking soda                                      

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt                                               

2 sticks (1 cup) + 1tbsp butter

1 cup brown sugar                          

3/4 cup white granulated sugar

2 large eggs  (room temperature)         

2 tsp vanilla extract

7oz bittersweet chocolate chips                        

110g chopped almonds (toasted)

100g dried blueberries

1. Sift flours, baking soda, baking powder and salt into a bowl.

2. Cream butter and sugars together until very light, about 5 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well. Stir in vanilla extract. Add the dry ingredients until just combined. Mix in the chocolate chips, blueberries and chopped almond.       

3. Press plastic wrap against dough and refrigerate for 24 to 36 hours. (Of course, you can always omit this step and bake them straight away.)

4. Preheat oven to 175C. Scoop dough into balls (about 1 1/4 inch in diameter) onto a baking sheet or greased tray. Bake for about 18 – 22 minutes. Eat warm, or cool, with a cup of milk. What else? Makes about 40 cookies.