Blackberry Apple Crumble Bars

Regina at Speciality Cake Creations has recently posted a series of different types of crumble bars: Blueberry Apple Crumble Bars, Apple Caramel Pie Crumble Bars, and even Pumpkin Pie Crumble Bars. After seeing this slew of delicious sounding recipes, complete with mouth-watering pictures, I just had to try it myself.

Newmarket (in Cambridgeshire) had a surprisingly large blackberry crop this year, and I kind of went a bit crazy with picking them, resulting in several containers full of them. I've slowly been getting through them by making blackberry and apple crumbles again and again (and they're easy to get through in a few days as they make such fabulous breakfasts as well as puddings), but I thought I might as well use them in something else. Change it up a bit.

So to change it up a bit, I am of course making a variation of a crumble by making Blackberry Apple Crumble Bars in the style of Regina's Blueberry Apple Crumble Bars. I know, I really pushed the boat out there, didn't I?

Despite not being far flung from my favourite blackberry recipe, these do have a different texture to your standard crumble and have a pie feeling to them because of the base. These are genius though, because they base is the same as the crumble topping, only it has been pressed into the dish. I really recommend that you give these a try - they are fruity, delicious and definitely worth the 4 hour wait while they firm up in the fridge (I certainly struggled with that). Just be smarter than me and remember to line the bottom of your dish so that it's possible to remove the slices without having to chisel away at the base.

Ingredients

• 300g Blackberries (frozen or fresh)
• 300g Caster Sugar
• 200mL Water
• 2 Tbsp Cornflour
• 360g Plain Flour
• 1 Tsp Baking Powder
• 175g Butter
• 1 Tsp Cinnamon
• 1 Cooking Apple

Recipe

• Preheat the oven to 200C/180C fan and line a square oven-proof dish with baking parchment.
• Place the blackberries in a saucepan with 150g of the sugar and cover with water. Simmer on a low heat until most of the water has boiled off.
• Make a paste with the cornflour using a few tablespoons of the blackberry water and pour it into the saucepan.
• Whisk the blackberry mixture until it thickens, then remove from the heat and allow to cool.
• Combine the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, remaining caster sugar and butter in a mixing bowl and mix together using your fingertips to form a mixture that resembles breadcrumbs.
• Pour 2/3 of the 'breadcrumb' mixture into your oven-proof dish and press firmly into the base. Bake in the oven for 10 mins, or until it starts to brown.
• Pour the blackberry mixture on top of the base in the oven-proof dish. 
• Peel, core and chop the apple, then lay the pieces over the top of the blackberry mixture.
• Top the apple with the remaining 'breadcrumb' mixture and sprinkle with a little extra caster sugar if desired.
• Bake in the oven for 30 minutes, or until the crumble topping starts to brown.
• Allow the crumble bars to cool for 30 mins before covering and refrigerating for at least four hours.
• Slice the bars up and enjoy!