Berry Crumble Bars

sometimes when i have a night without menus to plan and grocery lists to make i find myself not quite knowing what to do with myself. more often then not, those nights, like tonight, i find myself baking something. i have a bookmark folder on my computer to "recipes to make". it's getting to be quite the folder but at least i have finally started simply bookmarking the recipe instead of printing it out. my actual pile of "recipes to make" was starting to take over the office.

it's quite possible that 50% of the recipes are from smitten kitchen. it seems every time i see a new post in my google reader from smitten kitchen, i find myself placing it in the "recipes to make" folder. not only is she an inspired cook/baker but her photography skills are so good i can almost smell them. if you haven't checked out her site, i highly recommend it. but be forewarned, you'll be hooked.

you may see where i am going with this . . . these berry crumble bars are inspired by smitten kitchen's raspberry breakfast bars. i have to admit, i used frozen berries for this recipe only because i cannot seem to keep fresh berries in this house. if we have them, they get eaten almost immediately. the wasti's love berries. of course, i had to use whole wheat pastry flour and reduce the amount of sugar, but these turned out perfectly. plus, i kind of agree with smitten kitchen. it's oatmeal, it's berries, it's suitable to breakfast, right? yum!

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Berry Crumble Bars
(makes 12-15 bars)

crust:
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 cup quinoa flour
1 1/4 cup quick oats
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 stick plus 2 tbs unsalted butter, cut into pieces

preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

mix all ingredients in a large bowl with a pastry cutter or with the gifts god gave you (your fingers). mix until well combined and crumbly. press half the crumb mixture into a 8x8 parchment lined baking pan. bake 12 minutes until edges just start to brown. reduce heat to 350 degree F.

berry filling:
1/8 cup packed brown sugar
juice of 1/2 lemon
1/2 tsp cinnamon
2 tbs whole wheat flour
1 pound mixed berries
2 tbs unsalted butter, melted

mix together all ingredients except berries. fold in berries until just covered in butter/sugar mixture.

pour berry mixture onto partially baked crust.

cover with remaining crumb mixture and press down slightly. bake @ 350 for 35-45 minutes until top is golden brown.

let cool completely before cutting into bars.
(this is admittedly ridiculously hard to do because your kitchen smells amazing by this point. taste a corner if you must, but it will fall apart unless completely cool. pat yourself on the back for being so patient and reward yourself with a cooled berry crumble bar. it was worth it, right?)