Black and Blue Oat Bars

Three layers of goodness!

Arrange on a large platter.

Bake in parchment paper, for easy pan removal.

These bar cookies, once cut are so large, they are more like dessert,
than just a cookie.  My recommendation is to serve these in a bowl,
along with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or a good heaping dollop
of whip cream!  I think ginger would be a wonderful complementary
addition if added to the whip cream or the vanilla ice cream!

As Always, 

ENJOY!

Recipe Source: Huckleberry by Zoe Nathan

CRUST

1 cup, plus 2 Tbsp. butter, room temp.

1/3 cup sugar

1/2 tsp. kosher salt

1 1/3 cups flour

3/4 cup whole wheat flour

2/3 cup cornstarch

CRUMBLE

1 cup plus 2 Tbsp. rolled oats

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

6 Tbsp. butter, room temp.

5 Tbsp. brown sugar

1 Tbsp. honey

1/2 tsp. kosher salt

FILLING

5 cups black berries and blueberries

1 Tbsp. cornstarch

1/2 cup plus 2 Tbsp. sugar

1 Tbsp. water

1/4 tsp. Kosher salt

Grease 8x8 baking pan or line with parchment paper.  Cream butter, sugar and salt, then add flours and cornstarch. Just until combined.  Press dough into bottom of pan. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake crust until golden, about 35 minutes. 

Meanwhile, make crumble. Combine oats, flour, sugar, butter, honey and salt.  Blend with fingertips.

Toss filling together a few minutes before crust is done. 

Remove crust from oven and immediately top with filling and then sprinkle on crumble. Return to oven and bake for 1 hour until crumble is deeply browned. 

While it is hot, carefully slice while it is still in the pan into 16 pieces.  Then allow to cool completely in the pan.  Once cooled, the pieces can be easily removed. If using parchment paper, it can be lifted out and the pieces separated.