Cherry Crumble Bars
- Prep Time: 20 mins
- Cook Time: 60 mins
- Total Time: 1 hour 20 minutes
- Yield: 8-10
- Category: Baking
Description
A teatime delight; short, buttery pastry hugs a sweet cherry filling. All you need to accompany these is a pot of tea and some good gossip.
Ingredients
Cherry Jam
500 g fresh ZZ2 Sweet Cherries, pitted
40 g sugar
2 Tbsp (30 ml) water
juice of ½ a lemon
1 Tbsp (15 ml) cornflour + 1 Tbsp (15 ml) water, mixed together
Crumble
250 g cake flour
120 g rolled oats
200 g brown sugar
1 tsp (5 ml) cinnamon
½ tsp (2,5 ml) salt
1 large egg, whisked with a fork
1 tsp (5 ml) vanilla essence
160 g butter, melted
Instructions
Cherry Jam
Add all of the ingredients for the jam into a medium-sized pot and mix to combine. Set it over medium heat; bring to a boil, then turn the heat down to simmer. Cook until the cherries soften and most of the liquid has cooked out. Mash with a potato masher, then add the cornflour and water mixture. Stir to combine then simmer for another minute to thicken. Remove from the heat and let the jam cool.
Crumble
Preheat the oven to 180 ºC and line a 30×23 cm baking tin with baking paper.
Add the flour, oats, sugar, cinnamon and salt to a large bowl and mix to combine. Mix in the egg and vanilla, followed by the melted butter. Mix until no dry flour remains.
Tip three quarters of the crumble into the prepared baking tin. Use your fingers to press the mixture down evenly to form a base. Spread the cooled jam in an even layer, then sprinkle the remaining quarter of crumble mixture loosely on top.
Bake in the oven for 30-40 minutes or until the top is lightly golden. Let it cool completely before lifting it out of the pan by using the baking paper and slicing into neat, even bars. Serve and enjoy.
