Blueberry Lemon Bars {Vegan}
Well, it’s officially summer here in Vancouver, though the weather seems to be a bit confused as to what season it is. However, July 15 is Blueberry Day, so hence today’s recipe.
To add to the long list of why 2020 sucks, our summer has been pretty cold and rainy so far. OH! And! Apparently it’s also a banner year for mosquitoes. So yeah. Good times.
What this situation calls for is baked goods, because, let’s face it, there’s no situation that cannot be improved by the application of cake.
Given that none of us can venture too far this summer, Michael and I are making plans to explore our “backyard,” by which I mean, our province. We recently headed out to Fort Langley last week to explore.
If you’ve never been to Fort Langley, it’s pretty awesome. It has such charm, and some really lovely places to browse. In addition to the historical Fort (which is only half open, sadly), the town itself has some pretty interesting things to see, including Blacksmith Bakery, which I highly recommend.
On our way home, we hit up a couple of berry farms, and came home with some locally-grown berry booty; strawberries, raspberries and blueberries.
Pie ensued. Also a lemon tart with garnished with glazed fresh berries.
But the blueberries… what to do with them?
Lemon and blueberries make good friends, so I decided to pair the two. This is a really simple recipe that I think turned out quite elegant and lovely.
Blueberry Lemon Shortbread Bars {Vegan}
Ingredients
Ingredients for the crust:
- 1 cup vegan butter
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 ¼ cups all purpose flour
- zest of one lemon
- ½ teaspoon salt
Ingredients for the filling:
- 1 ½ cups blueberries
- ¼ cup water
- Juice of 1 lemon
- ¼ cup sugar
- 1 tablespoon flour or cornstarch
Instructions
- In the bowl of your stand mixer, or using a hand-held mixer in a large bowl, cream together the vegan butter and the sugar. Mix well together until they are light and creamy. Add the vanilla and lemon zest and mix to combine. Add in the flour in three batches, mixing in between each until incorporated. Take a little more than half of the mixture and press it into a 8"x8" greased (or parchment-lined) square pan. Set aside while you make the filling.
- In a medium-sized pot, place the water, blueberries, half the lemon juice and sugar. Bring up to a boil and then turn down the heat and allow to simmer for about 5 minutes. Us a potato masher to squish up the blueberries a little. Place the flour or cornstarch in a small mason jar with the remaining lemon juice and shake well to combine. Add the slurry to your blueberry mixture, bring it back up to the boil and allow to cook down for an additional 5 minutes, until thickened.
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
- Pour the blueberry compote over the shortbread layer in your pan. Then break the remaining shortbread up into chunks with your hands and scatter it over the blueberry mixture. You want there to be peeks of blueberries through the crust. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 20-30 minutes, until the top is golden and the blueberries are bubbly. Cool and cut into squares to serve.