Berry Graham Cracker Bars with Sucanat
One of the first things my husband and I did when we moved to our current home and started to create our homestead was to plant all different types of berries. We harvested quite a few last year and this year has already been so abundant so far with lots of delicious raspberries, strawberries. and blueberries (blackberries are on their way!). This recipe is a way of highlighting these delicious berries.
My berry bar recipe is different from others you might see for a few different reasons. For starters, I used Sucanat in this recipe, instead of white or brown sugar. In addition, I did not add any extra sugar to the berries as many recipes would have you do. I made this choice because (1) berries are naturally sweet already and (2) adding more sugar would mask the natural tartness of the berries and I enjoy the small added bit of tart instead of an overly sweet taste. I also used homemade graham crackers made with Sucanat and honey - I’ll be posting this recipe shortly! - and my goodness, these graham crackers are the best I have ever had and really add nice flavor to the bars. I hope you’ll give these bars a try!
Yield: 16 bars
Ingredients
60 g graham crackers
180 g whole wheat flour
85 g Sucanat, grind in coffee/spice grinder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, sliced into small cubes
1 egg
14 oz berries (I used a mix of raspberries and strawberries)
Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 F. Grease a 9x9 inch baking pan.
Grind the graham crackers into a fine crumb using a food processor. Add the flour, Sucanat, baking soda, and salt and pulse a few times until combined. Add the butter and run the food processor for about a minute or until the dough starts to come together. Add the egg and pulse several times until the egg is fully incorporated and the dough has a wet sand-like appearance. Reserve 1 cup of this mixture for the topping. Press the rest of the dough evenly into the baking pan. Bake for about 10 minutes, until the edges are a little bit browned and the dough looks puffy. Let cool to room temperature on a baking rack.
Once the crust has cooled down, add the berries on top and then crumble the reserved crust mixture over the berries.
Bake for 45-55 minutes, until the berries are soft and the crumble is nicely browned.
