I have to share the story behind these dessert bars with you- if for no other reason to give you a little insider view into my daily shit show- (I’m clumsy, spacey and super ADHD. If something can go wrong, it usually does!)
My chef friend Megan (of @hautelifeIndy) invited Aaron and I over for a pool-side cook out on Sunday, and I asked her what I could bring to contribute. She suggested a dessert, and because my lazy ass didn’t feel like going to the store, I raided the pantry and fridge for ingredients to see what we had on hand to make a dessert with, and decided on some type of blueberry bars.
After looking through literally 10 recipes-(all conflicting on whether the butter should be room temperature or cold) I decided to try one with room temp butter. (This is a combination of many of the recipes I looked through, so I guess you could say it’s an original?) So I set the butter on the porch so it would warm faster, and only meant to leave it out for a few minutes. Welp- wouldn’t you know I fell asleep and when I went back out, all three sticks of butter were completely melted all over my patio furniture. Needless to say I was pissed and didn’t even want to try again.
Instead, I took a breather and tried again Monday night. This time I used chilled butter that had only set out for 20 minutes and this seemed to do the trick!
And here’s the recipe y’all, I hope you enjoy them as much as I did- I had three before I even took them out of the dish!
Having never made any type of short bread before- I was curious as to what “shortbread crumbs” were supposed to look like. Like- How long to you cut mixture for? How small are the “crumbs” supposed to be?
So here is what I came up with, and compared to what I researched, (brushing my shoulders off) this looks pretty damn good. When you smush the crumbs together, it forms a sort of “dough”. It took a while to get the crumbs to this point, but just be patient with yourself- it’ll get there! If you’ve never used a pastry cutter, youtube it and check it out! (You can substitute two knives if you don’t own one.)
What’s your favorite summer time dessert? I’d love to hear in the comments below!
