4 hours ago
17
September is always a wistful time for me. Summer has all but slipped away, the days are noticeably shorter and the children are heading back to school. But there is comfort, too, in settling back into familiar routines. These bars, with their buttery oat crust, soft fruit filling and crisp, golden topping, are just the sort of thing to have waiting for whenever everyone drifts home. I like to use a mixture of apples – some that soften and collapse into the filling, others that hold their shape – to give the bars a little more texture and interest.
Brown butter apple and blackberry bars
These will keep for up to three days in an airtight container, and also freeze well, wrapped individually for convenience.
Prep 10 min
Cook 1 hr 20 min
Makes 12 bars
For the crumb base and topping
250g unsalted butter, plus extra for greasing
1 tsp anise seeds (optional)
220g plain flour
95g rolled oats
80g oat flour, or blitz rolled oats until finely ground
150g light brown sugar
½ tsp fine sea salt
For the fruit filling
750g apples (5-6 medium apples), peeled, cored and cut into 1cm dice (about 600g net weight)
80g caster sugar
Finely grated zest of 1 unwaxed lemon
3 tbsp lemon juice
Seeds from ½ vanilla bean pod, or ½ tsp vanilla bean paste
1 bay leaf
1 cinnamon stick
1 pinch fine sea salt
1½ tbsp cornflour
300g blackberries
Grease and line a 20cm x 30cm baking tin with greaseproof paper, leaving enough overhang to help lift out the bars later. Put the butter in a medium saucepan on a medium heat and cook, swirling the pan occasionally, for about five minutes, until it smells nutty and the milk solids turn a deep golden brown. Take off the heat, stir in the anise seeds, if using, then leave to cool for five minutes.
Heat the oven to 200C (180C fan)/390F/gas 6. Meanwhile, mix the plain flour, rolled oats, oat flour, brown sugar and salt in a large bowl. Pour over the browned butter, including all the toasted milk solids, and mix until evenly moistened. The mixture should resemble damp sand and hold together when squeezed.
Reserve about 350g of the crumb mix for the topping, then tip the rest into the lined tin, pressing firmly into an even layer ; use the base of a measuring cup or back of a spoon. This will help the bars hold together neatly when slicing. Bake for 18 minutes, until lightly golden around the edges.
While the base is in the oven, make the filling. Putu the diced apples, sugar, lemon zest and juice, vanilla, bay, cinnamon and salt in a large, deep frying pan on medium-high heat and cook, stirring occasionally, for five minutes, until the apples have softened slightly but still hold their shape.
Mix the cornflour with a tablespoon of water to make a smooth slurry, then stir into the apples. Cook for 30 seconds, until the juices thicken, then gently fold in the blackberries, just long enough for some to soften and colour the apples, while leaving plenty still whole. Discard the bay leaf and cinnamon stick.
Spread the fruit evenly over the baked base, then squeeze handfuls of the reserved crumb into irregular clusters and scatter over the fruit. A few gaps are nice so the fruit can peek through. Bake for 40-45 minutes, until the topping is deeply golden and the fruit juices are bubbling around the edges. Leave to cool completely in the tin before slicing into bars.
