BLUEBERRY-BUTTERMILK PIE BARS
PG tested
In her cookbook, “Dorie’s Cookies,” Dorie Greenspan says that she came up with this recipe when she could not get the buttermilk pie she had at a Nashville restaurant out of her head. And ever since I tested these bars, I cannot get them out of my head either. The bars are best the day they are made.
For the crust
¾ cup all-purpose flour, divided
⅓ cup sugar ¼ cup cornmeal (not coarse) 2 tablespoons cornstarch ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt 8 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces
For the topping
1½ teaspoons cornstarch 1½ cups buttermilk, divided
4 large eggs, at room temperature ½ cup sugar Pinch of fine sea salt 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled 1 cup fresh blueberries For the crust, have an 8inch square baking pan at hand.
Put flour, sugar, cornmeal, cornstarch and salt in a food processor and pulse a few times to blend. Drop in the chunks of butter and work in long pulses until you have a moist dough that forms curds.
Turn dough out into the pan and press it evenly, using your fingertips.
Place pan in refrigerator while oven preheats to 350 degrees (dough needs a short chill before baking).
Bake crust for 23 to 25 minutes, until it’s golden brown. Transfer the pan to a rack and allow the crust to cool completely.
For the topping, spoon cornstarch into a small bowl and add ¼ cup of buttermilk. Stir until cornstarch dissolves to form a slurry.
Whisk eggs in a medium bowl until foamy.
Add sugar and immediately start whisking vigorously (you must beat sugar and eggs together quickly, or the sugar will “burn” the yolks and cause a film to form).
Whisk in salt and vanilla, then whisk in the slurry.
Stir in the remainder of the buttermilk, followed by the melted butter.
Scatter blueberries over the crust and then pour on the topping. The blueberries will shift, so try to even them out by poking them with your fingers or a spoon.
Bake bars for 42 to 45 minutes, until the topping is puffed all the way to the center, brown around the edges and firm everywhere.
Transfer pan to a rack and cool for 20 minutes. Carefully run a knife around the edges, place a piece of parchment paper over the pan and unmold the bar onto a rack. Remove the pan and invert the bar onto another rack to cool to room temperature; chill if you’d like.
Just before serving, slide the bar onto a cutting board and, using a long, thin knife, cut into 2-inch squares.
Makes 16 squares. — “Dorie’s Cookies” by Dorie Greenspan (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt; October 2016)