Nectarine Cardamom Crumble Bars

Welcome back to QCK!

First, I said I was going to use this page as a place to share my stories and experiences, so I’m going to. This week has been long and tiring. I’ve fallen behind on this blog for sure. I’m still trying to find balance between running things here, getting to protests, volunteering, sharing, reading, watching, listening, etc. I realize there are people who have spent everyday for the past x number of years doing this, but to be honest, this is my first real introduction to hard activism. I’ve always had it in me, I’ve always had extremely strong feelings towards social injustices, but never a place to safely express them.

I grew up in a predominantly white town where I never really fit in. I spent a lot of time being told I was “too white to be black and too black to be white”, whatever that means. My race was constantly being defined for me, so much infact that this week when someone asked me, “What do you identify as, Black or POC?” I didn’t know what to say. I guess I’m still figuring it out. But because of that attitude, I never really knew how to appropriately speak up on police brutality and social injsutices. I knew how I felt about them, but on the occasions that I did share, I was met with, “You’re not even Black, just stop”. The goal was to shut me up, becuase it made the people around me uncomfortable, and it worked.

This week forced me to deal with all the highschool experiences I had shoved down for years. It forced me to realize that a lot of my “friends” and family were actually really racist. It forced me to own up to the fact that I allowed them to get away with those things and made excuses for them, even though it left me feeling like sh*t. It forced me to deal with the identity crisis that I thought I had left in my hometown.

The point of me saying all of this, is that with the revolution being right outside the window of my tiny apartment, I have finally found a space where I fit. Where I can share my experiences. Where I can tell the girls who told me I would look “too black” if I braided my hair for a soccer game and the other girls who would sing the song Black Widow every time I walked past them, and all the “All Lives Matter” “Blue Lives Matter” people that I know, that they’re not only ignorant, but they’re racist. And while all of this experience is painful and requires growth and education on my part as well as everyone else’s, I know that I will come out stronger, and more confident because I’m going to deal with these things, and then let them go.

If you’re wondering why I thought it was appropriate to spill all of that into a a post about Nectarine Crumble Bars, it’s because these things are a form of therapy on their own. For anyone who likes to bake, you know it’s a form of therapy. To my fellow rage bakers, hello! And for those of us who stress eat, these bars are everything.

Anyways, these are pretty much the perfect Sunday bake. Nectarines are just coming into their peak season and they are so good, sweet, juicy and a little acidic. The crumble itself isn’t too super sweet, but it has a lot of warm flavors like brown sugar, cinnamon and cardamom to balance out the summery nectarines. I love these for a summertime bake because they’re not super rich or heavy. These are best served warm with a big scoop of honey & brown sugar whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

Substitutions and Add Ons

• Nectarines can be substituted for peaches, apricots, plums or cherries. Really any stone fruit.
• Cardamom can be substituted for nutmeg.
• Lemon Juice can be substituted for orange juice.

Recipe

Prep: 20 Min

Bake: 1 Hr

Difficulty: Easy

Yield: 9×13 Pan (12 bars)

Ingredients

• 3 C All Purpose Flour
• 1/2 C Brown Sugar
• 1/2 C Granulated Sugar
• 1 tsp Baking Powder
• 1 tsp Cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp Cardamom
• 1/4 tsp Kosher Salt
• 1 C (2 sticks) Cold Unsalted Butter, cut into smaller cubes
• 1 Large Egg, beaten
• 5 Nectarines, peeled and thinly sliced
• 1/2 C Brown Sugar
• 1/2 tsp Cardamom
• 1/4 tsp Cinnamon
• 3 Tbsp Corn Starch
• 1 tsp Fresh Lemon Juice
• 1 tsp Vanilla Extract

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350°F and grease a 9×13 baking dish.
2. In either a food processor or large bowl using a pastry cutter or your hands, combine flour, sugar, brown sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, cardamom, salt and butter until a crumbly dough forms.
3. Add the beaten egg to the dough and mix well until a moist, but still slightly crumbly dough forms.
4. Press half the dough into the bottom of your 9×13 pan, place in the oven and bake for 15 minutes.
5. Set the other half of the dough aside for later.
6. In the meantime, combine sliced nectarines, brown sugar, cardamom, cinnamon, cornstartch, lemon juice and vanilla in a medium bowl, gently stir.
7. Let the mixture sit until the crust comes out of the oven.
8. Using a slotted spoon, place an even layer of nectarines on top of the baked crust. Make sure to strain off as much liquid as possible.
9. Crumle the remainder of the dough on top of the nectarines in an even layer.
10. Place the pan back in the oven for 40-45 minutes, or until the crubmle is golden brown on top.
11. Cool at least 10 minutes before serving.

As always, I hope you enjoyed this recipe! If you tried it out let me know in the comments. For more recipes check out my homepage and follow along on Instagram. Don’t forget to like, follow, comment and share. Thanks for reading! 

Advertisement