It’s that time of year, mid-summer, when blackberries are ripe for the pickin’! Just last week, I found blackberries the size of quail eggs at the local farm stand. When I went back this week, sadly they were gone. I guess all those berry pickers have scarfed up the ones, so recently come to market…To stop my wails, the very kind lady let me know the berries will make a return in three weeks! Yay oh yay!

In the meantime, she suggested homemade preserves to see me through the dry spell. That’s when I found a lovely jar of blackberry jam! I gathered up all the jam I could hold, and came home to my kitchen to create a snack treat for my nieces and nephews, coming for a visit.

The result was this lovely, crumbly, streusel-like bar with the richness of farm grown blackberries. And, yes, they were a hit!

If you’re in the North Carolina area, check out these local U-pick farms with berries galore!

Blackberry Jam Oat Bars

Yield about 16 (2-inch) bars

30 minute cuisine

2 ¼ cups unbleached all-purpose flour

2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats

1 cup unsalted butter, melted, 2 sticks

¾ cup granulated sugar

¾ cup brown sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon kosher salt

Zest from 1 lemon, about 2 tablespoons

2 cups Blackberry Jam

3 tablespoons cornstarch

Preheat the oven to 350°. Coat a square baking pan with vegetable oil spray.

Stir together flour, oats, melted butter, sugars, baking powder, salt and lemon zest in a bowl. The dough will be coarse and crumbly.

Stir together the jam and cornstarch in a bowl.

Press half of the dough into the bottom of the pan. Spread the jam/cornstarch mixture over the top. Crumble the remaining dough over the top of the jam. Bake until the top of the bars begin to turn golden brown and the jam is bubbling, about 35 to 40 minutes. Cool the bars in the pan. Cut into squares.