Blackberry Oatmeal Bars

Where I live in the Northwest, there are a lot of blackberry bushes, and we can pick them to our heart's content. Tonight (and, truth be told, last night, too) we made a yummy dessert with blackberries. I got the recipe out of my Better Homes & Gardens cookbook. It's called "Fruit-Filled Oatmeal Bars" and you can select any fruit filling to put in it. I made up a blackberry filling for it. The first night it wasn't sweet enough, tonight it was too sweet. I guess we'll have to try it again. Darn.

Here's the cookie part of it:

1 cup flour
1 cup quick oats
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 cup butter

Combine dry ingredients. Cut in butter. Set aside 1/2 cup crumbs. Press the rest of the crumbs into an ungreased 9x9 pan. Spread with fruit of choice (blackberry recipe below). Top with reserved 1/2 cup crumbs. Bake for 30 minutes at 350.

Blackberry filling:

The first night I used about 2 cups blackberries, and crushed them with 1/2 cup brown sugar, a dash of cinnamon and 2 Tb. flour.

Tonight, we were making blackberry jam, so we just used some of the jam for the filling. I thought it was too sweet, but I liked the overall taste and consistency better. I think it's because I cooked it, and it had pectin in it to set it up better. I also pushed about half of the berries through a sieve, so it wasn't quite so seedy.

Next time, I will use this recipe:

3 cups blackberries crushed and half pushed through sieve
1 1/4 cups sugar
3 Tb flour or corn starch

Stir together. Bring mixture to a boil, stirring constantly. Put in crust.

Serve with ice cream. Yum!