crumbs | Just About Baked

Apple Crumble Bars

September 10, 2014
Mir
Bars n' Brownies
10 Comments

Did you know that you can hire someone to help your kid stop sucking his thumb?

Until about a month ago, my son was a die-hard thumb sucker. He was just super attached to it. And when he didn’t have a thumb in his mouth, his shirt collar worked, too. I was getting tired of all the damp, stretched out shirt collars. Not to mention the thought of orthodontia bills down the road!

Our dentist connected us with a miracle worker I call The Thumb Lady, and now he’s habit-free! And since he’s not putting his thumb in his mouth, he now has space for other things. Like these amazing bars.

Nectarine Lime Crumble

Okay, have I mentioned that I have a thing for white nectarines? Well, I do. In the summer, I cannot go to a grocery store without buying at least six. And if I’m in a store two days in a row, well, that’s 12. I eat them plain, put them in salads, and bake them up in desserts.

But I have another obsession as well, and it’s kind of a year-round thing. Anything with lime, anytime, I’m there. I know it’s not fashionable to like lime in December, but hey, they sell limes all the time. I’m buying them. Simple as that!

Last week, I had an idea. What if I took my two favorite summer fruit flavors and combined them? Gross, or spectacular? I had to find out. Turns out, it paid off!

Cinnamon Pecan Crunch Bars

My middle daughter is quite a diva. At age four, she is already demanding in ways I never remember being.

I was doing her hair the other day and she asked for me to do it “just like Elsa’s.” I swear to all the powers above, Frozen is doing me in. My hair is turning gray from that movie alone and how addicted my kids are to it. Anyway, no matter what I did to her hair, she continued to insist that it didn’t look right. I mean, duh. She has shoulder-length dirty blonde curly hair. Elsa has waist-length platinum flowy masses of Pantene commercial hair.

But try explaining that to a preschooler. To say she threw a tantrum would be an understatement.

She’s also been planning her fourth birthday party with way too much intricate detail. Have I mentioned she has two themes? Hello Kitty and (duh again) Frozen. Luckily, when it comes to party prep, I actually bake enough to satisfy her. And these cinnamon crunch bars are all part of the pre-party baking binge!

Nectarine Crumb Pie

May 30, 2014
Mir
Pie Day
12 Comments

It's Fun Friday! Be sure to check out my link-up post to add your recipes! With the end of the week here, you'd think I would be thrilled. And I am. It's just that I have fifty thousand research papers…

Crumb Cake

April 11, 2014
Mir
Cakes, Dessert for Breakfast, Let Them Eat Cake
0 Comments

A few months back, I was Netflix bingeing episodes of Cake Boss when Buddy and his crew had yet another challenge. A woman came to the bakery from somewhere far away just to pick up her pre-ordered crumb cake, and (gasp!) it wasn’t there. In an exciting and conflict-ridden turn of events, Buddy’s sister sold it by accident.

So Buddy, ever the obliging baker, set about making another crumb cake as fast as he could, promising to be done within the hour. And I watched. Fascinated. Enthralled. I’d kind of forgotten, until that episode, how much I love crumb cake.

Strawberry Crumb Bars

Okay, people. I’m posting two recipes this week that involve a crumb topping, and how can I not? Crumb topping is one of the great joys of life. Any baker knows that when crumbs are involved, the ratio of crumbs to cake has to be disproportionate. As in, tons of crumbs. TONS. And just a bit of yummy cake.

Well, these aren’t cake. They’re bars. But really, who cares? It’s all about the crumbs, baby! And this simple recipe has crumbs upon crumbs to the point that they’re spilling out of the pan and straight into your mouth, where they melt as you sigh in ecstasy.