{Recipe} ~ Peach Crumble Bars & Blueberry Sangria Lemonade

You didn't think I spent all that time at the beach and didn't try out a few new recipes, did you? 4th of July was my day in the kitchen, as I wanted to make a dessert and drink to go along with our feast of stuffed hamburgers, broccoli cranberry slaw, and blue cheese potato salad (all purchased from The Fresh Market).

I had made the Sangria before, even though "sangria" probably isn't really the proper term for it. But it's refreshing and festive with the frozen blueberries floating in your glass!

The peach bars were pretty easy to make but I had my mom's help with these. She chopped up the peaches while I mixed up the other ingredients. They did fall apart a little when cutting them but that was to be expected. They're best served warm with a side of peach ice cream!

Peach Crumble Bars
from Sweet Pea's Kitchen

For the Crumble:

1. 3 cups all-purpose flour
2. 1 cup granulated sugar
3. 1 teaspoon baking powder
4. 1/4 teaspoon salt
5. 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
6. 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cold
7. 1 egg, lightly beaten

For the Peach Filling:

1. 5 cups diced peaches (about 7 peaches, peeled)
2. 2 tablespoons lemon juice
3. ½ cup all-purpose flour
4. 1 cup granulated sugar
5. ¼ teaspoon salt
6. ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
7. ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Butter the bottom and sides of a 9-by-13-inch glass or light-colored metal baking pan. Put a long piece of parchment paper in the bottom of the pan, letting the parchment extend up the two short sides of the pan and overhang slightly on both ends. (This will make it easy to remove the bars from the pan after they have baked.) Butter the parchment.
2. For the Crumble: In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment combine flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and cinnamon on low speed. Add the butter, toss with a fork to coat with the flour mixture. Add egg and mix on medium-low speed until the texture resembles coarse cornmeal, with the butter pieces no larger than small peas. Pat half of dough into the prepared pan. Place reserved half aside. Place the pan and the remainder of the dough in the refrigerator while you prepare the filling.
3. For the Peach Filling: In medium bowl, gently toss diced peaches and lemon juice together; set aside.
4. In a separate small bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. Pour over the peaches and mix gently.
5. Spread the peach mixture evenly over the crust. Crumble the remaining dough over the peach layer.
6. Bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes, or until top is slightly brown. Cool completely on wire rack then transfer to the refrigerator to chill before cutting into squares. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

Yields: 24 bars

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Blueberry Sangria Lemonade

adapted from Food Network

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups frozen blueberries
• 1 (12-ounce) can frozen concentrated pink lemonade (I used Raspberry Lemonade as I couldn't find the pink lemonade concentrate in the grocery store)
• 1 bottle Riesling
• 3 cups lemon lime soda (recommended: Sprite)
• 
  

Directions

In a large pitcher, combine all ingredients and stir. Refrigerate for 1 hour to meld flavors.

Serve chilled in iced tea glasses.