Peach Crumb Bars

These bars are delicious and are a cinch to throw together! Peeling and cutting the peaches is a bit time consuming, but it's not that bad. The recipe came from Annie's Eats (adapted from Smitten Kitchen), and she mentions that she's made these with raspberries and blueberries as well. Yum! So go get some peaches before the last ones are gone for the season, and whip up some of these crumb bars!

Ingredients: 1½ cups sugar, divided 1 tsp. baking powder 3 cups all-purpose flour ¼ tsp. salt Zest of half a lemon 16 tbsp. cold, unsalted butter cut into small pieces 1 large egg 5 cups peeled, chopped peaches (about 5 peaches) 5 tsp. cornstarch Juice of 1 lemon Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg Directions: Preheat the oven to 375° F. Grease a 9 x 13″ pan; set aside. In a medium bowl, combine 1 cup of the sugar, the baking powder and flour. Mix in the salt and the lemon zest, and stir together with a fork. Cut in the butter and egg with a pastry blender until the largest chunks are about pea-sized. The mixture should be crumbly without much loose flour. Spread about half of the dough mixture in an even layer over the bottom of the prepared pan and press down firmly to form the bottom crust. In another bowl, stir together the remaining sugar, cornstarch, lemon juice and nutmeg. Gently mix in the peaches with a rubber spatula until combined. Sprinkle the fruit mixture evenly over the crust. If your fruit has given off a lot of liquid, use a slotted spoon to transfer it to the dish to keep the crust from becoming soggy. Crumble the remaining dough over the top of the peaches. Bake for about 45 minutes or until the top is slightly golden brown. Cool completely before cutting into squares and serving.