Berry Chocolate Streusel Bars
Dense and fudgy chocolate crust is topped with a tangy yogurt custard, studded with juicy berries and sprinkled with a deep, dark, chocolate streusel topping. Garnish with fresh berries for a gorgeous dessert.
Mystery Dish! Mystery Dish!
It’s time for another installment of Mystery Dish! Yay!
But before I get into all of that I just want to give you a heads up that this one’s going to be short and sweet. It’s been cah-razay around the Baking a Moment household these last several days (in a good way!). Christmas was a huge success and we enjoyed lots of time with family, both immediate and extended. Lots of cozy time in our cozy living room with lots of mugs of peppermint mocha, lol! Good times and houseguests always = lots of cooking, cleaning, and dishes, so there’s that too (but I’m happy to do it). And finally, you may have noticed I made the decision to “unplug” for the holiday week (omg, no offense but it was pure luxury!!!), so of course I’m now miserably behind on all the back-end bloggy stuff, such as tweeting, facebooking, plussing, answering my comments, and reading/commenting on other blogs. So, it’s time to get cracking! Now, if someone just has a suggestion on what to occupy my winter-breaking kids with while I get on top of all this…?
- Dark Chocolate
- Greek Yogurt
- Berries
- Coconut Oil
- Walnuts
- Fish
- Baby Spinach
- Pecorino
I chose to use chocolate (or rather, cocoa), yogurt, and berries, but I was thinking I could probably have also used walnuts and even coconut oil too. Honestly, I’m not a big fan of coconut personally, but if you are then definitely think about substituting the butter for cold coconut oil! I’m sure it would work beautifully…
The crust is a suuuuuper dark chocolatey crumble/streusel. I borrowed the idea from Rikki Snyder’s blog, decreasing the sugar and increasing the cocoa, because if you read this blog regularly you know I like my chocolate treats to be super intense. If I’m gonna eat chocolate I want it to taste seriously chocolatey! I find that spending a few extra shekels on high quality cocoa powder makes a huge difference in flavor. I can find Ghirardelli products easily in my regular supermarket, so that is my go-to cocoa of choice. Not a sponsored post- I just genuinely love the product!
I also took inspiration from this recipe I posted back in the early spring, when strawberries and rhubarb are at the peak of their season. Look at my old photos! I thought I was doing pretty well back then, but boy- I think my skills have come a long way!
Most of the mixture gets layered in the bottom of a square baking pan and par-baked. Then, a sweet and tangy yogurt custard gets mixed up and berries get folded in. I chose to use frozen berries in the filling because: a) fresh berries are pretty spendy this time of year, at least in my neck of the woods, and b) they hold up nicely in the oven without completely going to mush.
The rest of the streusel gets sprinkled all over the top, and back into the oven it goes!
Can I tell you a secret? This is really bad and I’m totally embarrassed and a little freaked out at myself. I put these in the oven and then got to chatting with a friend… before I knew it, it was time to pick up my little guy at preschool and I ran out the door, totally forgetting I had left these in a 350 degree oven! Gah! Good thing my son’s school is only 10 minutes away, but still. Ten minutes, each way, plus waiting in the car line and getting him buckled into his carseat… My berry chocolate streusel Bars spent close to 30 minutes longer in the oven than they should have. But guess what? They still taste pretty great, and not the least bit dry! So, I’m guessing these are pretty tough to mess up. Gotta love a foolproof recipe!
Garnishing with fresh berries is definitely the gorgeous way to go… and a little powdered sugar never hurt anyone…
Ok so maybe that wasn’t so short and sweet after all! I just couldn’t help myself. It’s been a long time since I’ve talked at ya, I’ve missed you guys!
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Berry Chocolate Streusel Bars
Ingredients
For the Streusel
- 1 3/4 cups (218.75 g) all-purpose flour
- 1 cup (120 g) powdered sugar
- 3/4 cup (64.5 g) unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 cup (227 g) unsalted butter, (2 sticks), cold and cut into small cubes
For the Custard
- 2 eggs, (large)
- 3/4 cup (150 g) granulated sugar
- 6 ounces (170.1 g) plain Greek yogurt, (I used fat free)
- 6 tablespoons (88.72 g) all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon orange juice
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 cups (310 g) frozen mixed berries
- fresh berries, such as strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, and blueberries
- powdered sugar
Instructions
Make the Streusel:
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- Place the flour, sugar, cocoa, and salt in a large bowl and stir to combine.
- Cut in the butter until crumbly. Mixture should resemble oatmeal, with butter pieces no larger than the size of a pea.
- Press ¾ of the mixture into the bottom of a lightly greased 8x8 inch or 9x9 inch square baking pan.
- Bake for 15 minutes.
Make the Custard:
- Whisk the eggs, sugar, yogurt, flour, orange juice, vanilla, and salt together in a large mixing bowl.
- Fold in the frozen berries, and pour the mixture over the par-baked crust.
- Top with the remaining streusel, and bake for one hour.
- Cool completely, cut into bars, top with fresh berries, and sprinkle with powdered sugar.
The berries and chocolate are so good together!
All your recipes look amaze balls
Love the berry packed goodness here!
How beautiful! thanks for sharing
Wow, such a pretty dessert!
LOVE berries and chocolate! These sound divine!
Can’t wait to try it!
What a beautifully presented and delicious looking bar with all those fresh berries. Just lovely! 😉
Thank you Cristina! Berries are just so beautiful- I wanted to let them shine. I’m so glad you enjoyed! Thanks for the great feedback 😉
Wow…those bars are absolutely gorgeous Allie, and your photos are amazing!! Thank you so much for sharing them with us at Best of the Weekend. 🙂
Thanks, Lisa, and thank you for hosting the party! Hope you have a great week <3
oh, wow, those look delicious. I printed your post and plan to give these a try, thank you!
I enjoyed browsing your blog, take a look at my blog if you get a chance,
Michael 🙂
Hey thanks, Michael! Thanks for stopping by and I hope you enjoy the bars! 😀
Hi Allie, this is my first time stopping into your blog and I’m enjoying looking through this recipe! I agree with your first follower that these would be lovely for a date night or valentines. And to help keep your kiddos occupied, ask them to write down their favorite ingredients for desserts and maybe it’ll spark a new idea for you 🙂
That is a great idea, Lindsey! I am in need of inspiration lately, so that would kill two birds with one stone, lol! Thank you so much for stopping by and saying hello. I hope to see you here again soon! 😀
These are gorgeous and look so so delicious! I have to try! That is hilarious you left these oven for 30 minutes longer and they still turned out ok! Talk about fool proof for real! Gorgeous pics too! Hope you had a very happy new year!
So far, so good, Liz! Kids go back to school today and I think we are all ready 😉 Thanks for the sweet comment, dear, and hope your year is off to a fabulous start!
I am in love with these, they look gorgeous and would be perfect at a shower! You know I love everything you make and can’t wait to see what next month holds!
Hehe, thanks Kat! They would be great for a shower, I hadn’t even thought of that idea! Thanks for the sweet comment, and Happy New Year to you and your beautiful family! <3
Oh, wow! I’m so glad that these not only held up in your oven but also had the good sense not to set your house on fire! They look absolutely delicious, especially now that I know you and I share a love of seriously chocolatey chocolate flavor. The good stuff is totally worth saving my shekels, er pennies, for 🙂
Happy new year, Allie. I hope you had a wonderful, and at least somewhat restful, week!
I did, Nora! It felt so good to unplug and just get caught up with friends and family. Thank you so much for reading and for the great feedback! If you like chocolatey chocolate this recipe is totally for you 😉