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!
As an amazon associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
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.
Yay, I’m so happy to read that you had such a lovely time with your family. It feels so nice to unplug sometime ;–)
Now, these bars look like the most gorgeous thing ever. So so so so pretty! And chocolate + yogurt + berries?? Those are true favorites of mine, so I’m sure I’d be crazy about these bars. Oh, and what I like even better is the fact that they’re foolproof… I tend to overbake stuff so easily it’s not even funny!
Happy New Year, Allie! I can’t wait to follow along in 2014!! x
Yay! I’m so happy you like the recipe, Consuelo! I do hope you get a chance to try them out sometime. Happy New Year to you too! Hope 2014 is off to a great start for you 😀
wow. they look truly beautiful!
Thank you so much Tabitha! The berries did all the work, lol! They’re just so naturally pretty. 🙂
Love all the freshness in color and flavor happening in these bars! Happy New Year, lots of good luck and cheer to you and your family!
Thank you so much, Pamela! Thanks for reading, and for the sweet comment. And happy new year to you as well! 😀 😀 😀
Yum yum yum!!! Berries and chocolat are amazing together! You created a wonderful dish here Allie, it looks stunning and finger-licking-delicious!! Have a wonderful New Year’s Eve dear and I wish you and your family an amazing 2014!!
xox Amy
Thanks, Amy! I’m so happy you liked, and you too! 😀
This looks amazing Allie! I am a sucker for desserts with berries and dark chocolate. It’s o pretty and totally looks like it could be served as the dessert course from a romantic restaurant – looks perfect and doesn’t look like it cooked for an extra 30 minutes 🙂 So happy to hear that you “unplugged” for the holidays too and enjoyed your cozy holiday family time. Wishing you and your family a wonderful 2014 and Happy New Year Allie! xo
Thanks, Kelly- you too! Wishing you and your family all the best for 2014! <3 <3 <3
I’m all over this one! My mouth is watering. Everything about it speaks to me. And if I can over-bake it and still have it turn out that good-looking (and I’m sure tasting), I can’t make it soon enough.
I couldn’t believe it still turned out, with all that extra time in the oven! It must have been from the moisture in the yogurt and all the juicy berries… but talk about a foolproof recipe, right? So happy you enjoyed, Christine! Thanks for the sweet comment 😉
This dessert looks delicious – I love seeing all those fresh berries in December! I can’t believe you cooked this for 30 minutes too long and it still looks perfect! What a great recipe! Your Christmas sounds so fun and cozy 🙂
Fun and cozy and a little bit crazy, lol! I thought I was getting back to normal until the hubs informed we we’ll be having overnight guests this weekend, lol! So the party continues… Thanks so much for your sweet comment, Cate, and ya, can you believe how forgiving this recipe is? I think it’s a keeper!
Yum! These look so decadent and delicious! Your pictures are absolutely stunning!
Thank you Rachel! I had some really nice light by the window on the day I shot these. Wish I got so lucky every day, lol! Thanks for joining us this month. I hope you had fun with Mystery Dish!
How gorgeous is this?!
You are too kind! But that means a lot coming from you- your food always looks like a work of art! 😀
This is a beautiful desert! I appreciate recipies with a strong chocolate flavor!
Me too, Laura! I don’t want to waste calories on a wimpy chocolate dessert, lol! Thanks so much for reading and for the sweet compliment 🙂
Omg I can’t believe you left these in the oven! Lol that is crazy. I’m glad it worked out well in the end! They are gorgeous!
Thank goodness! I was afraid my house would burn down, lol! But not only was my house ok, the bars were pretty good too! Thanks so much, Mimi!
So so beautiful! I love the sugar dusted berries topping!
Thanks Anna! Powdered sugar makes everything pretty 🙂
These are so romantic and will be perfect for Valentine’s day dinner at home. And oh my!!! I had no idea this what you left in the oven that day :0. So sorry I was distracting you. But I am glad we learned it is a foolproof recipe!! And I’m so glad you had a great relaxing Christmas break with the family. It’s so hard to get back into the swing. Wish I had this bar with my tea this morning.
Oh, don’t feel bad it was totally my fault! I was just being spacey… and luckily it all worked out! Thanks for reading and for the sweet comment, Zainab!
Oh my goodness girl! They look absolutely stunning. Beautiful! Love at first sight. 🙂
Thank you so much, Melanie! You are so sweet 🙂
When you shared these photos, I couldn’t stop staring at them. It looks beautiful! I unplugged too over Christmas week, no blog posts during the crazy. Although I admit my kids have not, and are playing with their new electronics a bit excessively.
Thank you, Sherri! I lucked out with some nice light on the day I shot these. Love when that happens! It sure feels good to unplug, and I bet it’s nice to see your kiddos enjoying their gifts. Happy New Year, and thanks for hosting!
These look phenomenal Allie! And kinda romantic. I’m thinking Valentine’s dessert after a candlelit dinner with the hubster? Although, in our house it would probably just be awkward, trying to feed each other and end up shoving it up a nose instead of delicately into a mouth…
Maybe I should just eat these alone in a corner where no one can take them from me instead. Yeah…that sounds like a much better idea! In fact, you could probably feed these to your kids to keep them occupied for about 20 minutes while you catch up on work. How to handle the sugar rush afterwards, I have no idea. But you’d have 20 minutes!
Ha ha if only they did anything for 20 minutes! Little kids = zero attention span. If they could do anything for more than 5 I’d think I’d died and gone to heaven! But thanks for the sweet compliments 🙂 They’re definitely perfect for a romantic dinner!