Missing My Mazurkas
Friday, July 27, 2012 at 2:02AM | Taneasha 
Back when I lived in Utah, there was a bakery called Great Harvest. Well, not only did they have fabulous bread, they had one called savory loaf that had artichokes, sundried tomatoes, parmesan… sorry, I digress. In addition to those fabulous breads, they also had delicious baked treats. My favorite was something they called mazurka bars. Basically, it’s a buttery, chewy, oatmeal cookie bar topped with sweet, juicy berries. Anyway, I doubt they’ll actually give up the details of their recipe, so I did some playing and came up with my own.
Here’s what you’ll need:
- ½ cup butter
- ½ cup sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- ½ cup flour
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup oats
- 1 cup raspberries
- 1 cup blueberries
As always with cookies, make sure all your ingredients are at room temperature. If you’ve forgotten to pull something out ahead of time, here’s a tip to get you baking right away anyway. Before you get started, go ahead and turn your oven to 350°. Put your softened butter into a mixing bowl along with the sugar.
Cream those together until they’re nice and light and fluffy.
Add the egg and vanilla.
Mix until the egg is thoroughly incorporated, scraping down the sides at least once.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients. A lot of times I don’t bother doing that with cookies, but because there is such a small amount of flour in this, it’s necessary.
Add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture.
Mix just until combined and stir in the oats. The dough will be very soft and somewhat sticky. That’s just how you want it.
Glop the dough into an 8x8 pan. Don’t worry about greasing or parchment or anything.
Spread it around until it’s all the way in the corners and level on top.
Now here comes the fun part. Sprinkle all those beautiful berries on top. Yay colors!
I know you’re thinking that is way too many berries, but trust me, it’s not. Bake at 350° for about 40 minutes. You want the bars to be dry on top and a beautiful golden brown. I’m telling you, magic happens in the oven.
Now comes the hard part. Cool them completely before cutting. If you don’t, they’ll just fall apart. With the sweet and tart of the berries, the buttery, chewy base and just a hint of cinnamon, these are to die for. They’re even worth turning on the oven in the summer.
What special treat does your local bakery make that you just can’t pass up?
Colors!, berries, golden perfection, it's magic! in Taneasha, baked goods, dessert, snack 
Reader Comments (7)
Chocolate croissants. Dark bittersweet chocolate inside layers of flaky croissant pastry that you can peel away ...
Mine also does a savoury bread pudding with zucchini, artichokes and cheese.
Those look fantastic. I'm a fan of all kinds of bakery treats. I'll be hauling some brownies when I come visiting next week :)
Okay, Taneasha, you've got me, I'll turn on the oven for these. :)
@Elise - Thanks for the brownies. They were fabulous!
@Ansha - I know how much you love stuff with berries and I promise you'll be glad you did!
Interesting. I might try them.
what sort of flour - in Australia - either plain flour or self raising flour ?
@Elizabeth regular, or you could use self-rising and just omit the baking soda and powder.