I love young people and I love baking, so when I get to put both of them together, I am in my element. Which is why I absolutely adored my time as a caterer for the mass of college film students I met when I lived in California. It was such a privilege to be on set and watch these amazing directors turn their visions into pieces of art for the television or movie screen. I stood in wonder of how they knew exactly what to do with each of the cameras, the actors, the sound equipment, and the lights. Every detail was calculated, and each student was responsible for conducting the set as professionally as possible according to the bylaws and regulations of the entertainment business. One particular statute decreed that the cast and crew had to be fed properly, and that was where I came in.
I catered their sets. I provided menus for the students to select from, along with flexible budgets for any size group and time period. Sometimes the shoot would last three days, sometimes it was longer. That meant different snacks and meals for each day, and different desserts to also accompany those meals. I enjoyed every moment of cooking, baking, and providing food for all the members of the crew and cast. It gave me great pleasure to watch them devour my meals and come back for more, and more. (Remember, these were college students whose usual main source of nourishment was either pizza or ramen noodles.) The most fun part was, of course, supplying something sweet for dessert.
The favorite dessert of all time had to be my EZ Blackberry Bars. The first time I tried out the recipe was for a small dinner party with just a couple of my son’s college friends coming over for the evening. The night was filled with laughing, and eating and just enjoying each other’s company. Then I served dessert. I sliced the Blackberry bars into nice sized squares, and everyone raved about it. We continued to sit around the kitchen table and talk and talk for the rest of the night. Then my phone rang. I stepped out of the room to take the phone call and was gone for about 15 minutes. When I came back, however, I noticed the whole pan of Blackberry bars had disappeared! In the course of a simple phone call, those college students had devoured a whole pan of dessert.Thus the EZ Blackberry Bars became the ultimate request for my catering business. Once the word spread, everyone had to have some. I was happy to oblige my clients, and they were happy to have something delicious to eat. These bars are a great dish for taking on the go, for a potluck dinner, or simply for an ordinary Thursday night snack.
(Just make sure to bake it in a 9x13 inch pan; if you have college students in your life, you’re going to need it! )
Ingredients:
1 box yellow cake mix
1 ½ cup quick cooking oats
2 tsp cinnamon
¾ cup melted butter or margarine
1 TBL water
12 oz blackberry jam or preserves
1 TBL water
Directions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Combine cake mix, oats and cinnamon. Stir in melted butter and water until mixture is crumbly. Place approx. 3 cups of mixture in 9 x 13 inch ungreased pan. Press firmly to make a nice crust.In a small bowl, combine jam and water. Stir well until jam is smooth. Spoon jam over crumb mixture. Spread evenly over crust base. Cover jam with remaining crumb mixture. Pat down firmly to cover the whole pan.
Bake for 25 minutes. Cool completely before cutting into bars.
Enjoy!
For more enjoyable and easy recipes, check out my cookbook:
Available here: With Love, From My Sister's Kitchen
