Blueberry Corn Frangipane Bars

I feel like every summer there’s a contest to see who can create the corniest most cornful corn-flavored corn dessert in all of existence. I’ll see a recipe posted that brags more about the six different forms of corn called for in the ingredients rather than the actual taste or background of the thing created. It’s comical how frenetic the corn craze has gotten but it’s a great example of how social media pushes everything to the nth degree. We should all relax.

Lately I’ve seen that we’re pushing big hunks of fresh corn straight from the cob directly into cookies now. And sometimes lightly charring it with a torch. While this move might do well in photographs and it certainly gets across the message of “Hey! There’s corn in here!”, there’s nothing I want less than to bite into a cookie and be met with a few sad rows of turgid cold corn kernels. 🥴

When adding corn to a pastry that’s meant to be crisp/crunchy/chewy rather than wet, I will always opt for cornmeal or in the case of this recipe - a mix of corn flour and freeze dried corn. Freeze dried corn is the shelf stable ingredient that tastes the most like corn. This is because it’s made from “sweet” corn. Whereas cornmeal is made from dried “dent” corn. A third type - “flint” corn is used for ornamental corn and popcorn.

Today’s recipe…

I have a love of frangipane. That more-ish mixture of almonds, butter, and sugar that’s usually found in twice baked croissants. Here, I'm swapped in some corn flour and freeze dried corn for a bit of the almond flour. I’ve also made it a bit less sweet. These bars are a little dense but in a pleasing way - think financier. The orange zest really helps to lift each bite and prevents the bars from being overly stodgy. The shortcrust makes a nice contrast in texture but also allows the bars to be sturdy enough to be sliced.

A few notes…

• Pre-mashing the blueberries and combining them with a little cornstarch helps to make a jammy layer of fruit that bakes into the frangipane. When I tested with 100% whole berries, they stayed intact and weren’t as evenly spread.

• Adding freshly ground coriander seeds to the blueberries is a trick I learned many years ago from the Flavor Bible by Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg. Similar to what nutmeg and clove do for bananas, the coriander makes blueberries taste more like themselves. I add a pinch to almost any recipe that calls for them.

• It’s important to bake these bars long enough to get a nicely golden brown bottom on the shortbread. The step of par-baking the crust will help get you started on the right foot. You want there to be a textural contrast between the shortcrust and the frangipane but you also need those notes of caramelization to offset the sweetness of the corn.

• The corn flour called for in the recipe is not corn starch. There’s a little confusion between the US and UK labelling of these products. This corn flour is dried corn that has been finely ground, much finer than cornmeal even. Bob’s Red Mill and Maine Grains make the only easily accessible versions of corn flour that I'm aware of in the US. Masa Harina will yield a different flavor and will darken more quickly while baking due to the nixtamalization of the corn.

• One last note! If you haven’t been a fan of frangipane in the past it’s likely because of the almond extract. People are usually very hot or cold on that ingredient. In this recipe, feel free to leave it out!

makes one 8x8 inch pan

Corn Shortcrust

170g unsalted butter, room temperature

60g white sugar

3/4 teaspoon kosher salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

60g corn flour (not corn starch!)

165g all-purpose flour

1. Lightly grease an 8x8 inch pan and line with parchment paper. Leave two sides of the parchment long enough to be used as handles to lift out the finished bars. Set aside.

2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the butter, sugar and salt. Mix on low speed until smooth. Scrape down the bowl of the mixer, add the vanilla and continue to mix on low for one minute.

3. Add the corn flour and all-purpose flour to the bowl and pulse the mixer to bring the dough together into a rough ball. Stop the mixer and use clean hands to gather the dough and knead it a few times on a clean surface.

4. Remove 150g of the dough and store covered in the fridge. Press the remaining dough into the prepared pan with an offset spatula. It can help to fold in the parchment on top of the dough and then smooth the surface until it’s even and flat. Place the pan into the freezer for 30 minutes.

Corn Frangipane

75g corn flour (not corn starch!)

75g almond flour

18g all-purpose flour

30g freeze dried corn, finely ground

135g unsalted butter, room temperature

90g white sugar

1 teaspoon kosher salt

zest from 1 large orange

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon almond extract

2 large eggs

1 large egg yolk

340 to 350g (1 pint) fresh blueberries

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground coriander seeds

2 teaspoons corn starch

1. With a rack in the upper middle position, preheat the oven to 350F. In a small bowl combine the corn flour, almond flour, all-purpose flour, and ground freeze dried corn. Set aside.

2. In the unwashed bowl you used to make the shortbread, beat the butter, sugar, salt, and orange zest on medium low until smooth and slightly aerated. Add the eggs one at a time then the yolk with the vanilla and almond extracts, scraping down the bowl between each addition. It’s okay if the mixture looks a little curdled right now.

3. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the mixer on low about a tablespoon or two at a time. This should start to smooth out the mixture if it was looking broken. When all of the dries have been added, scrape down the bowl and beat on medium low for one more minute. When finished, the frangipane should be smooth without any lumps. Cover and set aside.

4. When the oven is preheated, bake the chilled shortcrust for 15 to 18 minutes until the surface is matte and the edges are beginning to turn golden brown. Remove from the oven and allow the pan to cool slightly.

5. In a small bowl combine the blueberries, coriander, and corn starch. Use a fork or a silicone spatula to mash about half of the berries and hydrate the corn starch.

6. When the pan is no longer too hot to touch, scoop in the frangipane or use a piping bag to pipe in the frangipane on top of the shortbread. Use an offset spatula to spread the mixture out into a smooth layer then disperse the crushed blueberries across the surface.

7. Remove the 150g of reserved dough from the fridge and use the large holes of a box grater to grate the dough across the top of the blueberries. You can also do this on a plate or piece of parchment and then sprinkle the shreds using your hands. Gently press the pieces of dough into the blueberries.

8. Bake the bars for 45 to 50 minutes. When finished, the berries should be bubbling, the dough should be golden around the edges and the middle of the bars should feel firm to the touch. Allow to cool for one hour in the pan before running a knife around the edges and lifting the bars onto a cooling rack. Dust with powdered sugar and more finely ground freeze dried corn if desired.