OATMEAL YOGURT BARS & BLUEBERRY UPSIDE DOWN CAKE

Got company and a sweet tooth this week, so I decided to try these recipes from Betty Crocker {wannabe} Hope you enjoy them as much as we did!

OATMEAL YOGURT BARS

INGREDIENTS:

3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 (8-ounce) carton yogurt (vanilla or fruit flavored)
1 egg, lightly beaten
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
2 Tbsp milk
2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
3 cups oats
1 cup add-ins (diced dried fruit, raisins, cranberries, chocolate chips)

DIRECTIONS:

Heat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl, combine sugars, yogurt, egg, oil, milk, and vanilla; mix well. In medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt; mix well. Add to yogurt mixture; mix well. Stir in oats and add-ins of your choice (I used cranberries and chocolate chips; 1/2 cup of each).

Spread dough onto bottom of ungreased 9x13 baking pan.

Bake 28-30 minutes or until light golden brown. Cool completely on wire rack. Or just do what we do and cut into them as soon as they don't burn your fingers when you touch them.

Store tightly covered.

BLUEBERRY UPSIDE DOWN CAKE

This tasted more like a coffee cake, or almost like a blueberry muffin. But it was definitely pretty, and tasted yummy

INGREDIENTS:

2 sticks butter, very soft at room temp
1 cup brown sugar
2 cups blueberries, fresh or frozen (if frozen, thaw and drain them) at room temp
1 cup white sugar
1 egg yolk, plus 2 whole eggs at room temp 2/3 cup sour cream
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. salt
1 3/4 cup flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and put the rack in the lower third of the oven.

Lightly butter the bottom and sides of a 9″ cake pan that is at least 2 1/2″ deep
Put 1 1/2 sticks of the butter in a large bowl. With a wooden spoon cream the butter with the white sugar and the egg yolk. Switch to a whisk and stir in the whole eggs one at a time. Whisk until the sugar begins to dissolve and the batter looks smooth. Mix in the sour cream, vanilla and salt.

Mix the flour, baking powder and baking soda in a seperate bowl, then add to the wet ingredients. Stir to combine. The batter will be satiny.

Put the 1/2 stick of butter in the pan and set it in the oven to melt. Pull it out and stir the brown sugar into it. Pat the mixture out in the bottom of the pan as evenly as you can. Put the berries on top of the brown sugar/butter mix. Pour the batter on top of the berries. Bake in the lower third of the oven for 50-60 minutes. Cool 5-10 minutes and then dump it out on a plate.