Blackberry Pie Bars

I made these the other night, and they were delicious. I've been wanting to make them for awhile, since I saw the recipe on Taste and Tell (it's from The Pastry Queen cookbook). It has a thick crunchy shortbread-like crust, and then a luscious layer of berries. This makes a whole 9x13, which is a good thing if you've got company, since there's lots to go around.

Blackberry Pie Bars
submitted by Erin

Crust & Topping:
3 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups chlled unsalted butter

Fruit Filling:
4 large eggs
2 cups sugar
1 cup sour cream
3/4 cup all purpose flour
Pinch of salt
2 (16-ounce) packages frozen blackberries, defrosted and drained

For the crust and topping: Preheat the oven to 350. Grease a 9x13-inch baking pan. Combine the flour, sugar and salt in a very large bowl. Cut butter into the flour mixture using a pastry cutter. Continue until the butter is evenly distributed, but the mixture is still crumbly (as you would a pie crust). (If you have a large capacity food processor, you can process the butter (cut it into 1/2 inch cubes first) into the flour mixture using a the metal blade.)
Reserve 1 1/2 cups of the crumb mixture for the topping. Press the remaining crumbs into the bottom of the prepared pan. Bake the crust for 12-15 minutes (this actually took me close to 20 minutes; just continue checking it after 15 minutes), or until it is golden brown. Cool for at least 10 minutes.

To make the filling: Whisk the eggs and sugar together in a large bowl, then add the sour cream, flour and salt. Gently fold in the blackberries. Spoon the mixture evenly over the crust. Sprinkle the reserved crumbs evenly over the top. Bake for 45 to 55 minutes, or until the crust is lightly browned. Cool for at least 1 hour before cutting.Makes approximately 2 dozen bars.