Oatmeal Jammy Bars
These delicious bars get most of their sweetness from the jam filling. The crumbly pastry, with its oatmeal and nut crunch, is reminiscent of a crumble topping. If you like your bars sweeter, add an additional 1/2 cup jam. Kids like to mix the crumbly dough and assemble the bars. After making them, they can bring them to school in their lunchbox—a healthy and yummy snack.
Ingredients:
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup firmly packed golden brown sugar
- 1 tsp. kosher salt
- 1 tsp. baking powder
- 1/4 tsp. baking soda
- 12 Tbs. (1 1/2 sticks) cold unsalted butter, cut into cubes
- 1 1/4 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
- 1/4 cup ground pecans or almonds
- 1/2 cup raspberry jam, homemade or purchased
Directions:
Preheat an oven to 350°F. Butter a 9-inch square baking pan or dish.
In a large bowl, stir together the flour, brown sugar, salt, baking powder and baking soda to combine thoroughly. Scatter the butter pieces over the flour mixture and cut in the butter with a pastry cutter or 2 kitchen knives until the mixture is moist and crumbly. Add the oats and nuts and toss to mix evenly.
Press two-thirds of the dough into the bottom of the prepared pan. Spread the jam evenly over the top. Crumble the remaining dough evenly over the top, and press down lightly. Bake until the top is golden brown, 35 to 40 minutes. Let cool completely in the pan on a rack, then cut into bars. Makes 10 bars.
Adapted from Williams-Sonoma Family Meals, by Maria Helm Sinskey (Oxmoor House, 2008).