Raspberry Oatmeal Cookie Bars

I was looking for a quick dessert to take for a family dinner, so I decided to try these bars.  Everyone loved them!  They are buttery, moist, crunchy and sweet.  It's hard to believe they take very little effort and only a few ingredients.


Raspberry Oatmeal Cookie Bars
Adapted from this recipe on Allrecipes.com

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 35-40 minutes
Makes 9 bars

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp. salt
• 1 cup rolled oats
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 3/4 cup raspberry (or your favorite flavor) jam or preserves

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Spray an 8 x 8 pan with cooking spray. 
2. In a large bowl, combine the brown sugar, flour, baking soda, cinnamon, salt and oats.  Using your hands or a pastry cutter, work in the butter to form a crumbly mixture.  Press 2 cups of the mixture into the bottom of the pan.  
3. Spread the jam to within 1/4 inch of the edge.  Sprinkle the remaining crumb mixture over the top and lightly press into the jam.
4. Bake for 35-40 minutes or until lightly brown.  Cool completely before cutting into bars.

Notes & Directions:

I doubled the recipe and used a 9 x 13 glass baking pan.  Good thing I did because they were gone in no time!  

I added 1 tsp. of lemon zest to the raspberry preserves to enhance the flavor.  I baked these for 35 minutes and they came out perfect.  

Next time, I think I will use more than 2 cups of the mixture for the crust because I had way more than I needed for the topping.  

If you're using cold jam, warm it up in the microwave for 20-30 seconds.  It will be easier to spread.  

Make sure you don't spread the jam too close to the edge of the pan.  It will spread as it bakes and it might melt over the edge and be hard to get out of the pan.  Also, it takes a little time to work in the butter to the sugar/flour mixture.  But this is key to the bars not coming out too crumbly.  

You could top these with nuts or drizzle with white chocolate.  

These are also great for breakfast and go great with coffee.