Saturday, March 26, 2011

Raspberry Crumb Bars


These very delicious bars (if I may say so) were made for the school Science day event breakfast. Surprisingly, I had a hard time finding a recipe that I liked just upon reading. Finally found one that looked promising. I did not have any fresh raspberries so I subbed frozen blueberries and they still turned out great in the end.

2 1/2 cups flour
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 1/4 sticks salted butter softened
1/2 cup rolled oats or quick cooking oats
1/4 cup packed light brown sugar

3/4 cup raspberry jam (I prefer jam here not jelly)
3/4 cup fresh raspberries or blueberries (fresh or frozen)
1 tablespoon lemon juice


Stir together the flour, sugar and salt in a large bowl. Dice the butter into pieces if its cold, or just dump it in if soft, and mix into the flour mixture with a pastry cutter, food processor until the mixture resembles wet sand. Reserve 1 1/4 cups of the mixture, and press the remaining into a foil lined 13x9" pan. Bake on 375 F for 15 minutes.

While that's baking, mix the reserved topping with the oats and brown sugar.
Mix the jam, raspberries/blueberries and lemon/lime juice together and mash lightly.
Spread the jam mixture over the base, then top with the crumb mixture. I clump the mixture a bit before sprinkling it to give it some texture. Bake on 375 F for about 23 to 25 minutes. Let it cool completely before cutting into about 24 squares.