Those Jam Bar Cookies

It's awful to start off with an apology.... it's just that I'm pretty behind on blog posts. Life is happening so quickly!!

 

In the mean time, here's a recipe post that I meant to get finished up a few days ago. It works for posting now, right?

 

So when I was in college, my roommate Christine R. had a copy of this cookbook:

 

 

Well, hers looked a lot better than this. Betty Crocker and I are old friends. We go way back. This was my first cookbook purchase after my wedding, because I knew there was stuff in there that I wanted. Despite its condition, Betty is who I turn to for a number of recipes..... including, but not limited to: pie crust, pumpkin bread, (this photo)

 

 

glossy chocolate "brownie" frosting, buttercream frosting, and...........  Jam Bars.

 

Ok, so Betty calls them Date Bars. But I never have dates around. And I always have jam around.

 

So here's a quick run-through. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. In a big bowl, mix 1 cup brown sugar, 1 cube of soft butter, and 1/4 cup shortening.

 

I just use my hand mixer for this. Cream it all together.

 

Then you mix in 1 3/4 cups flour, 1 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon baking soda, and 1 1/2 cups of oatmeal. (Details on this stuff in a minute -- don't stop me now, I'm on a roll.)

 

Mix all of that in with the mixer.

 

It will be crumbly. Spoon it into a greased pan.

 

Now, here's the deal. The recipe calls for a 9x13 pan. Except, the first time I made these, I didn't clue in on the pan size. So I used a 7x11-in Pyrex. I'd made these a couple of times before I realized that my pan was too small. Now I won't change back, because I like these things thick. But you can use a 9 x 13 if you want.

 

Spoon HALF of the oatmeal mixture in, and then press it down really firmly. It will make a good crust and holds together best if  you really press hard.

 

Then, you add whatever flavor of jam on top -- 1 cup of it.

 

So, the great thing about this recipe is that when I make homemade jam, I can it in 1/2-pint jars. (Here's a quick jump over to where I make jam)  Don't try to start thinking through the math. Trust me when I tell you that 1/2 a pint is 1 cup. So this is a great way to use up jam that I've canned. Love that part, because there's no measuring!

 

Then you sprinkle the rest of the oatmeal mixture on top, evenly. Press down lightly, because you've got that layer of jam underneath it.

 

Bake it for 25-30 minutes if you're using the full size pan. If you go halfsies, then you only need 20-22 minutes. That point is when it dawned on me that my bars always cooked "fast" because I was using too small of a pan. Duh!!

 

Cut it apart while they're warm. Or cold. It doesn't really matter.

This was raspberry, from our bumper crop of raspberries last year.  But here's the story..... this wasn't jam, this was jelly. And for these cookies, it's really better to use jam, because it stands up to the earthy, hearty cookie dough part. The jelly ends up being too thin. But it worked.

Actually, these things really look great and taste wonderful when I use cherry jam in them. The cherry really is thick and a nice dark red that shows pretty when they're cut.

 

Ok, and some final notes here.

 

The recipe calls for quick-cooking oats, but I use whichever I have on hand. These photos are with regular rolled oats. Just don't use instant stuff. The recipe also says you can use whole wheat flour for this. Tried that, and yes you can .... but it's more crumbly. Might want to back off on the flour amount if you do use whole wheat.

 

In fact, I'm experimenting with backing off on the flour amount anyway. In these photos, I only used  1 2/3 cups flour, instead of 1 3/4 cups. Next time, I'll back it off to 1 1/2 cups. Just wanting to get the dough a little less crumbly.

 

These are great to wrap individually, and stick in a plastic lidded container (like Tupperware or Rubbermaid), and take them with you on trips. They travel well. They probably freeze well too, but I've never tried it. They get eaten before that.

 

Have an amazing day! I promise to catch up on posts.

Um..... later.