Raspberry Squares

Submitted by momaphet

"I love raspberry and almonds together! I adapted this recipe from one I found on America's Test Kitchen. Toasting the nuts adds great flavor so don't skip this step. This recipe is easily doubled and would then be made in a 15" jelly roll pan."

 

• Ready In: 1hr 5mins
• Ingredients: 10
• Serves: 24

ingredients

• 1 1⁄2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1 1⁄4 cups oats
• 1⁄3 cup sugar
• 1⁄2 teaspoon almond extract
• 1⁄3 cup light brown sugar, packed
• 1⁄4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1⁄4 teaspoon salt
• 1⁄2 cup toasted almond, finely chopped (pecans or walnuts are good too)
• 12 tablespoons butter, cut into 12 pieces and softened but still cool
• 1 cup raspberry preserves (or what ever flavor strikes your fancy, SEE NOTE)

directions

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees, spray a 9x13" pan with nonstick cooking spray, you may also line the pan with foil with extra hanging over for easier removal, spray foil.
2. In mixer bowl, mix flour, oats, sugars, extract, baking soda, salt, and nuts at low speed until combined, about 30 seconds. With mixer running at low speed, add butter pieces; continue to beat until mixture is well-blended and resembles wet sand, about 2 minutes.
3. Transfer 2/3 of mixture to prepared pan and use hands to press crumbs evenly into bottom, bake until starting to brown, about 20 minutes.
4. Using rubber spatula spread preserves evenly over hot bottom crust; sprinkle remaining oat/nut mixture evenly over preserves; bake until preserves bubble around edges and top is golden brown, about 30 minutes, turn pan halfway through baking time.
5. Cool on wire rack then remove from pan using foil handles, cut into squares.

6. NOTE:

7. After reading the first reviews for this, I realized the jam I used is lower sugar than many jams (9 gms per TBLS) It would be worth it to find a type that isn't overly sweet or try adding a little lemon juice to cut the sweetness.

Reviews

[sheepdoc]

Very tasty. I used cherry fruit spread as it needed to be used up and cherries and almonds go well together IMHO. Also not as sweet as jam. I warmed the jam up in the microwave so it spread really well. I had to cook the base nearly 30 minutes before it started to brown, but was using a glass pan.

 

[bigbadbrenda]

I made this and took it to my daughters for brunch. I added some strawberry preserves as I ran out of the raspberry. Very nice. Made for Zwt6 for the Xtra Hot Dishes.Thanks for posting.

 

[katew]

This is yum and a great way to use up jam that is near its use by date. I in fact have done this in the past with 2 different jams - plum one end and berry the other. Today i have done it with passionfruit jam for ZWT and it is terrific.

 

[jkoch960]

Very good. Love the combination of raspberries and almonds! I think I would like to try this again and use fresh raspberries to make the filling. Thanks for sharing! Made for ZWT4.

 

[Sam 3]

Really good, but sweet. I also had to add more oats and flour (about a 1/4 cup each) to achieve the "sand" texture. My DH and daughter loved them though and I'm sure I'll be making them again