Oatmeal Ginger-Strawberry Preserve Bars

Once my children all left home, I “retired” from cooking three meals a day plus snacks! Then after years of not cooking at all, I suddenly started taking an interest again. A few days ago, the Real Simple website showed “Oatmeal Raspberry-Jam Bars” as the Cookie of the Day, submitted by Nancy Myers in 2005. She suggested that we try other fruit jams, so I decided to do just that.

I had recently purchased my very first food processor ever (Cuisinart) and had not tried it out yet. So this was the first time I used it. I was amazed at how quickly everything was pulverized! I took these to our “End of Semester Faculty Blow-Out” this past Friday. Yummy!

Here’s my rendition of her bars, substituting with a few things I had on hand, so I wouldn’t have to run to the store.

Oatmeal Ginger-Strawberry Preserves Bars

Ingredients:

1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
1 cup dark brown sugar, firmly packed
¼ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon baking soda
¾ cup unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1 ½ cups Coach’s Oats
2 tablespoons lime zest
1 ½ cups ginger-strawberry preserves (homemade)

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Place the flour, sugar, salt, baking soda, and butter in the bowl of a food processor and pulse several times until the ingredients are combined and a crumbly dough is formed. Add the oats and lemon zest. Puls quickly twice to combine.
2. Press 2/3 of the dough firmly into a greased 9 X 13” pan. Spread the preserves evenly over the crust. Sprinkle the remaining dough over the preserves, gently pressing down.
3. Bake until golden brown, about 20 minutes. Cool completely, about 2 hours. Cut into 24 bars. Store in air tight containers (if there are any left to store)!

Real Simple gave the Nutritional Information, but my version may vary due to the substitutions. Check out the website above to get the original recipe. Easy and fast, good munching for the holidays!

A hui hou!