Raspberry Crumb Bars

I made these bars on Friday night. I had my eye on bar recipe from the Magnolia Bakery Cookbook for a few months now. This bar is very crumbly and a gentle hand is required for cutting the pieces and storing them. I was rewarded not only by scrumptious fruit filled bars but also the sweet aroma of butter that lingered in my kitchen for the whole weekend!

I was debating between strawberry and raspberry jam for the filling. In the end I decided to use seedless raspberry jam. Strawberry jam would have made this bar too sweet for me. You could try it with any other preserves that you may have in the pantry. I would like to make this again in the near future with blueberry jam and a different flour for the crust and topping.

It was just perfect - buttery, crumbly and just the right amount of sweetness.

Raspberry Crumb Bars from Magnolia Bakery Cookbook

It does look like there is too much topping but it does work out in the end. The baking sheet can be very heavy, I almost dropped the hot tray as I was using one hand to take it out of the oven when it was done baking.

Crust:
2 cups unsalted butter, melted
4 cups all purpose flour

Filling:
1 1/4 cup raspberry jam ( I used seedless jam)

Topping:
4 1/2 cup all purpose flour
3 cups unpacked light brown sugar
2 cups softened unsalted butter - cut into small pieces
pinch of salt


Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Crust:
Melt butter over low heat while stirring . Don't use high heat, or you will end up with clarified butter! Combine melted butter with flour in a large bowl. The dough will be soft. Spread dough evenly on a ungreased baking sheet or a jelly roll pan (12 by 18 inch pan). Bake crust for 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and let it cool completely. This could take up to 50 minutes.

Topping:
Mix flour, brown sugar and salt. Add softened and cut butter to flour mixture. I used my stand mixer to mix the dough ( 2 minutes on high). Mixture should be crumbly.


To assemble:
Beat raspberry jam till it is smooth and spread it over the cooled base, leaving 1/4 inch edge all around. Sprinkle topping generously over the jam layer.

Bake for 25 - 30 minutes or until the top is golden brown. Cool completely before cutting.