Raspberry Oatmeal Bars

Y’all know what streusel is, right? It’s butter, flour, sugar, and sometimes oats all mushed together to form this delightfully sweet treat. It’s the perfect topping for pies or coffee cakes and it’s down right decadent on dessert pizza. I love streusel. I want to marry streusel. I would have streusel’s babies if I wasn’t so against eating my own offspring. Actually, after the day I’ve had, maybe eating my own offspring wouldn’t be so bad. Also, is it time for my kids to go back to school? What’s that? I homeschool? Who the heck signed me up for THAT?

It’s been a long day, y’all.

Luckily, thankfully, happily I can just hide out in my kitchen making sweet treats while my kids play video games for an unhealthy amount of time. It happens. I admit it.

Enough about my bad parenting, let’s talk about my delicious baking instead. This little treat is basically a streusel crust with a raspberry jam filling. It’s kinda amazing.

I always use Smucker’s Simply Fruit red raspberry spreadable fruit because it’s HFCS free and it’s basically just mushed up fruit. This is not a paid advertisement, I just like what I like and I like Smucker’s. I also like opening a new jar of peanut butter (JIF, because I’m a choosy mom) and being the first to stick a knife in the jar, but that’s neither here nor there and I don’t know what I’m talking about anymore.

So, uh, make these? And, maybe, eat ’em? Yep. I’m pretty sure that’s where I was going with this whole post.

Over and out.

Raspberry Oatmeal Bars
recipe from allrecipes.com

• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 1 cup rolled oats
• 1/2 cup butter
• 3/4 cup seedless rapsberry jam (or any other flavor you might like)

Preheat oven to 350. Line an 8×8 baking dish with foil and lightly grease.

Using a pastry cutter, two knives, or your hands, cut together everything but the jam. Don’t be afraid to get in there and get your hands dirty. Combine until you have a nice crumbly mixture without too many large chunks of butter.

Press 2 cups of the mixture into the bottom of the prepared pan. Spoon on the jam (if it is cold, it helps to microwave it to soften it up a bit) and spread to within 1/4 inch of the edge. Lightly press the remaining crust mixture over the top of the jam.

Bake for 35-40 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool completely before cutting.