"Pretty Frickin' Awesome"

Those were the first words out of my hubby's mouth as he sunk his teeth into a still warm Raspberry Jam Bar. I am getting my "assignment" done just under the wire - thank God for Pacific daylight time! Hopefully in future weeks, I'll be a little better organized. In my defense, I *did* have all the ingredients by Tuesday. I just couldn't get it together for the baking part until tonight.

The finished product

ANYWAY, these were truly easy to make. I pretty much followed the recipe to the letter. The only thing I did differently was to sift the flour, baking soda and salt together instead of using a fork to blend. I'm a big fan of the sifter, so I stand by my decision! :) I really liked Beth's suggestion to use a foil lining. Like Summer, I've never done that before, but it certainly made both getting the bars out of the pan and clean up a breeze! I look forward to incorporating this technique in future recipes.

I was able to use my stand mixer for the entire process and was pleased with how the batter turned out. One thing I was surprised about was the difficulty I had in procuring a jar of seedless raspberry jam. The store I was at had a fairly decent selection of jams and jellies, but the only jar that met my needs was Smuckers. I would've used my own homemade jam, but alas - it wasn't seedless.

Overall, I enjoyed making these and enjoyed eating them even more! I'll leave you with a quote from B on what he thought of the bars: I love anything with oatmeal in it. They are crunchy; chewy in just the right places.

Fresh out of the oven!