Jam bar recipe

Regular commenter (and Twitter follower) Purlewe asked for my jam bar recipe, so here it is. I'm going to give the amounts for a 9 x 9 inch pan; if you double it it overflows a 9 x 13 pan and would probably fit better in a 10 x 15 pan. (The pan needs to have a rim high enough to make an edge - the recommended pan for a single batch is 9 x 9 x 2.

For a single batch:

1 3/4 cups flour
1/2 cup finely chopped nuts (REALLY finely chopped is better. I usually use pecans)

Mix those in a bowl.

Soften 3/4 cup butter (They suggest you can sub margarine, but don't do it: much of the flavor of these comes from the butter)

Mix it with 1/2 cup sifted powdered sugar and 1/4 teaspoon shredded lemon peel. (You can use the dried "spice rack" kind; I often do, but use a little more then)

Add the flour mixture and mush it around until it's all mixed. Press about TWO THIRDS of the flour-butter mix into the pan. (I usually grease the pan though that's probably not necessary given all the butter)

Then, top it with 3/4 cup of your choice of preserves. I prefer seedless raspberry but apricot is also very good.

With the leftover flour-butter mixture, add 1 Tablespoon more flour and mix to form a crumble, and drop it on the top of the jam.

Bake for 25-30 minutes (until the crumbs are just brown) at 375 degrees. I like to score the bars when they first come out and then cut them apart after they cool - they are tender and can be hard to cut (the dough gets brittle when it's cool).

They also suggest you can do three-way bars by covering 1/3 of the base with 1/4 cup each of different jams, but I've never tried that.