Recipe: LaVerne's Black Raspberry Bars (using oats preserves)

LAVERNE'S BLACK RASPBERRY BARS
(Arlington, Virginia)



"LaVerne Yost has always been an obsessed home cook, but since retiring, she has had more time to cook, talk about cooking, and eat other people's cooking. She figures that she has traveled about fifty thousand miles in pursuit of fabulous food in the past decade and, sounding a little like Dorothy in Oz, she said that she has yet to find a sweet that can compete with these simple bars that her sister taught her to make "many, many years ago." They are delicious by themselves, or served warm with vanilla ice cream, Greek-style strained yogurt, whipped cream, or custard."

12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 1/2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats (not instant)
1 (12 ounce) jar seedless black raspberry preserves

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Grease a 9x13-inch baking pan.

In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar with a fork; set aside.

Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt and add to the butter mixture. Stir in the rolled oats.

Press half the batter into the prepared pan. Spread the preserves on top. Crumble the other half of the flour-and-butter mixture over the preserves.

Bake for 25 minutes. Allow to cool slightly, then cut into bars.

Makes about 24 bars
Source: One Big Table by Molly O'Neill