We wanted the right balance of bright, tangy fruit filling and rich, buttery shortbread crust for these bars and we wanted an easy topping. For a fresh-tasting fruity filling, we combined fresh raspberries with raspberry jam. Adding a dash of lemon juice to the jam brightened the filling further. We made a butter-rich shortbread dough that did double duty as the bottom crust and as a base for our streusel topping. After pressing part of the mixture into the pan, we added oats, brown sugar, nuts, and a little extra butter to the rest, and pinched it into clumps. To prevent soggy-bottomed bars, we baked the bottom crust on its own before adding the raspberries and streusel and baking it all together. Frozen raspberries can be substituted for fresh, but be sure to defrost them before using. Quick oats will work in this recipe, but the bars will be less chewy and flavorful. Do not use instant oats.
Ingredients
- 2½ cups (12½ ounces) all-purpose flour
- ⅔ cup (4⅔ ounces) granulated sugar
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 18 tablespoons (2¼ sticks) unsalted butter, cut into 18 pieces and softened
- ½ cup (1½ ounces) old-fashioned rolled oats
- ½ cup pecans, toasted and chopped fine
- ¼ cup packed (1¾ ounces) light brown sugar
- ¾ cup raspberry jam
- 3¾ ounces (¾ cup) fresh raspberries
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 375 degrees. Make foil sling for 13 by 9-inch baking pan by folding 2 long sheets of aluminum foil; first sheet should be 13 inches wide and second sheet should be 9 inches wide. Lay sheets of foil in pan perpendicular to each other, with extra foil hanging over edges of pan. Push foil into corners and up sides of pan, smoothing foil flush to pan, and grease foil.
- Whisk flour, granulated sugar, and salt together in bowl of stand mixer. Fit mixer with paddle and beat in 16 tablespoons butter, 1 piece at a time, on medium-low speed until mixture resembles damp sand, 1 to 1½ minutes. Reserve 1¼ cups mixture separately in medium bowl for topping.
- Sprinkle remaining mixture into prepared pan and press into even layer with bottom of dry measuring cup. Bake until edges of crust begin to brown, 14 to 18 minutes, rotating pan halfway through baking.
- Meanwhile, stir oats, pecans, and brown sugar into reserved topping mixture. Add remaining 2 tablespoons butter and pinch mixture with your fingers into clumps of streusel. In small bowl, mash jam, raspberries, and lemon juice together with fork until few berry pieces remain.
- Spread berry mixture evenly over hot crust, then sprinkle with streusel. Bake bars until filling is bubbling and topping is deep golden brown, 22 to 25 minutes, rotating pan halfway through baking.
- Let bars cool completely in pan, about 2 hours. Using foil overhang, lift bars from pan. Cut into squares and serve.
