Midwest berry jam bars
want a treat but also want to stay healthy? these jam bars will change your life.
These easy-peasy jam bars are kind of like a Nutrigrain bar got together with a pastry and they made a really perfect baby. You can make them basically sugar-free if you want, and use whichever berries you like! We love the combination of currants, elderberries, aronias and blueberries. They store well in the fridge, too!
JAM
A general ratio to get about 1 cup of jam, which is what you want for this recipe, is 2 cups of fruit: 1 cup of sugar: 4 tablespoons of lemon juice. That said, we just used 2 cups of fruit, 1/2 cup of maple syrup and the juice of one lime because that is what we had and we wanted it to be a little less sweet. Another way to think about it is to add sugar or sweetener to taste and make sure there is some citrus in there.
Bring to a boil and then cook on low heat, stirring occassionally, until you’ve cooked out the water and it looks like jam! It will take about 2 hrs, less time if you use sugar for the sweetener. Add a tiny bit of butter to get that glossy jam look.
You’ll know it is ready because it will be sort of sticking to the bottom of the pan, and congealing when you stir. And it will very much smell like jam. There will be a distinct change in aroma!
BASE
1 cup of Severson flour
1 cup of rolled oats
1/2 cup melted butter
1/3 cup brown sugar (pretty sure you could do without this)
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon of sea salt
1/2 teaspoon of baking soda
Mix dry ingredients well, and then cream with the sugar, vanilla and butter. Line a baking pan with parchment paper and press 3/4 of the mix firmly into the pan. Bake at 350 for ten minutes.
COMBINE
Remove from the oven and spread your jam evenly over the dough, and then crumble the remaining 1/4 of the dough on top. Bake for another 10 minutes, and then put them in the fridge to cool off for at least 30 minutes. If you add the jam when the crust is hot, it seeps deeper into the crust. That said, you can also add the jam when the jam is hot and it will have the same effect. Our crust had already cooled and it worked out just fine.