RASPBERRY ALMOND BARS

Raspberry Almond Bars from The Food of Love

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• Whenever I volunteer to bake for some occasion, I like to make something I love to eat. A local bakery makes the most wonderful raspberry almond bars. They are deceptively light (I'm sure they have 1000 calories each) with none of that artificial almond taste. They melt on the tongue, which is why I enjoy them rarely. For our evening volunteer refresher training, I decided to make my own raspberry almond bars and found this recipe from Taste of Home. I doubled the batch, as one reviewer suggested, and cut the bars very small as they, too, are rich and buttery. The recipe below is for one batch. If you double it, bake in a 9 X 13 inch pan and add about 10 minutes more to the final baking time.
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• INGREDIENTS
• 1/2 cup butter, cubed
• 1 pkg vanilla chips (10-12 oz), divided
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 tsp almond extract
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup raspberry jam
• 1/4 cup sliced almonds

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. In a small saucepan, melt the butter. Remove from heat and add 1 cup vanilla chips. Do not stir.

In a small bowl, beat the eggs until foamy; gradually add the sugar. Stir in chip mixture and almond extract.

Combine flour and salt. Gradually add to egg mixture just until combined.

Spread half of the batter into a greased 9 inch baking dish. Bake at 325 degrees for 15-20 minutes, until golden brown.

In a small saucepan, melt the jam over low heat. Spread over warm crust. Stir remaining chips into remaining batter and drop by teasponsful over jam layer. Sprinkle with almonds.

Bake 30-35 minutes longer or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack. Cut into 24 bars.

TASTE NOTES

These bars, while not the same as my local bakery's, were rich and satisfying. They are very buttery, with a good ratio of cookie crust to raspberry filling. The white chips add sweetness, which is why cutting the bars smaller is recommended. I would definitely make these again, though I suspect they are as "dangerous" calorie-wise as the others.