Bake To Show Your Appreciation

These bars. Oh, these bars! They are delicious. I first saw these bars in an issue of Everyday Food a few years ago. I just love Everyday Food recipes because they're simple and not fussy, but they're consistently good. When I first made them, I used plum jam and took them to a friends' house for brunch. Then it seems that I lost the recipe. I looked for a long time through my old issues to find it with no such luck. Why it never occurred to me to just google it, is beyond me. Alas, I smartened up and found it on Martha's website. In my experience, not all of her recipes work for me, but this one is a keeper!

This time when I made the recipe, I chose to use Fredericksburg Peach Jam. Plum jam is my absolute favorite, besides homemade strawberry, but I used peach because Mr. H bought a half gallon of it from Costco a few weeks back. Okay, so I exaggerate slightly, but it was a 40 oz. jar...and that's a lot of jam! This batch went to my good friend Lori, who gifted me with my new logo. How do you express gratitude for something without spending a lot of money, yet you want to give something more than just a card? You bake something special and buttery, with quality ingredients and you hand deliver it. It doesn't get much better than that.

These bars really are great. They're crumbly and crunchy, yet sandy and buttery. The sliced almonds add nice crunch and flavor and worked well with the peach jam and they're perfect for dessert or a weekend brunch. I may have had one or three for breakfast too :-) They're just really flavorful. One note of advice though, if your jam is really sweet then cut back on the sugar in the crust by a couple tablespoons. Feel free to substitute any flavor jam or preserve that you like. Make them for yourself or as a gift, just make them!

Almond Jam Bars from Martha Stewart

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• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temp, plus more for baking dish
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 cup packed light-brown sugar
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 large egg yolk
• 3/4 cup sliced almonds
• 1/2 cup fruit jam (cherry, plum, peach etc.)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter an 8-inch square baking dish.

In a bowl, whisk together flour, cinnamon, salt, and baking powder.

In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugars on high speed until light and fluffy; beat in egg yolk. Reduce speed to low; gradually mix in flour mixture. Stir in almonds.

In a small bowl, whisk jam to loosen. (Stirring the jam with a fork or a whisk will enable it to spread smoothly over the dough.)

Gently press half of dough into bottom of prepared dish. With the back of a spoon, gently spread jam over dough, leaving a 1/4-inch border so the jam doesn't stick to the sides of the pan. Sprinkle remaining dough over top all the way to the edges; press gently to form top layer.

Bake until top is golden, 25 to 35 minutes; cool completely in dish. Cut into bars with a serrated knife.

This buttery and gooey bite is just for you. Open Wide!