Jam Shortbread Bars

I wanted to make a sweet treat for my husband and he really likes shortbread cookies.  When I found this recipe, I thought it was perfect because it made shortbread bars so there was a lot less work to get all the same goodness.  I hope that you check out Happier than a Pig in Mud because she has some great recipes and some great stories.  The other great news was that I didn't have any eggs left in the fridge and this didn't take any eggs so it was fate that I make this recipe right away.

I got out all the ingredients which was not a long list.  I put all of the dry ingredients into the bowl.

Then, I added the butter to the dry ingredients.  The recipe said to work it with your hands but since I had my handy dandy new pastry blender, I decided that I would use that instead. 

It worked really well to mix everything together.  Since I didn't know how small to make everything, I mixed for awhile until you couldn't really see the butter.

I set aside the small amount for the topping and put it in the fridge.  I used my new snapware bowl.

I pressed all of the crust into the greased pan.  I put it in the freezer and then I had to leave to take my son to school.  It was a great recipe to get a little done before I had to stop. 

When I got home, I took the crust out for the container to get to room temperature while the oven was preheating.  I baked the crust for the time that it stated in the recipe and it was a little browned but mostly looked the same.

I added the jam to the top of the hot crust.  I wasn't sure if I was supposed to let it cool but I figured that if I was supposed to then it would be in the instructions and it wasn't.

The crust was at the topping on the jam but it looked very strange because it wasn't really buttery and solid but I was hoping that it would cook up to look good.

I baked it per the recipe and the jam went a little crazy across the top towards the edges.  I guess I didn't do the best job of spreading or keeping it away from the edges.

I couldn't wait to try it and I cut into it immediately to eat one (okay, maybe two or three).

I cleaned up the edges in the pan but you can see that the jam stuck to the edges of the pan a little.  The shortbread was nice and thick and the jam was super tasty!!!  I had a hard time staying out of them and finished a whole line of them before my husband even got home to taste his special treat!!!

I really loved these bars and I would totally try them again!  They look way fancier than the effort they take so I would totally make these for a special event.  I hope that you make them and taste the buttery goodness of the crust with the fruit goodness of the topping.

Here is the recipe so that you can try it yourself soon!!!

Jam Shortbread Bars

1 1/2 C A/P flour
1/3 C sugar
Pinch of salt
10 Tbsp unsalted butter at room temp-I used salted
6 Tbsp preserves (any flavor)

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line an 8 inch square dish with aluminum foil, leaving an over hang.
2. Mix dry ingredients together. 
3. Work the butter in with you fingers to make a crumbly dough.
4. Remove 2 Tbsp of dough and place in refrigerator. Press the rest into the baking dish. Freeze until firm, about 10 minutes. 
5. Bake crust for 15 minutes. 
6. Spread with preserves leaving 1/2" border. My strawberry preserves were extra chunky so I ran them through the food chopper.
7. Crumble Reserved dough on top. 
8. Bake until edges are golden brown, approx 25 minutes-watch this, mine were over done. Maybe 18-20 minutes in my oven. Trust your nose, if you smell it getting brown, check on it!
9. Remove from oven, let cool 20 minutes, remove from pan and cut into squares.