Raspberry Bars I Made It Ii

Raspberry Bars

Cosmicmother 4 years ago
~Made for April 2020's "Pantry Staples" recipe challenge~

Raspberry Bars by Whodunitdr

This was delicious!
I had a tiny jar of seedless raspberry jam in my pantry and I couldn't remember what it was for. After searching my recipe box and not finding anything, I searched recipes with raspberry jam and found this. (though this recipe doesn't specify seedless jam, I still wanted to make it!)
It reminds me of the pineapple bars I made awhile back, with the coconut macaroon type topping. The crust starts off as a sugarless pastry dough but bakes up shortcake like, similar to the crust of a pineapple upside down cake with a rich buttery flavour. (Kinda half-cake/half-cookie like pastry.) One tip for the crust: After the pastry comes together, pinch off pieces of dough and place them in the pan, then press down to cover the base. The dough is springy and wants to resist being flattened! ;)
After mixing the egg, sugar and vanilla for the topping I realized I didn't have the full two cups of coconut, I had about a rounded cups worth. After mixing in what I had, it seemed rather thick so I didn't worry about the missing coconut.
After it cooled and I cut it into squares it crumbled a little bit on the top. It didn't bother me but it might be a pain of you wanted to serve this to others or transport it let's say. But I like rustic looking food! ;)
When we tried it, I thought it was a perfect amount of coconut. So I'm glad I only had that cups worth as I wouldn't want to use more. The recipe does say coconut flakes instead of shredded, I used shredded, so I wonder if the flakes measure up differently?
It wasn't as sweet as I thought either, which was nice. Next time I'd like to use my usual raspberry jam, the thick old fashioned kind I use in thumbprint cookies for example. This brand was a little bland and lacked the bright raspberry colour. But even with that, it was delicious!
I also think a lemon curd would be awesome in this, or even a pineapple-marmalade or tropical fruit spread! :)
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chuckieb 4 years ago said:

Oooo....those look lovely Shona! I have a couple of extra jars of raspberry jam in my pantry that I've been given as gifts so this would use some of that up! I love your photo and it looks perfect to me. Bookmarked to try soon!

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eastcoaster 4 years ago said:

Those bars look delicious Shona and a lovely photo.Bet your kids liked them.

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Good4U 4 years ago said:

These sound and look great Shona. I also bookmarked this b/c I have a jar of lemon curd not sure why I bought it but I think it should be really on these and I only have shredded coconut as well. So I will note the amount you used in this recipe.

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LindaLMT 4 years ago said:

Yummy picture Shona! One of my favorites. Love the addition of coconut in this recipe which you usually don't see. I'm a huge fan of coconut.

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Cosmicmother 4 years ago said:

Thanks everyone! They sure are delicious!

Joce, I can't wait to see how they turn out with lemon curd! I was thinking of getting a jar just to make these again--I love the E.D Smith brand of lemon spread (in the glass jar sold next to the jams), my grandparents always used it on toast--yummy!

*Note* The first day of baking and cooling I left them at room temp, the crust was somewhat soft and more cake like. I was worried they wouldn't hold up at room temp, so I stored it loosely covered in the fridge. The bars were much more sturdy and the crust was more shortbread bread like when cool--but still chewy and not hard or crumbly. So I recommend storing in the fridge loosely covered for the first 24hrs then it can be stored tightly covered after they dry out a little.

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mommyluvs2cook 4 years ago said:

Yum, these look so good Shona! I so wish my husband and son loved coconut as much as my daughter and I. I could make these just for us I guess lol :-P.

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Cosmicmother 4 years ago said:

Lol, you could make them just for you Michelle! My husband doesn't like coconut, so I told him he might not like them but he tried a bite anyways. He said "the amount of coconut is tolerable" Lol...he even had a second piece! If I used the whole 2 cups he probably wouldn't have ate it. ;)

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