Oatmeal Raspberry Bars

I found these bars at This Woman Cooks. My toddler is crazy about them. When we ran out, she got the empty baking dish and sat down to eat the crumbs out of it. Needless to say, I will be making more of these for her. It is more of a dessert bar because it's so sweet. Next time I am going to decrease the sugar to 1/4 or 1/2 cup to make it more of a breakfast bar. So depending on what you're looking for you can adjust it. Also, I wasn't sure if I should have sprinkled plain oatmeal over the top, or if I should have sprinkled on some of the crust mixture. I just used plain oatmeal and it worked out great but I will try the crust mixture next time.

Anyway, I hope everyone had a great weekend. We sure did! We went out to eat and then to a pumpkin patch. The restaurant overlooks a big lake. Even though the food was good, I think that if it were icky it still would have been great. The view really makes all the difference. There is something so relaxing about eating and watching the water. Mimi was even a good girl and ate a ton of chicken. The pumpkin patch was also nice, although it was intended more for older kids. There were some toddler activities, but not many. Mimi's favorite part was petting the tiny goats.

Of course, the trip inspired me to decorate our porch.... which we had to finish building first. So once we finished it I decorated it with a hand painted Eeyore bird house from the pumpkin patch, mums, a TON of pumpkins, lanterns, and little flower pots. Oh yes, and ribbons, tons of ribbons and bows. I bought some colorful corn at the pumpkin patch and tied big fall ribbons around them and hung them up. My husband was shocked when he saw the decorations. I went from nothing to everything. hehe

Mimi picked this one out 

Mums!

And more mums!

I could go on and on with the photos but I will stop for now! :)

The crust 

Sprinkle on the oats and bake

Oatmeal Raspberry Bars (Or any other jam)
Serving Size = Roughly 15 bars
Original Recipe: This Woman Cooks (and Beloved Green)
*Update: I tried the recipe with 1/4 cup of sugar instead of 3/4 and still find it delicious. :)

• 1 1/4 cups flour (use half wheat and half white)
• 3/4 cup brown sugar (I would decrease to 1/4 or 1/2 cup for a breakfast bar)
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 3/4 cup cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
• 2 cups of oats + 1/3 extra (the extra 1/3 was my addition, see notes below)
• 1 cup berry jam (I used raspberry)

1. Preheat oven to 375F.
2. In a bowl, mix together the wheat flour, brown sugar, salt and cinnamon. Cut the butter into thin slices and add to the bowl. With a mixer on medium, mix until it starts to form a solid dough (I'm sure you could use your food processor as well). Pour in the old-fashioned oats and kneed them until combined.
3. (Topping: At this point I wasn't sure what to do. I think I was suppose to take 1/3 cup of the dough mixture and set it aside. I skipped this and instead just used an additional 1/3 cup of oats at the end. I will use the dough mixture next time though.)
4. Grease a 13x9-inch pan. Place the dough into the pan and pat it down until it's even across the bottom. Place the jam on top evenly and then sprinkle on the 1/3 cup of oats.
5. Bake for 25 minutes until the top of the oats start to turn golden brown. Pull them out and let them cool completely or they will crumble apart. Can be stored on the counter or in the fridge.

Linking to: Hearth and Soul, Savvy Homemade Monday