Raspberry-Almond Cookie Bars

Remember the Old World Raspberry bars that I posted in April?  Well, here is another near cousin of those and I think I like them better.  They are a great cookie to make on the spur of the moment because you usually have all of the ingredients on hand.  Another amazing recipe from the girls at Our Best Bites.

2 ¼  cup flour
½ cup granulated sugar
½ cup plus 2 tablespoons packed brown sugar
1 cup old fashioned oats
1 teaspoon kosher salt (if using table salt, decrease to ½ teaspoon)
1 cup butter (2 sticks) at room temperature
1 egg, slightly beaten
1 ½ teaspoons almond extract
¾ cups raspberry preserves, homemade is best
1 tablespoon coarse turbinado or raw sugar, optional

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line an 8×8 pan with a parchment sling (lay an 8″ strip of parchment across bottom of pan so it hangs over each end, and then lay another the opposite direction.  Alternately you could just line the pan with foil, or simply spray with non-stick spray.  Lining the pan makes it easy to remove the bars and cut.)

Combine flour, white and brown sugars, oats, and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer.  Cut butter into chunks and add to bowl along with beaten egg and almond extract.  Turn mixer on and let mix until the mixture comes together into a cohesive dough that looks like coarse crumbs.  Remove 2 cups of dough (about half) and set aside.  Press remaining dough into the bottom of the prepared pan.  Spread preserves on top, avoiding the very edge of dough.  Take remaining dough and crumble on top of preserves in an even layer.  If desired, sprinkle with turbinado sugar.

Bake for 40-50 minutes until slightly golden brown on top.  Cool completely before cutting into squares.

The only problem with this recipe is it makes an 8x8-inch pan.  I always double it and put it in a 9x12.