Chocolate, Coconut, Butterscotch and Oatmeal Cake Cookies: Raspberry Oat Bars

I am excited about three things at this exact moment. First that it time again for Blogger C.L.U.E. Society. Second is that the theme for May is berries. Third but the most exciting is that I was paired with Kim from Liv Life. I belong to this secret society of sorts where each month we are paired with another food blogger, given a theme and set off to explore our assigned bloggers blog and hunt down a recipe that matches the theme and we are excited about making.

Although I have actually never met Kim, I feel like we have been friends for years. We actually have been Facebook friends for years. She was originally from the Bay Area and now resides in the San Diego area with her Pilot hubby, talented daughter Liv, smart son and their two adorable Maltese doggies. I feel like we have a lot in common since our hubbies both fly airplanes. My hubby flies small planes for fun and wishes he was an airline pilot, where her hubby is one. We both have two doggies and they are a large part of our worlds. We both have blogs and love to cook. I have a open invitation for her to come to Friday Night Bites and enjoy wine and appetizers with my hubby and me. I truly hope she will take me up on the offer one day soon. Smile.

I spent several hours combing Kim’s site to pick just the right recipe that sang to me and had the secret ingredient – berries. After narrowing down my choices I finally settled on her Strawberry Oatmeal Jam Bars. I thought I would mix it up a bit and made it with raspberries since they are my absolute favorite berry on this planet. I also added a teaspoon of orange liquor to the jam to kick it up just a tiny notch. I like a tall bar cookie so I increased the quantities a bit. The end result was heaven in my mouth. Hubby loved them. Thank you Kim for such a wonderful recipe and I look forward to having you and your hubby over for Friday Night Bites one day soon!

Raspberry Oat Bars

Make 16 two inch squares

¾ Cup Brown Sugar

1 ½ Cup Flour

½ teaspoon Baking Soda

¼ teaspoon Salt

¾ Cup Rolled Oats

¾ Cup Butter, cut into small cubes

1 Cup Raspberry Jam

1/3 Cup Fresh Raspberries

1 teaspoon Orange Liquor

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray an 8 inch square pan with cooking spray and set aside. You can also line with parchment paper as an alternative to the cooking spray, which I did. It makes it easy to remove and cut into even pieces.

In a large bowl, combine the brown sugar, flour, baking soda, salt and rolled oats. Drop the butter into the flour mixture and rub with your fingers or a pastry cutter to form a crumble. Press 2 cups of the mixture into the prepared pan and spread the jam over the top and drizzle the orange liquor on top and gently spread over the jam. Sprinkle the raspberries over the jam and then sprinkle with the remaining crumble mixture, gently pressing the crumble into the top of the jam.

Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, or until the bars are lightly browned. Remove from the oven and cool on a wire rack. Allow the bars to cool completely before cutting into squares.