DELICIOUS RASPBERRY OATMEAL COOKIE BARS

Steps:

• 1. Line an 8x8-inch baking dish with aluminum foil. Once lined, spray the inside of the foil lined baking dish with a no-stick cooking spray; set dish aside.
• 2. In a medium size bowl, add the flour, soda and salt. Stir ingredients with a spoon to mix. Now add the brown sugar, oats, and butter. Mix ingredients with a pastry blender, to form a crumbly mixture. (I used a fork to mix the ingredients together thoroughly. It did take at least 5 minutes to blend everything together.)
• 3. Add 2 cups of the oatmeal crumb mixture into the baking pan. Press the crumb mixture down firmly with your hand.
• 4. Spread the preserves to within 1/4 inch from the edge of the pan.
• 5. Sprinkle remaining oatmeal crumb mixture over the preserves. Press the crumb mixture some-what firmly on top the preserves.
• 6. Place pan in a preheated 350 degree oven, and bake bars for 40 minutes.
• 7. Once the bars are baked, allow to cool to room temperature. (I then refrigerate the bars for a couple hours, so they can firm up a bit.)
• 8. Use aluminum foil to lift bar mixture from the pan. Cut bars into 12 squares.
• 9. *Note: I made these bars twice, once using raspberry preserves, and the other using home-cooked strawberry jam, but I found I much preferred the bars with the raspberry preserves. I think these bars would taste great using apricot preserves, or another kind of tart-tasting jam or preserves.