Bar Cookies in a Tart Pan

I have been collecting bar cookie recipes for some time now. I had never baked one and although my favorite is lemon bars, what started this odyssey into actually baking a bar cookie was this.....

The Nudge's Mom has cancer and we finally had to call Hospice Care.
She's 93, had a wonderful life, her death will be a painless one and she has her whole family around her. She's actually OK with it. She said she had to go sooner or later and she's happy she knows how and when.

Pretty nifty lady.

For us to visit her, you have read me mention, was a trip that took over an hour one way so we went once a month when none of the other kids were there so she always had company every weekend.

The last time we were there we noticed she would eat only 2 bites of her dinner (which by the way was a sandwich every night) so knowing she loved Lemon Meringue Pie I found a recipe on Martha's site and thought I would make bite sized Lemon Meringue bar cookies for her to eat.

The weekend we were supposed to visit she wasn't feeling well and we never when.
The desire to be so close to baking my first bar cookie recipe was enough to propel me over the edge.

I was going to make one or give up the chase.

Yesterday was the day...........YAY for me!!!

It was a toss-up between a Smitten Kitchen Blueberry Crumb Bar recipe and a recipe I got somewhere probably before the age of blogging (no name or credits on it), a Streusel Topped Jam Bar Cookie recipe. I choose the Streusel one because the top and bottom where two different mixtures and the crumb bars used the same mix for both.

The Nudge does not like lemon so I let him pick his filling.
He choose Blackberry.

Yesterday it was finally cool enough to crank up the oven and a good day to bake.
Dinner was a one pot pasta dish and easy, so I had the time.

Instead of a 9x9 Pyrex I used my tart pan again. I halved the recipe for the 9" pan but I think I would go up to the next size - to the 10". The crust was pretty thick. It is OK because it's a shortbread recipe and it wasn't overly sweet.

Actually the whole recipe had very low sugar in it. The only thing that was sweet was the streusel topping which I sprinkled demarara sugar on before baking.

The Nudge stopped on his way home for a pint of vanilla ice cream.

Dinner and dessert were deemed a keeper.




Streusel Jam Bar Cookies
Makes 24

Base
1 c. (2 sticks) ICBINB baking sticks, softened
1 c. granulated Splenda No Calorie sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 lg. egg or 1/4 cup substitute
2 c. whole wheat pastry flour
1 (10 oz.) jar blackberry preserves

Streusel
1 c. whole wheat pastry flour
1/4 c. cold butter
1/4 c. granulated Splenda No Calorie sugar

1. Preheat oven to 350ºF.

2. Grease a 9x13-inch baking pan.

3. In large mixing bowl, cream the butter, 1 cup granulated sugar and the vanilla extract on medium speed until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg. Reduce the mixer speed to low and gradually add the flour until well blended.

4. Press into prepared pan. Heat the strawberry preserves until melted. Spread over the base to within 1/2" of edges.

5. Streusel: Combine streusel ingredients til crumbly using a pastry blender or two forks. Sprinkle evenly over the preserves. Bake for 35-40 minutes or until top is golden brown. Remove to wire rack to cool completely. Cut into bars. Store in airtight container.

And yes, for dessert, we eat off paper plates. I do enough dishes in this house.