Black Cherry Jam & Granola Crumb Bars

I spent last weekend in Richvale, California for my cousin’s wedding.  My mom grew up there.  It’s a small rice farming town where quite a few of my cousins are carrying on the rice farming business.  I was able to visit with a lot of family this weekend, many of whom remember me as being “just this big!” the last time they saw me.  The last day we were there we had brunch with my mom’s cousin’s family and a few other people.  Their daughter is a senior in high school and we started talking about baking.  She said one of her favorite things to make were these jam bars that had granola on top.  I asked her where she found the recipe and she said it was from a Barefoot Contessa cookbook.  As luck would have it I was able to find the recipe on food network’s website.  Thanks for sharing this recipe, Emily!  It is truly amazing.

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You can easily make these bars your own by using your favorite jam, your favorite granola or your favorite nuts.  I used Hero black cherry jam, an almond vanilla granola and sliced almonds.

These come together quickly, bake up beautifully and, once cooled, slice up wonderfully.  The crust is thick enough to keep them sturdy.  I cut my 8-inch square pan into 9 squares, but that makes for a hefty bakery-sized serving.  Which is really fine by me!  But you can cut the pan into 12 squares or cut larger squares into smaller ones after taking them out of the pan.

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Black Cherry and Granola Crumb Bars

From Ina Garten

Ingredients

  • 2 sticks of butter, room temperature
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 2 1/3 cups flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 jar (10-12 ounces) of your favorite jam
  • 2/3 cups granola (without dried fruits)
  • 1/4 cup sliced almonds (or your favorite nut)

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
  2. Beat butter, sugar and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer (or with a hand mixer) until combined.  And in the vanilla and beat.
  3. Whisk the flour and salt together.  Add the flour mixture to the butter and mix on low until it just comes together.  Remove about 1 to 1/2 cups of the dough.  Pat the remaining dough into the bottom and about 1/4 way up the sides of an 8-inch square pan.
  4. Spread the jam onto the crust, but not onto the edges.
  5. Mix the reserved dough with the granola then evenly spread over the jam.  Sprinkle with the almonds.
  6. Bake for 45 minutes.
  7. Let cool completely before cutting into squares.