Pineapple Jam Crumb Bars

The end of the week comes around and all you wanna do is lay back and enjoy the last 24 hours before you have to begin a new round of school drama, homework, tests, early mornings, and late night study sessions. My go-to thing to relax and get away from the world is baking (and running, dancing, playing the piano, painting from time to time, watching shows, and...yes, I like to organize stuff, hence my OCD). So, today, I was eyeing my new prized possession. A 127 recipe book with everything you need to and want to know to succeed in a kitchen with an oven. I read through the ones that caught my attention, and this one Jam Crumble Bars was one of them. Although the recipe called for raspberry jelly and pecans, I didn't have any of these two around in the kitchen, so I had to improvise. I grabbed a jar of the best pineapple jelly in Honduras (an old lady from Guinope makes it) and skipped the pecans and added oatmeal instead (weird, I know, but tasty). This was so, so easy to make! And I have so many ideas for what kind of jelly to use in the future that would make them so distinct in their own way (strawberry jelly, apple jelly, apricot jelly, or even grape jelly).  

Pineapple Jam Crumb Bars

Makes about 9, 1" bars

(Per 1 bar: 133 calories, 5.3 (g) Fat, 20.6 (g) Carbs, 1.2 (g) Protein)

Ingredients:

• 2/3 cup flour
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/8 cup oatmeal
• 1/8 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 stick unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup pineapple jam (the recipe called for blackberry or raspberry jam but any kind is fine!) 

Directions: 

1. Preaheat oven to 350 degrees F
2. Line a baking pan with aluminum foil
3. In food processor (I used an electric mixture) blend flour, oatmeal, brown sugar, baking soda, and cinnamon.
4. Add butter and process until mixture resembles coarse crumbs and when pressed, holds together
5. Add about 3/4 of the mix to the bottom of the pan; reserve the rest for later
6. With a spatula or a table knife, spread the jam evenly on the dough
7. Crumble the rest of the dough on top
8. Bake for about 30-40 minutes or until it starts to golden
9. When cool, lift foil out of pan; peel foil away
10. Cut and serve! (I wonder what they would taste like if served warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top. Hm... maybe next time.)