Rich, gooey and super easy Raspberry Shortbread Bars!
Raspberry Shortbread Bars
This is a winning recipe for so many reasons. The delicious shortbread laced with chopped pecans, serves as both the base and the crumble for the top of these bars. A slathering of raspberry preserves between these layers forms the wonderful gooey filling. That’s it! So simple. These bars have baked very consistently over the many years I’ve been making them (in different ovens) which means they’re virtually foolproof. They are also a huge hit with crowds. Perfect for picnics or as a dessert for any casual meal.
When spreading the preserves, be sure to leave a 1/2″ border so it doesn’t ooze out and adhere to the edges of the pan. Oozing preserves in a PB&J is a good thing. Oozing preserves in your bars causes them stick to the sides of your pan making them hard to get out. Not a good thing,
Casual Lunch Menu
My inspiration for baking up a batch of these bars was a casual “catch-up” lunch with family. Everyone loved them! This easy menu included a mix of buy and serve selections, as well as a pasta salad and these bars which can be made a day in advance. Always a bonus when entertaining!
- Vegetable platter with dill dip
- Tortilla chips with a duo of salsas (including a spicy peach salsa I received as a hostess gift – thank you Donna & Bill!)
- Italian Sandwich Roll-ups
Enjoy the recipes for the Raspberry Shortbread bars, Dried Cherry Chicken Pasta Salad and the kick-off to the outdoor eating season. Yeah!
Raspberry Shortbread Bars
Ingredients
- 2 1/4 cup flour
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 cup chopped pecans
- 1 cup butter softened
- 1 egg
- 1 jar raspberry preserves (10 oz.)
Instructions
- Heat oven to 350 degrees.
- In large mixing bowl, combine all ingredients except raspberry preserves. Beat at low speed, scraping bowl often, until well mixed (1-2 minutes.) Reserve 1 1/2 cup mixture for topping. Set aside.
- Press remaining mixture into greased 8″ baking pan. Spread preserves within 1/2′ from edge. Crumble reserved topping mixture over preserves. Bake for 45-50 minutes, or until lightly browned. Cool completely before cutting bars.
I got a bit confused on the reserving of the dough mixture for crumbles on top so I saved 1 3/4 c but found it to bed too much. Did I do it right? Or was it just suppose to be 3/4 c?
My bad, it’s actually supposed to be 1 1/2 cup of reserved dough for the crumbles on top (I have updated the recipe.) It will still seem like a lot, but it works if you crumble the mixture as it covers the top of the bars.
I love these bar cookies. I brought them to a church picnic and got rave reviews from 5 people. Thank you for this recipe. Will make again.
So glad you liked them. They are one of my personal favs too!
I’ve made these with apricot jam as well. Yummy.
Oh, that sounds like a great option. I’ll have to give that a try. š
Diane brought these to the picnic and they were delicious. So I am making them for Maggie’s grad party.
Easy and fabulous can’t beat that.
Everyone who tries them loves them!
Fantastic!
These sound delicious and pretty simple to make. I love raspberry, I will be trying them out.
Get in my belly! That’s what comes to mind when I look at these scrumptious bars.