I come from a long line of jam lovers. I don't think there is a person in my whole family that doesn't love jam in one way or another. When we were children my mother always filled our cakes with a layer of jam and as a special treat when we were enjoying a bowl of ice cream she always spooned a bit of jam over top.
My mother made beautiful jam. She used to fill our freezer with Strawberry Freezer Jam during strawberry season and we would enjoy it all winter long. Today is Mother's Day in North America. My second one without my dear sweet mother. Oh how I miss her dreadfully.
I thought I would bake a sweet jam delight for us to enjoy today in her memory and honor. Small Batch Jam Crumble Bars. I did downsize the recipe to fit the smaller family. As well, we have a shortage of flour at the moment, so I am eeking it out very carefully, trying not to waste any of it.
I think mom would approve. She hated wasting anything and could squeeze a dollar's worth of anything out of a penny!
These Small Batch Jam Crumble Bars are the bomb! With their plain cake bottoms, sweet jam filling and crumble topping, they never fail to please!
You can use whatever jam you want in the filling. Today I used Bonne Maman's Berries and Cherries. But we also love Strawberry Jam in it as well as Raspberry Jam. OH and Peach . . . Peach Jam is lovely when I can find it.
Just look at the beautiful texture of that cake. Oh I do so love jam and cake . . . just saying that makes me feel all Winnie the Poohish.
I could hug them close to me and smoosh them up tight like Winnie's honeypot!
I know my mom would have loved them as well. She used to make us these gorgeous Feather Squares at Christmas time.
They were very similar except they were topped with meringue and flaked coconut before browning until the coconut and the meringue turned golden brown . . .
Just like a snowy field all topped with goosedown . . . we looked so forward to them every year. Our jam loving family.
They were only good for about a day or so because of the meringue, but that really wasn't a problem. We gobbled this one a year treat right up pronto!
In any case these delicious Small Batch Jam Crumble Bars are going to last you a bit longer than a day. The recipe makes 8 bars and depending on how greedy you are, they will you last up to a week when stored in an airtight container!
Small Batch Jam Crumble Bars
Yield: Makes 8 bars
Our favourite bar recipe downsized for the smaller family. You have a cake type bottom, filled with sweet jam (pick your favourite) and a crumble topping. Delicious.
Ingredients:
- 95g granulated sugar (1/2 cup)
- 210g plain flour (1 1/2 cups)
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 120g cold butter, cut into cubes (1/2 cup)
- 1 large free range egg, lightly beaten
- 160g your favourite fruit jam (1/2 cup
- icing sugar to dust
Instructions:
- Preheat the oven to 190*C/375*F/ gas mark 5. Butter a 9 by 5 inch loaf tin and line it with baking paper. Set aside.
- Sift the flour and baking powder into a bowl. Add the salt and sugar. Cut in the butter with a pastry blender until the mixture resembles fine bread crumbs. Stir in the beaten egg with a fork. The dough should be dry and crumbly, but should form a dough when pressed together.
- Remove 100g (1/2 cup) for the topping and press the remainder of the dough into the prepared pan. Spoon the jam over top and spread it out evenly. Crumble the reserved dough evenly over top.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 40 to 45 minutes until golden brown and the edges have begun to pull away from the sides of the pan. Let cool completely on a wire rack.
- To serve dust with some icing sugar and cut into squares. You can keep these delicious bars stored in an airtight container for up to a week.
Oh I found myself longing for a roast beef dinner today . . . our landlord was going to pick us up a roast at the shops, but brought back a ready made beef bourguignon. UGH . . . I would rather make my own, but I guess beggars can't be choosers! I should be grateful he picked me up anything at all! Oh well! Happy Mother's Day to all my North American readers!
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