These are really good, best maybe the next day, definitely not right out of the oven. They are a perfect make ahead and bring tomorrow kind of thing. And the more often you make them, the easier it will seem.

(We added a bit to this by making a simple jam from our own raspberry bushes that we’d frozen…)

Please note that you need to give yourself some time to do this, since one step has 2 hours with dough in the freezer. (You can do this portion up to a few days in advance.)

The bars can be store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days, and they freeze just fine as well, which helps us pace ourselves when eating them.

Raspberry Bar Recipe

1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) butter
1/2 cup granulated sugar
3 tablespoons confectioner’s sugar
2 egg yolks
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups unbleached all purpose flour
1 1/2 cups cake flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 sea salt
1 1/2 cups raspberry jam with seeds

Make the shortbread by first creaming together the butter and both sugars, for about 5 minutes, until mixture is light and fluffy.  Beat in the eggs and vanilla until evenly combined and thoroughly incorporated.

Sift together the all-purpose flour with the cake flour, baking powder and salt. Gradually add to the butter mixture, until evenly mixed, including every bit off the sides.

Scrape the dough onto a sheet of plastic wrap. Remove 1/4 of the dough to a separate piece of plastic wrap.  Wrap up the 3/4  of the dough, pressing down into disc shape, about 8″ across and 1″ thick. Refrigerate the disk for 30 minutes. Pat the reserved 1/4 bit of dough into a smaller disk and place in the freezer for at least two hours, until hard.

Position the rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350ºF.

Lightly flour the 8 inch disk and two large pieces of parchment paper. place the dough between sheets of parchment paper and roll it out into a rectangle about 9″ x 13″ and from 1/4 to 1/3 inch thick. Carefully peel off the top sheet of parchment. (If the dough sticks to the parchment, place it in the refrigerator for a few minutes.) Trim the edges so it has neat sides and transfer the parchment with the dough onto a baking sheet.

Bake for about 20 minutes, or until shortbread is light brown. Remove from the oven to let cool, while leaving the oven heated. After 15 minutes, spoon the raspberry jam on top of the still warm shortbread, spreading it in an even layer.

Remove the smaller dough disc from the freezer and using the large holes of a box grater, grate it into large flakes. Evenly sprinkle these flakes over the jam.

Return the baking sheet to the oven and bake for another 20 to 25 minutes, or until top is lightly browned. Let cool completely before cutting into bars.

Wow, right? Enjoy!