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These Jam Bars can be made in minutes using your favorite flavor of jam in between a base and topping topping of oatmeal, butter and sugar.
Oatmeal Jam Bars
I recently had lunch with an older friend. During lunch we got talking about old family recipes and how much we love a recipe written out by hand, especially when it is in the handwriting of someone we know. We also talked about how every recipe has a story behind it. Bev shared with me the stories behind the recipes she had made us for lunch that day.
Of course I had to ask her for the recipes for the things she made for lunch!
On the back of the recipe for the Apricot Jam Bar Cookies she wrote the following :
“This is a recipe I copied from my mother before I was married in 1962. I left the “oleo” here in the recipe for fun as you never see that anymore. So you know this is an old recipe. All my mother’s family, who were all great cooks have “oleo” in their recipes. We are from Ohio. My family has enjoyed this recipe for 50 years. Make sure Jim gets his share!”
Do I Have to Use Apricot Jam?
Bev used apricot jam for her cookies but you can use any flavor of jam you like. I have some cherry jam in my cupboard I am going to try next! We also love strawberry jam bars using my homemade strawberry jam in them.
How to Make Jam Bars
Combine baking powder, brown sugar, old fashioned oats, and butter in a bowl using a pastry cutter to combine ingredients until nice and crumbly.
- Press 2/3 of the mixture into the bottom of a 9 x 13 pan.
- Cover crust with 1 cup of your jam and then top with remaining flour/oat mixture.
- Bake at 350 for 35 minutes or until nice and golden brown.
- Allow them to cool and then cut them into bars and then of course enjoy!
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Other bar cookies you might enjoy:
- Lemon Cheesecake Bars
- Key Lime Bars
- Sour Cream Apple Bars
- White Chocolate Raspberry Bars
- Lemon Curd Bars
Jam Bar Recipe
Jam Bar
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1 1/2 cups old fashioned oats
- 3/4 cup cold butter
- 1 cup jam of choice
Instructions
- Mix the flour, baking powder, oats and brown sugar together.
- Cut in butter until crumbly.
- Pat 2/3 of this mixture into a 8 x 13 baking pan
- Spread with jam
- Top with remaining flour/oat mixture
- Bake at 350 for 35 minutes
- Cut into bars.
Mirtha says
… am I the only one wondering what “oleo” is????
Leigh Anne says
Oleo is what we now call margarine.
The HOME GIRL says
Oh my….this does look wonderful! My mother always hand-writes her recipes! I love that she does it! I hope she’ll give me her recipe box one day! =D
Thanks so much for linking up to the FESTIVE FRIDAY FIESTA Link Party!!! Have a wonderful weekend!
Mentor Mom says
I LOVE my handwritten recipes . . . with the stains all over them, and the words nearly unreadable at times. 🙂 I use them all the time; and some of mine have “oleo” as an ingredient, as well.
Last night, I used my Grandma’s Pie Crust Recipe to make my hubby’s favorite Apple/Blueberry Pie for his birthday.
For Christmas, I made a beautiful HANDWRITTEN Family Cookbook for my daughter-in-law. I bought a pre-designed book that was designed so that you could use your computer to print the recipes. However . . . I decided to handwrite the whole book, because handwritten is just So.Very.Special. 🙂 I want my grandchildren to grow up using “Grandma’s Recipes”, as well.
We make many, many quarts of homemade jam every year. (A few years ago we had 10 of our children living at home, and we picked several hundred pounds of berries and put up 150 quarts of jam. Yes. QUARTS.) I think I just might try this recipe with some Raspberry Jam today.
nancy says
Is the butter cold or at room temperature to “cut” into the mixture? Thanks. Going to store to get some jam.
Leigh Anne says
Good question – it was cold.
I will note that in the recipe.
Jean Russell says
Delicious!
Yes I remember my matriarchs using Oleo when I was young. Last month on TV I saw a short clip on the Oleo Wars and the “risk” some women had taken smuggling oleo into their kitchens. Quirky little history. Here is a link to a short article :
http://www.examiner.com/article/oleo-wars
Leigh Anne says
Thanks for the link and will definitely check it out!