I'm so into these raspberry crumble bars.

I personally have a long history with the fruit and oat bar: a few years ago, finding out the history of the Mazurka bar (and it's an interesting one) became my Big Project. While I always loved the flavor of fruit and oat bars, delving into how they became so firmly planted in Seattle culture was fascinating to me.

But I've learned something since leaving Seattle: fruit and oat bars taste good everywhere. And this version, from the new book The Yellow Table, is stellar: simple, and perfectly flavored with brown sugar to complement the oats and nuts in the crust/topping. I hope you'll enjoy as much as I did!

RASPBERRY CRUMBLE BARS

Makes 16 bars

Come summer, these raspberry crumble bars are on regular rotation at our house. To keep things simple, the shortbread dough that’s used for the base doubles as a crunchy topping.

1 cup all‐purpose flour
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
1/2 cup (1 stick), plus 2 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into cubes 3/4 cup old‐fashioned rolled oats (not quick‐cooking)
1/4 cup finely chopped pecans
1/3 cup raspberry jam
1 cup fresh raspberries

Preheat the oven to 375°F. Butter an 8 x 8‐inch baking pan, or spray with non‐stick cooking spray.
In a food processor, pulse together the flour, brown sugar, and salt. Add the butter and pulse until the mixture comes together to form a dough. Turn the dough out into a bowl and use your hands to gently knead in the oats and pecans.

Set aside 1/2 cup of the dough and press the rest into the bottom of the prepared pan. Spread the raspberry jam evenly over the dough, leaving a 1/4‐inch‐thick border. Arrange the raspberries over the jam, then sprinkle with clumps of the reserved 1/2 cup of dough.

Bake until the edges are golden brown, about 30 minutes. It will be a bit gooey in the center when you take it out of the oven, but it firms up as it cools. Set the pan on a rack to cool for at least 30 minutes before cutting.
Run a knife around the edges of the pan to loosen the bars. Make one cut down the center, rotate the pan and make a second cut down the center to create four large bars. Using a large spatula, lift the bars out onto a big cutting board and cut them into smaller squares.

These are best when served the day they are baked, but you can store any remaining bars, in an airtight container, layered with parchment, at room temperature, up to 1 day.

Reprinted with permission from The Yellow Table published in 2015 by Sterling Epicure, an imprint of Sterling Publishing Co., Inc. © Anna Watson Carl. Photography by Signe Birck