My friend the late Shirley DeSantis, an amazing cook who I always wish had lived closer, turned me on to these Raspberry Streusel Bar. Also called Chocolate Raspberry Squares, her recipe was a lower fat version from Jeanne Jones, a cookbook author with a talent for lightening up recipes by lowering sugar and fat. I've since reverted back to the old "fully loaded" version. The buttery oat shortbread bars are more filling so a little square seems to satisfy just as much as a larger square with less butter.
Lowering the Sugar
So these aren't health food, but they do have some fiber from the oats and nuts. Plus they're actually really good with low sugar preserves, so you can cut the sugar somewhat. I'm pretty sure using a 1:1 sugar substitute for baking like Swerve, Truvia or Splenda Magic Baker would work, and I'm 100% sure Lily's sugar free chocolate chips would be great.
White or Dark Chocolate Chips
The bars are good with white chips or dark chocolate chips. I've always used white chips, which you can see should be buried underneath the streusel lest they turn brown! They almost look like macadamia nuts in this old photo. I made the latest batch with regular size dark chocolate chips, but Chocolate Raspberry Squares are a little more elegant looking with the miniature ones.
Recipe
Raspberry Streusel Bars or "Chocolate Raspberry Squares
Ingredients
- 1-¼ cups quick oats (can also use old fashioned) (120 grams)
- 1-¼ cups all purpose flour (170 grams)
- ⅔ cup sugar, half white and half brown (130 grams)
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 12 tablespoons butter, cut into chunks (salted)
- ¾ cup raspberry preserves or jam (use more or less)
- ⅓ cup chopped or sliced almonds
- ½ cup chocolate chips or white chips (can use more or less)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease an 8-inch square pan.
- In large bowl combine oats, flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.
- Cut in the butter until crumbly. You can do this in a food processor, with you hands or with a pastry cutter. Reserve 1 cup of this mixture, then press remaining mixture into bottom of prepared pan and bake for 10 minutes.
- Spread the raspberry preserves evenly over baked crust to ¼ inch of edges.
- Mix the almonds with the reserved crumb mixture and sprinkle over the fruit spread. If using the semisweet chips, sprinkle them on top before baking. If using white chips, you can sprinkle on a few, but make sure they are covered with crumble so they won't turn brown.
- Return to oven and bake for 25-30 more minutes. Immediately pull from oven and sprinkle any remaining white chips. Let bars cool before cutting into squares.
Anna says
Colleen, you can add them to the reserved crumbs or sprinkle at the end. It's up to you.
colleen says
well - the recipe is great, but what do you do with the white chips?? it's in the list of ingredients, but nowhere in the recipe does it say if they are sprinkled on top or added to the 1 cup of reserved topping...
Shabby Miss Jenn says
OMG I'm gaining pounds by just looking at those!
Paige says
Thanks for that info! I'm always on the lookout for cookbooks with nutritional info. Please post if you know any more good ones!
Anna says
Yeah. I block out with Ace of Base now.
Joe says
It's nice to know there are others with a "freakish encyclopedic knowledge of calories" buzzing around their head! 😉