Oats and Berry Squares

We baked a few goodies for the Holiday Season - we meaning me mainly, with my little girl being a fairly willing but rather inexperienced sous chef :)

Mostly Christmas Sugar cookies, some Lemon Butter cookies and a batch of these fairly "healthy" oats and berry squares. I had canned some Blueberry+Raspberry preserves from all the berries we picked over summer which seemed like a good filling for these simple oats and berry bars.

If using butter alternatives like Smart Balance™ or Earth Balance™ they don't behave the same way as traditional butter - they are too soft. If shaping them into cookies, preferably refrigerate for 2-4 hrs before working with it and even then, work really fast... but, as far as these bars go, it seemed fine - we just want a crumbly mixture to pack at the bottom and the Smart Balance™ Omega that I used seemed to work all right.

Ingredients
1 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
½ cup Smart Balance™ Omega butter or regular unsalted butter
1 cup unbleached all purpose flour
1 cup quick-cooking oats
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ cup berry preserves

Preparation

1. Beat brown sugar and butter until fluffy
2. Stir in flour and baking powder till it makes a crumbly mixture; reserve ¼ cup (or more) mixture for topping
3. Grease an 8-inch baking pan and pat the crumbly mixture at the bottom in a single uniform layer; spread the berry preserve in a single uniform layer over it; top with the reserved crumbly mixture
4. Bake in a 350°F oven for about 30-40 minutes till brown
5. Cool on a wire rack and cut into little squares or into rectangular bars. I like to cut it into little squares so it is easy to allow the kids to enjoy a reasonable portion at a time.