Strawberry Streusel Bars

During the storm last night I decided that I would go ahead and make something for church. However, I did not think that there would be anyone there to eat it due to the weather. I was pleasantly surprised this morning to see the sun shining. BabyGirl was excited about this also. She kept asking me yesterday where was the sun. Which in her words was more like, see sun? * she points to the sky* No, no, sun. Then we go through the whole thing again with the moon. Riveting stuff here at our house. Aren’t you glad you stopped by to read this?
I pulled several recipes out from a Betty Crocker book that involved those packaged cookie mixes. I have not really ever used those before, but I think I might like them. I did have to change a few things to fit my taste. The original recipe called for raspberry jam, but I’m not a fan. I’m also not a fan of almond extract which was in the recipe. It tastes too medicinal in my opinion. Otherwise, I baked it as stated. Very fast, very easy. The most challenging thing about this dessert was crumbling up the dough for the top layer, and of course, waiting for it to cool before tasting.
The taste was like a sweet biscuit with a bit of a crunch and jelly in the center. Great breakfast treat.


Strawberry Streusel Bars
adapted from Betty Crocker
1 pouch (1 lb. 1.5 oz) sugar cookie mix
1/3 cup butter, melted
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg
½ cup seedless jam of your choice (i.e. strawberry, raspberry, apricot, or blackberry)

Heat oven to 350°F. Spray bottom of 8-inch square pan with cooking spray.
In large bowl, stir cookie mix, butter, flour, almond extract and egg until soft dough forms. Press half of dough into bottom of pan; bake 15 minutes. Spread jam over base. Crumble remaining dough over jam.
Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown. Cool completely, about 2 hours. For bars, cut into 5 rows by 5 rows.