New and Improved Raspberry Almond Bars
Not your typical Christmas cookie, but be prepared to hand out this recipe!
Ingredients
Crust
- 1/2 cup palm shortening
- 1 1/4 cups almond flour
- 1/4 cup arrowroot starch
- 1/2 tsp. pink or sea salt
- 1/4 cup maple sugar* see note or coconut sugar
Filling
- 1/2 cup seedless raspberry jam
Topping
- 1/4 cup coconut sugar or maple sugar
- 3 Tbsp. palm shortening
- 1/2 cup almond flour
- 1/4 cup arrowroot starch
- 8 oz. gluten free almond paste** see note
- 1 Tbsp. maple syrup or water
Optional Glaze
- 4 Tbsp. powdered sugar
- 1 tsp. water
Instructions
- Line an 11x7 or 9x9 baking dish with parchment paper and set aside. If you spray some cooking oil spray (I like avocado oil) on the pan, it will help the parchment paper stay in place.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Mix the crust ingredients until well combined. Pat into bottom of prepared baking dish. It doesn't have to be perfect, but try to get it fairly even.
- Bake for 15 minutes or until just starting to brown.
- While the crust is baking, place the jam in a bowl and microwave for a few seconds to loosen it up, which will make it easier to spread without disturbing the crust.
- Also, make the topping while the crust is baking: mix all the topping ingredients until you have a thick crumb mixture.
- When the 15 minutes is up, remove the crust from the oven and spread the jam evenly over crust.
- Sprinkle the topping on evenly and gently press down just a little bit.
- Return pan to the oven and bake 20 more minutes.
- Remove from the oven and cool completely.
- Drizzle with glaze if desired. Cut into fairly small pieces (these are rich so you just need a small piece) and store in a sealed container in the refrigerator.
Notes
*A note regarding the sugars used in this recipe: It is not a mistake that in the crust, I call for maple sugar, but note that you can substitute coconut sugar, and then in the topping, it's the reverse. You can use any of the paleo sweeteners you like, but these sugars have a strong flavor, unlike regular cane sugar, and I think the finished result is best when you don't use too much of any one of them. Coconut sugar, in particular, has a very strong flavor and a little goes a long way. Just know that I think the recipe turns out best when made as I have written it, but you can certainly adjust the sugars used if needed.
**To keep this recipe more paleo, make your own almond paste following this recipe:
9 oz. raw, unsalted almonds
1/2 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup coconut sugar
2 tsp. almond extract
2 Tbsp. water
2 Tbsp. arrowroot starch
Combine all ingredients in a food processor and mix until smooth. You can do this up to several days ahead and store in the refrigerator.