Cherry Raspberry Jam Bars
These Cherry Raspberry Jam Bars are inspired by one of my favorites treats, Danish Raspberry Slices also known a Hindbærsitter.
Servings: 9
Ingredients
Cherry Raspberry Jam
- 400 grams dark sweet cherries fresh or frozen
- 200 grams raspberries fresh or frozen
- 50 grams granulated sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Shortbread
- 110 grams salted butter soft
- 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 75 grams powdered sugar
- 1 egg large, room temperature
- 200 grams all purpose flour
Toppings
- 200 grams powdered sugar more as needed
- 2-3 tablespoons tart cherry juice more as needed
- 2 tablespoons freeze dried cherries strawberries or raspberries will work too!
Instructions
Cherry Raspberry Jam
- Add the frozen cherries, raspberries, sugar, salt, and vanilla into a medium pot. If using fresh fruit, add a couple splashes of water into the pot to keep the fruit from burning as they release their juices.
- Place the pot over medium low heat, if using fresh fruit, cover the pot with a lid for the first 5-10 minutes until the fruit juices start bubbling.
- Cook the jam, stirring occasionally. It should go from small bubbles to big foamy frothy bubbles and then back down to a thick small bubble jam.
- Once you get to this stage, it's done cooking and time to turn off the heat. Allow the jam to cool completely - to speed this up you can pour it onto a quarter sized baking sheet. If you have time, transfer the jam to the fridge after it has cooled to room temperature.
Shortbread
- In a medium bowl, add in the butter, powdered sugar, salt, and vanilla. Beat on medium low speed until smooth and combined.
- Crack in the egg and beat again. Lastly, add in the flour and mix briefly until just combined.
- Pour the dough onto a sheet of plastic wrap and wrap it into a rectangle approximately one inch thick.
- Transfer the dough to the freezer and let it chill for at least 30 minute until cold and firm. You can also chill the dough in the fridge it will just take upwards of 2 hours.
Assemble and Bake
- Preheat the oven to 350 F and place a rack in the center of the oven. Once chilled, take the dough out of the freezer. Unwrap the dough and cut it in half, rewrap one half and place it in the fridge to stay cold.
- Place the one piece of dough between two sheets of parchment paper and carefully use a rolling pin to roll it out to approximately 5.5" x 8".
- Use a bench scraper or knife to trim any areas that are going out of shape and add them back to any where that isn't quite hitting the shape. Take your time with this - the neater and more precise you are here, the better your bars will look.
- Line a baking sheet with a piece of parchment. Peel away the top layer of parchment from the dough you've just rolled out. Using the second piece of parchment, flip the dough over onto the parchment lined baking sheet and peel away the remaining parchment.
- Repeat with rolling out the second piece of shortbread for the tops of the bars.
- Spoon the chilled jam overtop and spread it all the way to the edges.
- Using the same method, peel away one sheet of parchment from the second piece of dough and use the remaining parchment to flip the dough over onto the jam. Peel away the remaining parchment and you should now have stack of dough, jam, dough.
- Press down on the top layer of dough slightly but there is no need to seel the edges.
- Bake the bars for 35-40 minutes until the top layer of dough look dry and the edges have started to brown.
- Once baked take the tray out of the oven and leave it to cool to room temperature before glazing.
Toppings
- In a small bowl whisk together the powdered sugar and tart cherry juice to make the glaze. It should be thick but still flow. If needed add more cherry juice or powdered sugar until you reach your desired consistency.
- Spoon or pour the glaze onto the cooled bars and use the back of a spoon or an offset spatula to spread the glaze to the edges.
- Optionally crumble freeze dried cherries or raspberries over top.
- Use a long sharp knife to trim the scraggly edges off of the bar before cutting into 9 equal bars.
- Store the bars at room temperature for up to 3-4 days.
Notes
Tips for making Cherry Raspberry Slices
- Almost any jam will work for these jam bars, I recommend making your own as storebought jams can be overly sweet which will result in a very sweet slice. That being said anything from strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, currants, and more will work for the jam filling. When it come to the cherry glaze you can always swap the tart cherry juice for lemon juice!
- Make sure your butter and egg are both at room temperature to get soft smooth dough.
- Don't rush the chilling of the shortbread, the dough should feel firm and hard, not soft and squishy when you begin to roll it out.
- The shortbread dough for this recipe is very soft so be gentle and roll it out between two sheets of parchment.
- The actual size of the shortbread layers doesn't really matter a long a both sheets are the same size and the dough isn't more than 1/8" thick.
- If you can't find tart cherry juice, just lemon juice will also be delicious!