Bake: Almond Jam Bars

I didn’t realize that it was possible for something to be as stuck-in-my-head as the Beverly Hills 90210 theme song. Even though I’ve hardly watched the show, something about the theme makes it so…me and nostalgic. Yes that means that even Lady Gaga and Jay-Z are not capable of putting their music on replay in my head for as long as the 90210 theme song does. Weird, isn’t it?

That’s not the only weird thing that’s happened to me. When I tried to bake almond jam bars, I failed miserably. My second baking failure. And it just has to happen when I bake something with one of my favorite flavors of anything: almond. My mom told me that I shouldn’t put this on my blog, but not everyone’s perfect, so why not?

I tried to bake something I saw on 17 and Baking: Blackberry Jam Almond Bars. Hers looked so beautiful and the recipe seemed awfully simple too. I guess I must have made a mistake. The worst part about failing is not knowing why you failed. That’s what I’m going through right now.

Almond Jam Bars (Adapted from 17 and Baking)
Recipe barely adapted from Sophistimom
Makes a half sheet of bars

Bars
1 cup (2 sticks or 224g) unsalted butter at room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 teaspoons pure almond extract
4 eggs
3 cups (300g) unbleached all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup  jam

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a half sheet (13″x18″ rimmed sheet) with butter or nonstick spray.

Cream together butter and sugar with an electric mixer until smooth and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes. Add in eggs, one at a time, incorporating well after each addition. Add in vanilla and almond extract. Slowly add flour and salt, and mix until just incorporated.

Spread the batter into the prepared pan. It’s okay if you can’t quite get the corners, since it will spread during baking. Drop teaspoonfuls of jam evenly over the batter. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until the edges start to turn golden brown.

Allow to cool, then cut into squares.

Why Natalie is unhappy:

• The original recipe told me to put jam by the teaspoons. I did. EPIC FAIL. Big bubbly blobs of boiling jam. Gross, icky, ugh!
• The original recipe also told me to put my dough in a 13″x18″ pan since “it would spread”. Wrong, wrong, wrong! It hardly spread. There was no baking soda/powder involved, either.

How Natalie Managed to Salvage Her Bars:

I cut off the unnecessary edges and put them on another plate. I proceeded to cut the jam bars into small rectangles. They turned out really pretty! When I showed them to my dad and sister, they thought they were delicious!

So tastewise, I guess it was cool. Visually, not so much, that is until I salvaged the situation with some not-so-quick thinking on my part. 😉

Would you like a bite too? Don't worry, they still taste fine!

You seriously don’t believe that it tastes good? Think about it my friends. Sugar+butter+eggs+flour+vanilla+almonds=how bad can it get? Oh, and don’t forget the jam I so cleverly lathered on top.