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Jam a few bars

Cut the fat and sugar and bump up the fiber with these Jam Bars from The Recipe Doctor. (Photo courtesy of the Recipe Doctor / The Spokesman-Review)
Elaine Magee The Spokesman-Review
Cut the fat and sugar and bump up the fiber with these Jam Bars from The Recipe Doctor. (Photo courtesy of the Recipe Doctor / The Spokesman-Review)

Dear Recipe Doctor: My grandma used to make these jam bars with some type of oat and white flour sugar crumb mixture. I’ve been thinking about them lately and can’t find the original recipe. Can you figure out a light version of this?

A: Pick a jam, any jam. That’s right, this recipe works with whatever less-sugar jam or preserve you love the most. For me, it’s raspberry or boysenberry. But you can put almost any preserves you want in the middle, and it will turn out great.

These bars are easy to make and perfect for a potluck – just bake and take. Double the recipe, though so you’ll have enough on that potluck platter.

These bars already call for high-fiber oats, but we are also using half whole-wheat flour, which pumps up the fiber a bit. The fat is trimmed by half and the sugar reduced by a third. One of these bars has more fiber than most of the granola and breakfast bars on the market (3 or more grams.)

The original recipe contains 225 calories, 9 grams fat, 5.5 grams saturated fat and only 1 gram fiber per bar (without nuts).

Favorite Jam Bars

1 1/2 cups quick oats

3/4 cup whole-wheat flour

3/4 cup unbleached white flour

3/4 cup brown sugar, packed

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup less-fat margarine (with 8 grams fat per tablespoon)

4 tablespoons low-fat buttermilk (add one more tablespoon if needed)

2/3 - 3/4 cup less sugar jam or preserve of choice

1/3 cup finely chopped walnuts or pecans (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat a 9-by-9-inch or 8-by-8-inch baking pan with canola cooking spray.

Add oats, flours, brown sugar, baking soda and salt to a large mixing bowl and beat with electric mixer on low speed to combine. Add margarine in chunks and beat on medium speed, cleaning margarine off beaters several times until a nice crumb has formed.

Drizzle buttermilk over the top of oat mixture and blend with mixer just until your crumb mixture has moistened nicely. Add one more tablespoon of buttermilk if needed. Spread 2 cups of oat mixture in the bottom of the prepared baking dish and press firmly. Spread jam on top with spoon.

Stir nuts (if desired) into the remaining oat mixture and sprinkle it over the jam in pan. Press firmly. Bake in the center of oven until golden brown (about 20 minutes). Let cool and cut into 16 bars.

Yield: 16 bars

Approximate nutrition per bar (without nuts): 155 calories, 4 grams fat (.8 grams saturated, 23 percent fat calories), 3 grams protein, 28 grams carbohydrate, less than 1 milligram cholesterol, 3 grams dietary fiber, 233 milligrams sodium.

Approximate nutrition per bar (with nuts): 168 calories, 5.5 grams fat (.8 grams saturated, 29 percent fat calories), 4 grams protein, 29 grams carbohydrate, 29 grams cholesterol, 3.3 grams dietary fiber, 233 milligrams sodium.

Weight Watchers points: 3