Jonathan Believes in Being Monogamous with Jelly

In the South Side on Friday, Biz bought the cookbook Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey by Jill O'Connor. I snatched it from her over dinner at Kassab's and made a modified version of a recipe in the book that evening.

P. 90 "Blackberry Jamble Shortbread Bars" are now "Jonathan's Strawberry Shortbread Bars"

1 lb/4 sticks unsalted butter (room temperature) - I used vegan margarine, worked fine
1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon salt
3 3/4 cups flour
1 cup almond flour - I took a cup of whole, raw almonds (because that was what was on my shelf) and pulsed them through the food processor until they were ground, it worked well
1 1/2 cups blackberry preserves - now, Jonathan ONLY likes strawberry preserves/jelly/etc. (he is very monogamous) so I used strawberry preserves, but really any fruit preserve would work well for this recipe
1/2 cup chopped almonds - I used slivered, worked fine
Confectioners sugar if you want to be fancy and dust it ... I didn't, not my style

Cream together butter and sugars (I used a hand mixer). Add in vanilla and salt.
Beat in flours until a soft dough forms (has the consistency of peanut butter cookie dough roughly).
Spray a 9 x 13 baking dish, spread 2/3 dough evenly on the bottom and cook at 325 degrees for 20 minutes.
Refrigerate the remaining 1/3 dough while the rest is baking.
Remove the pan after 20 minutes, spread the preserves over the almond shortbread.
Crumble the refrigerated 1/3 dough over the top, so it makes a nice topping.
Sprinkle almonds over the dough topping.
Bake for an additional 30 minutes on 325 degrees.

Notes:

I highly recommend cutting the bars while the pan is still warm, waiting until its cool means that the shortbread is hard and much more difficult to cut.

-Robin-