Deliciously simple raspberry shortbread bars are a melt-in-your-mouth shortbread base, sweet, tangy raspberry jam all topped off with more shortbread and crispy almonds.
I love a good portable cookie bar recipe, just like these Cinnamon Caramel Crumble Bars and my Caramel Apple Bars. Both also start with a shortbread base.
Imagine your favourite sweet raspberry jam sandwiched between two buttery layers of shortbread.
Ingredients for raspberry shortbread bars
To get a simple shortbread base, that goes all golden on the bottom and is full of buttery flavour, you just need a handful of ingredients for the whole recipe.
- Butter: Unsalted is perfect but if you use salted, make sure to leave out the additional salt called for.
- Sugar: Just regular white sugar is perfect. Brown sugar will work.
- Flour: Regular plain or all-purpose flour is what you need.
- Cornflour / cornstarch: This is the bit that makes this shortbread so melt-in-the-mouth.
- Salt: This intensifies all the flavours but leave it out if using salted butter.
- Flaked almonds: You can also use slivered or roughly chopped almonds or other nuts if you prefer.
- Raspberry jam / preserves: Use a good quality one since the flavours here are very simple. I love St Dalfour but any good chunky jam will be great.
How to make them
A few simple steps and you’ll have this simple yet delicious dessert ready to serve.
- Beat together butter and sugar until creamy. Then you add the rest of the ingredients and mix until it starts clumping.
- Press 2/3 of the shortbread mixture the base of an 8″ x 8″ baking tin like this one or something of a similar size. Bake for 15 minutes.
- Spread that luscious jam over the slightly cooled base.
- Scatter over the remaining shortbread dough and flaked almonds, then bake again to finish.
These raspberry shortbread bars are so simple but the tip for the best flavour is to make sure it’s turning golden before you remove it from the oven. That buttery goodness really shines through.
Can these be made ahead
Yes, you can make this jammy shortbread slice ahead of time. The dough can be made a couple of days in advance then bake as per the recipe.
You can also bake the base layer, let it cool, then add the toppings and cover for 2-3 days in the fridge. Then do the final bake when needed.
It can also be frozen baked or unbaked. While you can put it all together without baking the base, the best texture and flavour happens when that base is pre-baked.
More amazing bars and slices
Bars are one of my favourite things to make. Wonderful layers of flavour, they’re also portable, easy to serve and generally easy to make.
These Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars are my favourite with two layers of chocolate chip cookies sandwiching gooey caramel.
These Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Bars are the same thing with a cheesecake centre. Or get your cheesecake fix with these Oreo Cheesecake Bars.
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Now the only decision left is how many pieces to cut them into. Respectable 16, sensible 12 or totally delectable 8, maybe?
More recipes you’ll love
- Lemon Blueberry Shortbread Bars
- Honey Almond Slice
- Carrot Cake Bars
- Chewy Caramel Coconut Bars
- Strawberry Cheesecake Bars
- Coconut and Raspberry Cake
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Ingredients
- 226 g unsalted butter, softened (8oz / 2 sticks)
- 100 g caster (superfine) sugar (3.5oz / ½ cup)
- 260 g plain (all-purp) flour (2 cups / 9.2oz)
- 40 g cornflour (cornstarch) (⅓ cup / 1.4oz)
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup flaked almonds (50g / 1.8oz)
- 1 cup raspberry jam (300g / 10.5oz)
For best results, always weigh ingredients where a weight is provided
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180C / 350F / 160C fan forced. Line an 8×8 inch baking tin with baking paper.
- In a medium bowl (or the bowl of a stand mixer with paddle attachment), beat the butter and sugar until pale and creamy.
- Add the flour and cornflour and beat until it starts clumping.
- Scatter ⅔ of the dough into the tin and gently press out with your fingers until there are no gaps.
- Bake for 15 minutes, then let cool for 5-10 minutes.
- Gently spread over the raspberry jam.
- Scatter the remaining dough and almonds all over the top.
- Bake for a further 30-35 minutes or until it’s turning golden on top.
Notes
- I use a standard Australian 20ml tablespoon (4 teaspoons worldwide)
- For best results always weigh ingredients like flour and sugar. Kitchen scales like these
are relatively cheap but if you can’t weigh the ingredients, use the spoon and level method (don’t scoop). - Let the bars cool completely before cutting – chilled is best for neat slices. They’re best eaten at room temperature.
are relatively cheap but if you can’t weigh the ingredients, use the spoon and level method (don’t scoop).This post may contain affiliate links that earn me a small commission for my referral, at no extra cost to you. Thank you for supporting Sugar Salt Magic.
9 Comments on “Raspberry Shortbread Bars”
how long will these stay fresh? thanks
These will stay good for 3-4 days in an airtight container.
Hi,
Thank you for the recipe.
I want to try to make it this weekend, but I have question, when is the best time to cut the cookie bar ? so thet they will still look good and neat like yours.
Thanking you in advance and look forward for your reply.
Hi Aline, great question and I’ve updated with a note in the recipe card. They are best cooled completely before cutting. Cold from the fridge is best but they’re best eaten at room temperature. Happy baking 🙂
Delicious!
Your recipe leaves out adding vanilla which I did not notice but still delicious. But, you say 8 x 8 pan but show 9 x 13. Is the cook time the same? I would rather use the larger pan so they aren’t so thick. I am making them for a wedding So really need cook time on 9x 13 pan. Thanks!
Hi Joni, my apologies. I’ll fix up that missing vanilla in the recipe. In the pics I’m actually using a 6.5×10.5 inch tin so it’s closer to an 8×8 inch than the 9×13. The cooking time works fine for an 8×8 just keep an eye on it as all ovens are different. If it’s browning too quickly place a piece of foil over the top. Happy baking:)
Hi
I have made these twice now, the first time baked for 43min @180C and it came out burnt and very dry so it ended up in the bin ( that was Easter Sunday 🙁 ) The second time i reduced the temp to 160C and the time to 38 min, still wasn’t perfect. My oven temp is spot on and normally all bakes come out perfect- can there be a typo in this recipe? Keen to make these again but not confident anymore..
Thanks
Thanks.
Hi Illy, what do you mean by they didn’t come out perfect the second time? If your oven is fan forced you should be baking at 160c. Unfortunately, all ovens are different, so it’s hard to pin point the exact reason this would happen – I would just bake them until golden.