Raspberry Cream Cheese Bars

My female in-laws are all awesome bakers (hehe).

Aaron is constantly saying, "can you make *blank* like mom/my sister makes?!". Fortunately they have this handy dandy little cookbook they made with a whole wack of family recipe's so I don't need to be calling them up constantly looking for recipe's. Because that's embarrassing. So Bec had made these. They. are. amazing. Like cheesecake/cookie for those of us who have a phobia for making cheesecake because it always flops.

I baked two pans of these over the weekend for some events and had at least one person ask for the recipe. In my books that means it goes up here. See- that don't happen all that often so it gets me rather excited.

Raspberry Cream Cheese Bars

-3/4 cup butter or marg., softened
-1 cup packed brown sugar
-1 1/2 cups quick-cooking oats
-1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
-1/2t. baking soda
-1/2t. salt
-11 oz. cream cheese
-1/2 cup sugar
-2 eggs
-1 t. vanilla extract
-1 jar red raspberry preserves
-1/3 cup slivered almonds

1. In a bowl, cream the butter and brown sugar. Combine the oats, flour, baking soda, and salt; add to creamed mixture and mix well. Press 3/4 of the mixture into a greased 13x9 baking pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 11-13 minutes or until set and edges begin to brown.

2. Meanwhile in a small mixing bowl, beat cream cheese and sugar. Add eggs and vanilla; mix well.

3. Spread cream cheese mixture over crust. Drop preserves by spoonfuls over cream cheese mixture; carefully spread evenly. Combine almonds and remaining oat mixture; sprinkle over preserves.

4. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until set and edges are golden brown. Cool before cutting. Store in refrigerator.

TIPS: Of course I never do it the way it says to right! Make sure you soften the butter and cream cheese, it makes it so much more pleasant to mix. You can use any type of preserves in it. The ones Becca made she used half raspberries and half cranberries (like, for dipping turkey) and it was really good- kind of a mix of sweet and tart. I don't use the nuts because Aaron doesn't like nuts. And ta da!!! CREAM CHEESE GOODNESS!!!!