Lemon Raspberry Bars

                                                                          



I LOVE Black Raspberries & I always enjoyed Lemon Bars with their Shortbread crust so why not combine two flavors that would work nicely together? I have been making these for years now at Christmas time & yet I almost forgot to make them this year, HORRORS ! I scurried around and luckily these are a quick baking item and I made them in the nick of time! These are scrumptious, fast & very pretty with their beautiful color contrast and snow white powder sugar dusting. I hope you like these as much as we do !

CRUST:
1 Cup Butter
2 Cups Flour
1/2 Cup Powdered Sugar
3 Drops of Lemon Extract
Preheat Oven to 350 Degrees.
Mix altogether until you get fine crumbs, cut the butter in like you would for pie crust. Pat into a 9x13 pan pressing firmly to form a good base crust. I like to press this up the sides as well. Bake 15 Minutes. Remove from oven. Immediately, carefully spread with the a 10 oz. jar of Seedless  Black Raspberry Preserves. I use my homemade but any store brand like Polaners or Dickinsons  seedless jams are wonderful for this. You may use seedless Red Raspberry Preserve if you wish! Do this while the crust is hot so the jam will melt & make for easier spreading, be careful not to press down the crust will rip! I use a the back of a soup spoon for this it works very well. Now mix up the following lemon layer.

2 Cup Granulated Sugar
1/4 Cup Flour
1 Tsp Baking Powder
Juice from 2 Large Lemons almost 1/2 Cup just a little short of the 1/2 Cup mark ( not crucial on this)
4 Eggs
Stir together all of the dry ingredients. Add eggs & beat with mixer until nicely blended. Slowly beat in the lemon juice & beat until thick and a light lemon color. Pour over the Raspberry Preserve layer & bake about 25 minutes or until set & not jiggling ! Remove from oven & let cool completely. Once cool dust liberally with powdered sugar and cut into squares. Serve ! If not serving right away I refrigerate to keep !