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Strawberry Jam bars are a thing of great beauty! They’re simple to make with jam layered between a shortbread crust and a nutty crumble topping.
There’s something incredibly perfect about biting into a homemade jam bar. These are essentially jam shortbread bars, a simple recipe with buttery bottom crust and crumb bar topping. They satisfy with that play between the cookie and the tangy, fruity explosion from a thick layer of jam. My recipe comes to us from an old, handwritten recipe that my sister shared with me. It came to from our longtime, and longtime ago!, neighbor on Main Street up north in Michigan. Rose Rosenthal’s jam bar recipe are a thing of perfection (with my tweaks, of course!). These are easy to make with simple ingredients and I hope these fruity bars become a favorite recipe in your collection, too. Oh, and know this: they’re as great as a sweet treat with morning coffee as they are for dessert!
Ingredient Notes
Think of these as pantry staples bars! Basic ingredients but with wonderful results.
- Unsalted Butter: It forms the base of both the bottom crust and the crumble topping.
- Brown Sugar: Provides a deeper, caramel-like sweetness and a great texture.
- Walnuts: these nuts form the structure (flavor too of course!) for the crumb topping. Substitute your favorite nut, anything from sliced almonds to pistachios or pecans taste great here.
- Flavoring: I always, ALWAYS!, use a touch of rose water with any red berry (or any fresh berries) for depth of flavor. You can also stir it into homemade or store-bought jam. Try my shop’s wonderful pure rose water from Lebanon, and learn more about what is rose water and how to use it in my post about it!
- The Jam: Use homemade strawberry jam as the recipe indicates, or use your favorite jam (I like American Spoon or bonne maman). You can also try fig jam or raspberry preserves next time for a variation. Whether you use homemade jam with fresh fruit or purchased jam, the flavor is much better if it’s not overly sweet. To correct this, add a squeeze of fresh lemon juice.
Tips for Success
When working with the butter, be sure it is softened to room temperature. Leave it out on the counter for several hours before starting, or microwave cold butter in very short, 10-second bursts to soften without melting it.
Be sure to allow the bars to cool completely before cutting them so that they hold together and don’t crumble.
Use an offset spatula to spread the jam layer as evenly as possible over the shortbread base bottom crust. We want fruity jam filling in every bite!
Crumble the topping over the top of the jam slightly unevenly for a homemade look that allows the jam color to shine through. If you want more crumb bars than jam bars, you can add more topping.
Variations
- Flavor of Jam: Experiment with any jam of your choice. Different flavors to consider: blueberry, seedless raspberry jam, apricot jam, orange marmalade . . . the jam sky is your limit!
- Other flavorings: depending on what your jam flavor is, you can easily vary the aromatics. Instead of rose water, use vanilla extract, almond extract, or lemon extract. You can even go completely rogue and add a handful of mini chocolate chips to the crumble topping.
- Rolled Oats: Add to the topping by swapping out half or all of the nuts if an oat-y texture and slight chewiness are what you’re after!
Make Ahead and Storage
- Make Ahead: Prepare the dough ahead of the baking time. Refrigerate for up to 24 hours and bring it to room temperature before assembling your jam bars.
- Storage: Once baked and completely cooled on a wire rack, store your strawberry jam bars in an airtight container. They will remain fresh for up to 5 days.
- Freezing: You can freeze strawberry jam bars! Cut them into bars after cooling and place them in layers separated by parchment paper in a container. They keep well for up to 3 months, ready to be grabbed for a quick dessert topped with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Thaw at room temperature.
Strawberry Jam Bars
Ingredients
For the Strawberry Jam:
- 2 cups coarsely chopped strawberries
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- Juice of 1 lemon
- 1 teaspoon rose water
For the base:
- 1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar
- 1/2 cup salted butter, plus more to coat the pan, cool room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
For the topping:
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
- 3 tablespoons chopped walnuts (optional)
- 3 tablespoons salted butter, room temperature
Instructions
- Heat the oven to 350ยฐF. Coat a 9-inch square pan with lightly with butter and dust with a touch of flour, knocking out any excess. Or, line the pan with parchment with an overhang sling on two sides.
- First, make the filling. In a small saucepan bring the strawberries, sugar and lemon juice to a rolling boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for about 10 minutes, stirring frequently and mashing the berries with a potato masher. Remove from the heat and stir in the rose water.
- To make the base, in a medium bowl, combine the flour, brown sugar, butter, and vanilla. Mix with your fingers or using a pastry cutter or spoon. Press the dough into the bottom of the prepared pan, and bake for 15 minutes, or until the pastry is lightly browned. Immediately spread the strawberry filling over the warm pastry base, leaving about ยฝ-inch area bare around the perimeter so the strawberry doesnโt stick to the pan.
- To make the topping, use the same bowl used for the base. Combine the flour, brown sugar, walnuts, and butter using your fingers, a pastry cutter, or spoon. Sprinkle the topping evenly over the strawberry jam, leaving some spaces open for the red jam to peek through.
- Bake for another 20 minutes, or until the topping and base are golden brown. Cool completely before cutting into bars.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Jam Recipes to try
Make an easy batch of jam! Try my recipes for Strawberry Jam, Raspberry Jam, and Apricot Jam. Fig jam is also wonderful and a very Lebanese treat.
Simply delicious!
Thank you Camille! I LOVE your name!
My next go to for a potluck picnic .
SO so good!
SIMPLY DIVINE !!!
I need to make some asap!! They’re wonderful thank you Eve!
I love cooking the Mediterranean recipes. I am always looking for new and fresh fish and you recipes are so delicious.
Thank you Deborah, so much!
HELLO!
SO SIMPLE! SO GOOD!
Thank You from Eve G. San Raphael,Ca.
YES!!! Thank you!
my kitchen smells amazing. Can’t wait to taste it.
These are so wonderful…that strawberry jam does smell intoxicating as it cooks!
Looks delicious, and I will certainly try this.
Wondering if you can replace the strawberries and sugar with dates…..
Thanks!
Sure can, delicious. You may want to cop them well and loosen them a touch with water.
How are you THIS FABULOUS?!!!
โจโจ
Sending loads of warmth
for a scrumptious 4th of July celebration!
Maureen, loved these! i’m not much of a baker but sure glad i tried these out. I’m curious if you use this simple jam for any other uses. Thanks for sharing!
Oh yes–over ice cream, as a cake filling between layers, for thumbprint cookies (these are incredible)!
Is it possible to make a version using raspberry jam for the filling and chopped pistachios for the topping?
Oh absolutely, that will be delicious!
Thanks can ‘t wait. To make it ! Blessings!