Oatmeal Jam Bars

Good morning.  I had a post all written for this morning, but it was a rant, so I deleted it.  Instead, here's a recipe for a super yummy treat.  I made a batch over the weekend and Hubs has been eating them for breakfast.

Oatmeal Jam Bars

1 cup butter or margarine (softened)
1 cup light brown sugar (packed)
1 3/4 cups flour
2 cups quick oats
3/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1 cup jam

Preheat oven to 400F.  Spray the bottom of a 9x13" baking pan with cooking spray.  Cream together butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl until smooth. In a separate bowl, sift together flour, oats, baking soda and cinnamon.  Gradually add dry ingredients to creamed mixture, stirring until smooth and well combined.  Separate dough into halves.  Put one half into pan.  Spray your hands lightly with cooking spray and smoosh the dough evenly into the bottom of the pan.  Top liberally by spoonfuls with jam, then spread the jam to cover all the dough.  Drop spoonfuls of reserved dough over the jam layer, as evenly as you can, but not totally covering the jam.  Bake for 25-30 minutes or until the edges start to brown.  Allow to cool completely before cutting into bars and eating (because hot jelly is no fun.)

For my first foray with this recipe, I covered half with strawberry jam and half with blackberry.  It's still pretty hot here, so I'm storing mine in the fridge.  Super yummy and super easy.  And not terribly bad for you.  Hey, oats are heart-healthy, so that counts for something.  ;o)