Day 116 – Jam or Marmalade Bars?

I would much rather have strawberry jam bars as I think the rest of the family would, but that is not the direction I took.
Remember back on day 73 when I made Orange Marmalade Soufflé with Grand Marnier (I STILL love to say that – it sounds SO cool on the tongue!)?
Yes, I still have that orange marmalade in the fridge and noone’s touched it and I certainly haven’t because I just don’t like the stuff.
Yeah, so why would I make something that nobody will probably eat? Because I don’t want to waste the marmalade.
I know.
I hear you chuckling.
Yes,… you.
I’ll be wasting BOTH the marmalade AND the bars this way.
Oh well, we’ll see.

The recipe said to use an 8-inch square pan. I own a 9-inch square pan or an 8-inch round pan. I chose the round knowing the 9 would be too big and didn’t want to burn my creation.
I certainly wouldn’t want to waste it by BURNING it! 😉 (I need to add smiley face icons – on my to do list…)

This is from my Fannie Farmer Cookbook, Thirteenth Edition, p.632; author, Marion Cunningham; publisher, Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., a division of Random House, Inc.; ISBN 0-394-56788-9.

Jam or Marmalade Bars – 16 bars, wedges, or pretty designs

½ cup shortening
½ cup sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla
½ teaspoon almond extract
1 egg
1½ cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon cloves
½ teaspoon salt
jam or marmalade (did not specify an amount in the recipe)

Preheat oven to 400ºF.
Grease an 8-inch square pan.
Cream the shortening with the sugar, vanilla and almond extract.

Stir in the egg and blend well.

Mix together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, cloves and salt, add to the first mixture, and combine thoroughly.

Spread half the dough in the pan.

Cover with a layer of jam or marmalade.

Pat the remaining dough on top and bake for 25 minutes.

Cool, then cut into bars 4 X 1 inches.

Or is you’re using an 8-inch ROUND pan, cut into wedges however big or small you want.
‘Cause they’re your bars.

Live a little.
Cut things differently.

…

ok, I’ll stop.

If you have questions about pan sizes and substituting, check out this page at the Joy of Baking. It was helpful and I know I’ll need to consult this info. again during the course of the year.

Everything that I make is rated on a scale of 1-4 with 4 being the best and these orange marmalade bars earned 2½ rolling pins.
I knew I was going to have a problem putting the top layer of dough on the marmalade.
It really was a no-brainer that when I attempt to push the dough out from the center of the pan to the edges that the marmalade is going to move to the edges with it.
Yeah.
Before I placed the ball of dough on the top I flattened it as best I could like a pizza. I placed that on the marmalade, but it wasn’t big enough and still had to push it to the edges with a rubber spatula. Consequently, there was more marmalade on the outer edges than there was in  between the layers. It could have been the reason for it being dry, too. Just guessing.
At first bite, they were very dry, but then the more I chewed, they became a little addicting. And there really wasn’t an overwhelming orange marmalade taste.
Go figure.
Know why?
It was all, ok, well almost all of it, pushed to the outer edges where it became crunchy and chewy which, I have to admit, was rather good.
Ultimately, I thought they were just kind of eh, or as we used to say in my high school French class, “Comme ci, comme ça” – could be better, but could be worse.

There.

There’s your French lesson for the day.
The next time someone asks you how you’re doing, say, “Comme ci, comme ça” (pronounced “come-see comme-saah”), and see how impressed they’ll be!
Either that or they’ll look at you like you have two heads and will wonder what the heck you said.
Cuisson Heureux!