COOKIES: Jam-Filled Almond Bars

King Arthur had a recipe using their vanilla sugar cookie mix with the almond paste. It also said you could substitute your own sugar cookie recipe in place of their mix. I had run out of mix so made up my own recipe based on the King Arthur recipe. These are my husband's favs! I also made cookies at Christmas for the neighbors across the street and they loved these and requested the recipe.

3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter, softened
3/4 cup almond paste (I use a whole 7 oz. tube of Odense pure almond paste)
1 cup sugar (I've been using 3/4 cup sugar)
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
2 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla extract or almond extract (I usually use vanilla)
8 oz. jam (I use a 10 oz. jar of seedless raspberry jam)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Lightly grease a 9 x 13" pan.

Mix the flour, baking power, soda and salt together in a small bowl. Beat the butter and almond paste until blended. Beat in the sugars and vanilla extract until blended. Then add the dry mixture and blend - the dough will be crumbly. Add the egg and mix until blended. Reserve about 1 1/2 cups of dough and use the remaining dough to press on the bottom and a little up the sides of the pan. Warm the jam and spread it over the dough. Crumble the reserved dough over the jam and press down lightly to level the crumbs and help them stick.

Bake the bars for 26-28 minutes till they're golden brown and the jam is bubbly. Remove from oven and cool for 30 minutes and then cut them into squares while still warm. Cool completely before serving.

Yield: 24 bars