And now for something a little different …. Have you ever eaten roses? Yes, as in the flower that one gives on Valentine’s Day? The flowers turn to fruit (rosehips) which are edible. I commonly know rosehips from tea, but recently while I was in Germany, I found rosehip jam, and of course was curious. It’s a floral flavor for sure, though I am not sure I could identify the taste as ‘roses’. At any rate, I decided to make some of my crumble shortbread bars with the jam and some almonds and they turned out quite nice. I could see them being eaten with tea or coffee in the afternoon.
Ingredients
1 cup plus 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled to just warm
2 large egg yolks
i teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup granulated sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
3 cups plus 3 tablespoons all flour
1 1/2 cups rosehip jam
1 cup sliced almonds
Directions
Preheat oven to 325F. Create a foil or parchment sling for your 9 x 13-inch baking dish or spray generously with baking spray.
In a medium bowl, mix together butter, vanilla, sugar, salt, cinnamon and egg yolks with a spoon until smooth. Add in the flour and mix until just combined. Remove 2 cups of the crust mixture and press into the lined pan. Set the unused portion of the crust aside covered with plastic wrap, but not in the refrigerator. Place the pan in the freezer for 15 minutes or so; the chilling of the crust prevents it from expanding and rising too much during baking.
Remove the crust from the freezer and place in the oven to bake for 20-25 minutes, or until the sides are lightly browned. Then remove from the oven, and increase oven temperature to 350F. Spread the rosehip jam over the whole surface and sprinkle the leftover crust mixture and sliced almonds on top. Bake for 45 minutes, or until the streusel is lightly browned.
Allow the pan to cool completely before taking the bars out of the pan. Remove the bars by lifting out with the sling and cut.
