Pink Lemonade Bars

A sister in my ward made these for our Enrichment night and they were the biggest hit! I got the recipe and made them as soon as I could because I was craving them like crazy! I couldn't find seed-less jam so I used the regular kind and they were still delicious. I also do not own a food processor so I chopped the almonds by hand and just mixed the crust with a pastry blender. These would be perfect for your next bbq or pot luck!

Pink Lemonade Bars

For crust and crumb:
2	cups + 2 tbsp. all purpose flour
½	cup sugar
½	cup blanched slivered almonds
⅛	teaspoon salt
1	cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted
1	tsp. vanilla extract
For Filling:
1-½	cups sugar
¼	cups ap flour
5	large eggs
½	cup seedless raspberry jam (or other favorite jam-I used cherry-berry perserves), stirred to loosen
½	cup fresh lemon juice (about 2 lemons)
	Grated zest of 1 lemon

1. Heat oven to 350 F. Lightly grease a 13 × 9 × 2 inch baking pan, or line w/ nonstick foil.
2. For crust and crumb: Combine 2 cups flour, sugar and almonds in a food porcessor and pulse to finely grind almons and blend the ingredients. As the processor is running slowly add the melted butter and vanilla extract to the flour-almond mixture.
3. Reserve ⅔ cup of crust for crumb topping, then press remaining crust mix into the bottom of the greased baking pan. Bake the crust at 350 F for 25 minutes.
4. Blend remaining 2 tbsp. of flour into the reserved crust mix and set this crumb topping aside.
5. For Filling:In large bowl whisk together sugar and flour, then add the eggs and jam and whisk to combine. Whisk in the lemon juice and zest.

Assembly:
6. Remove the baked crust from the oven and pour the filling oven the crust. Return the pan to the oven and bake for 15 minutes to set the filling.
7. Remove the pan from the oven, sprinkle the crumb topping over the top of the bar, then continue to bake for an additional 15 minutes.
8. Cool pan on rack for at least 30 minutes, then chill before cutting into bar cookies.