RASPBERRY CHOCOLATE BARS

I’m not usually into bars for dessert, but I am sooooo into these! This July fourth holiday we are organizing meals a bit more since there's so many of us and we're only getting larger with all the new babies in the family! So each of the five kids is picking a day to be head chef for dinner and head chef for lunch. I'm really excited! I think it's going to be great. But as a little extra fun, we're going to have a family "Chopped" for desserts. This is what I'm going to make:) I think this is definitely a crowd pleaser! Bring it to your next summer potluck!

raspberry chocolate bars

1 cup butter

2 cups flour

1/2 cup oatmeal, pulsed to a flower in a food processor first

1/2 cup walnuts, pulsed with oatmeal

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 cups semi sweet chocolate chips

14 ounce can of sweetened condensed milk

1/2 cup raspberry jam (seedless is a bit easier to work with)

1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional) 

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9x13 baking pan. Beat the butter in a standing mixer until creamy. Then add the flour, sugar, and salt and mix on low until crumbly. With floured fingers, press 1 3/4 cups of the mixture into the prepared pan. Bake at 350 for 10-12 mins. Meanwhile, combine 1 cup chocolate chips and the sweetened condensed milk in a small saucepan and heat over low heat, stirring occasionally, until melted. Pour the melted chocolate and milk mixture onto the hot crust. Spread raspberry jam on top of hot chocolate filling. I found that warming the raspberry jam in the microwave first helped with even spreading, otherwise you can just plop it all over! Add the chopped walnuts to the remaining crumb mixture and dot the crumb mixture on top of the jam. Sprinkle the top with the rest of the chocolate chips. Drizzle a bit more raspberry jam over the bars, then bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes. Let cool completely before cutting into bars.