Saturday, July 5, 2008

Betty Jane's Raisin Bars

This is a Pack family favorite and now one of my favorites, too. Very simple to make and better than you can imagine. The Blair Pack kids say that they came home from school many days with the smell of boiling raisins. They could hardly wait for the warm finished product. If you don't really like raisins (like me) you will still like these for some reason. I can't explain it.

Put one cup of raisins covered with water to the one cup mark in a pot and bring to boil. Turn off burner and let them cool. This re-hydrates the raisins.

Put raisin water mixture in a mixing bowl.

Add 1/2 cup oil
2 cups sugar
1 egg

Mix wet ingredients

Sift in dry ingredients as follows:

1 3/4 cup flour
1 tsp soda
1 tsp salt
3 tbsp cinnamon
1 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp. cloves

Mix until wet and dry ingredients are combined. You can also add nuts to this (1/2 cups) but the Packs prefer it without nuts.

Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes in a 9X 12 glass pan. It will be cake-like but moist like brownies.

While hot, cover with a glaze of powdered sugar and water -- mix to about the consistency of a thin gravy. Pour over warm raisin bars.

2 comments:

Manda Panda said...

Yummmmmm.....absolute heaven! Ronnie, I don't think I've EVER seen Mom's raisin bar recipe in print. Thank you, thank you, thank you for getting it from her and posting it for all to enjoy! I have a funny feeling that when I make tham they will not taste as good as Mom's! She holds the "Raisin Bar Queen" title in my book.

amiee said...

Hey Ronnie, It's Amiee from the Ol' Hammond Ward!!! I found your recipe blog linked on Dana's blog! Woo hoo! I love recipes! And ESPECIALLY southern ones. I am totally going to try your stuffed artichoke!! YUMMY! Say Hi to Beth for me! My blog is linked on Dana's if you want to check out my family!