Rose-hip Oat Bars

In my previous post I made rose-hip jam. I wanted to make something special with it so I decided to make these rose-hip bars. You can make these bars with the rose-hip jam from my previous post (see here), but you can make them with any other jam as well.

I went rose-hip picking together with my grandparents. My grandfather picked the most!

Makes 12-16 bars

Action time: 15 minutes + 45 minutes baking time + resting

Ingredients:

3.5 oz / 100 g oats
9 oz / 255 g all-purpose flour
4.4 oz / 125 g sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
6 oz / 175 g cold unsalted butter, cubed
8 tbsp rose-hip jam (see my previous post)

Extra: greased square baking pan (approx. 9 x 9" / 23 x 23 cm), parchment paper

1. Preheat the oven to 400°F / 200°C. In a bowl mix the oats with the flour, sugar, cinnamon, and a pinch of salt. Add the butter and rub it between your fingertips until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Let rest in the fridge for 30 minutes.

2. Line the bottom of the baking pan with parchment paper. Pat a little more than half of the dough evenly into the prepared pan. Press the dough firmly. Carefully spoon the rose-hip jam over the dough. Scatter the crumble mixture over the jam.

3. Bake the crumble in the preheated oven for 30 minutes until the topping is golden.

4. Remove from the oven and let cool completely. Cut the pie into 12-16 bars and lift them out of the pan.

Rose-hip Jam

I live about ten minutes away from the beach, where we go very often in the summer. To get to the beach, you have to walk through the dunes, where there are a lot of rose-hip plants blooming this time of year. I've always wanted to try making rose-hip jam so this year, I gave it a try. I love the idea of picking fruit in nature and turning it into something delicious.

I don't like my jam to be too sweet so I added less sugar than most recipes do. It's delicious on toast with butter but you can also make wonderful desserts with it!

Makes 1 jar of jam
Action time: 25 minutes + 25 minutes cooking time

Ingredients:
2.2 lbs / 1 kg ripe rose-hips
sugar (see recipe for amount)
juice of 1/2 lemon

Extra: passe-vite (food mill or puree sieve), clean canning jar

1. Wash the rose-hips and remove the stem and the blossom ends.

2. Put the rose-hips in a pan and cover them with water. Bring to a boil and cook them over medium heat for about 20 minutes or until they are very soft.

3. Drain the rose-hips and let them cool slightly. Put a passe-vite over a pan and purée the rose-hips. Using a spoon, scrape off the purée that comes out of the bottom. Weigh the fruit purée and mix in half the amount of sugar (I had 10.5 oz / 300 g of purée and used 5.25 oz / 150 g sugar).

4. Put the mixture in a pan and heat for about 4 minutes while stirring until the sugar has dissolved. Don't let it burn!

5. Remove from the heat and put in a clean jar. You can keep it in the fridge for several weeks.