Prep and preheat: preheat your oven to 350°F. Grease a 9" x 13" pan.
Blend dry ingredients: mix together the flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, salt and oats by hand, or using a hand or stand mixer on low until evenly blended.
Add butter, egg, and vanilla: add in the butter, egg, and vanilla, and mix on low until a uniform dough forms and all dries are fully incorporated (this may take 2-3 minutes, but resist turning the mixer up which will toughen our dough).
Prep bottom crust: break apart about ⅔ of the dough (a scant 2 cups, or about 400g) and scatter it across the bottom of the pan. Press crumbs into an even, thin, but solid layer (if needed, you can patch little holes with a few crumbs from the withheld topping dough).
Blind bake crust: bake crust for 13-15 minutes until there is just a hint of light golden-brown on the very edge, and the dough has lost it’s shine.
Finish topping (optional): if using, while crust bakes, add sliced almonds and/or coconut to the remaining ⅓ of the dough (a scant cup, or about 200g) and mix just until combined.
Spread jam on hot crust: once the crust is ready, remove the pan from the oven and place it on a cooling rack. Carefully spread the jam evenly over the hot crust, leaving ¼" rim of uncovered crust around the edge of the pan (any jam contacting the pan is likely to burn and stick). Be gentle when spreading as the hot crust is quite delicate.
Top with remaining dough: crumble the remaining dough in small chunks evenly across the surface of the jam, including any loose coconut or almonds in the bottom of the bowl (note: coverage won't be solid, and jam should still be visible). If desired, sprinkle white chocolate chips evenly across the top of the dough crumbs (see notes).
Bake again: bake bars for an additional 25 minutes until jam is bubbling and the crumb topping has a touch of golden brown. Allow bars to cool completely on a wire rack before cutting.
Slice and enjoy: once bars are fully cooled, slice up these berrylicious oat delights and enjoy!
Notes
Quick or old-fashioned oats: for this recipe, I love the tenderness that the quick oats bring to the crust for that almost melt-in-your-mouth butter cookie feel. But if you only have old-fashioned oats or prefer a heartier, slightly chewier bar, then this recipe will work great with those too.
Almonds, Coconut, or both: the "add-ins" for these bars are flexible. So while they can be made with no additions, I highly recommend them for amazing extra flavor. If you're out of coconut, use all almonds. Out of almonds and coconut, use chocolate chips or peanuts. You get the picture. Just go for ½ cup total of whatever you're adding in and you'll be good to go.
White chocolate addition: if you’d like to add white chocolate to these bars (in addition to the coconut and almonds), you can either leave the chips whole and sprinkle them over the crumb topping before baking, or melt the chips when the bars are cool and use a fork or zip-top bag with the corner cut off as a piping bag to decorate them with a white chocolate drizzle as shown in the photos here.
Smaller batch: the ½ batch of this recipe is well-sized for an 8" square, an 8" round or a 9" round pan.
Other jams: if you'd like, you're welcome to sub another berry jam and know you'll have success. Beyond that, say with orange marmalade or peach jam, you'll probably still have success, but I just can't guarantee that as those jam vary in water content from berry jams and haven't been tested.
Storage: these bars will keep for up to a week in an air-tight container at room temperature. While you can freeze them for up to a month, I find texturally they're best when enjoyed fresh.
It’d mean so much to me if you could please give the recipe card a ⭐ rating on the site and leave a comment to help others find this sweet recipe! Xo, Jocelyn @ Mint+Mallow