Orange Marmalade & Chocolate Crumble Bars

An oatmeal crumble base and topping sandwiches an orange marmalade and dark chocolate filling in this lovely bar cookie.

I was rooting around in the fridge for jam the other night and came across half a bottle of orange marmalade hidden deep in the recesses of the top shelf. Although I knew it was there, I had forgotten about it. I was delighted at the find as I love marmalade and enjoyed it on a piece of toast. But I thought I'd better use it up soon as sugar crystals were beginning to form around the edges of the jam. 

I made a search online and many of the recipes that used marmalade also used cloves, cinnamon, ginger, etc. but I wanted something where the orange flavour would shine out. Something you knew was orange with the first bite. If I was going to sacrifice half a bottle of marmalade (have you seen the prices!!) in a cookie or cake I wanted everyone to know it was orange flavoured and not a spice cookie or cake. I eventually found a few recipes that made the shortlist but some were too fussy, some were for special celebrations (where no expense on other ingredients was spared) and some I thought were just ho-hum. But when I read the recipe on Hummingbird Thyme I knew I could enjoy these bars. I used her recipe for the inspiration for mine. I already had a good crumble crust for my Date Crumbles so why reinvent a new one. It's basically marmalade and chocolate between two layers of crumble crust. But who thought they'd taste so good? The are well worth buying a bottle of good marmalade to make them. 

These would also be good with raspberry or strawberry jam as both berries pair well with chocolate.

Printable recipe at end of post.

Orange Marmalade & Chocolate Crumble Bars

• 1 cup flour (may be part or all whole wheat if you are in a healthy mode)
• 1cup oatmeal (whatever kind you have in the cupboard)
• ½ cup brown sugar
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ½ cup+2 tablespoons very soft butter
• ½-⅔ cup orange marmalade (your favourite) + more if needed.
• About ⅓ - ½ cup dark chocolate chips or chopped dark chocolate (or use your favourite chocolate)

How to make it:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease an 8x8-inch pan. Line with parchment for easy removal of squares.
 
Mix all dry ingredients together with the butter until mixture is crumbly but moist enough to cling together.  Press half crumble mixture in prepared pan.  Spread with marmalade and scatter with the chopped chocolate or chocolate chips. Sprinkle with remainder of crumble mixture and pat down gently.  Bake 30-35 minutes in 350 degree oven until golden.  

Cut into squares or bars when cool. If you wish you may drizzle the cut bars with melted chocolate and a little grated orange zest.

Makes 16-25 squares or bars depending how you cut them.

Mix all dry ingredients together with the butter until mixture is crumbly.

The crumbs should be moist enough to cling together. If they are too dry add a little more butter until you achieve the desired consistency.

Press half crumble mixture in prepared pan.  Spread with marmalade. Use a good marmalade with lots of orange peel for optimum flavour.

I had a few Hershey's Special Dark bars on hand so I used one of those for the chocolate. If you prefer use semi-sweet or milk chocolate in place of the dark.

Scatter the base crust with the chopped chocolate or chocolate chips. 

Sprinkle with remainder of crumble mixture.

 Pat the crumbs down gently.  

Bake 30-35 minutes in 350 degree oven until golden.  

If you have lined the pan with parchment paper it will be easy to use the edges of the paper to remove the bars from the pan. It's much easier to cut the bars on a cutting board when they have cooled than to cut them in the pan.

Make sure they've cooled to room temperature before cutting them in to bars or squares.

They look good, don't they!

Cut into squares or bars when cool. If you wish you may drizzle the cut bars with melted chocolate and a little grated orange zest. Makes 16-25 squares or bars depending how you cut them.

All ready for a party or maybe a lunch box. These cookie bars will hit the spot.

To print click on arrow upper right side.⇩