Almond Butter - Raisin Bars

When I cook, I just have a 'feel' for what goes together. That doesn't work for me with baking. When I get an idea, I Google all the main ingredients I want to use and spend a lot of time noticing the proportions of the leavening agents of several recipes. Salt, baking powder and baking soda are still very mysterious to me. When using them I feel a bit like an Alchemist! Eventually I decide on the correct amounts of everything and then – I proceed with caution. Things have to turn out well before I'll post anything I've baked – it's all just a wild ride until I try the finished product. This turned out very well as bars. I'm thinking I wouldn't change any of it, but next time will bake it as cookies.

1½c flour – for this recipe I used ½c each of these
organic flours: sprouted whole grain wheat flour,
unbleached white flour & oat flour)

¾t baking soda

¾t baking powder

1t sea salt

2t pumpkin pie spice

¾c golden raisins

2T water

1c sugar: all brown or half & half white & brown

½c (1 stick) butter at room temperature

¾c almond butter

1T good quality vanilla

1 lg or jumbo egg

Check and separate the raisins, picking off any stems you find. Put these in a ceramic bowl and drizzle the water on top. Cover and microwave on 70% power for about a minute and a half – or just use 2T boiling water. Cover to keep the steam and heat in. Let stand a while to rehydrate the raisins.

Stir dry ingredients together. In a medium size mixing bowl, beat butter, sugar(s), almond butter, egg and vanilla until smooth and a little bit fluffy. Add the dry ingredients, mixing well after each addition. Stir in the raisins.

Bake in a greased 9”x13” pan at 325° for 25 minutes±, then let baking pan cool before cutting. - OR - drop balls of dough on cookie sheets, flatten a little with a fork and bake at 325° until the edges dry and brown a little. Let cool on a platter. . .Lin