Laura made these for our LIFE group last week, and they were delicious!! Thanks for the recipe, Laura.

Raspberry Oat Bars - submitted by Laura Buhl (from Allrecipes.com)
3/4 cup butter, softened
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1 1/2 cups rolled oats
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1(10 ounce) jar raspberry preserves

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Grease a 9×13 inch pan. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and brown sugar until smooth. Combine the oats, flour, salt and baking powder; stir into the creamed mixture. Press half of the mixture into the bottom of the prepared pan. Spread the preserves over the crust. Crumble the remaining crust mixture over the raspberry layer. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes in the preheated oven, or until light brown. Cool completely before cutting into bars.

laura said: “I made several changes to this recipe. I substituted in one cup of whole wheat flour, used only 1 cup of jam, and added 2/3 cup chopped dates and 1/2 cup chopped walnuts to the dry mixture. Also, don’t spread the jam all the way to the edges to prevent burning. The recipe says to bake it up to 25 minutes, but I felt even 20 minutes, which I did, verged on burning.”

How long have you been at UPC?

3 years

Where are you originally from?

Philippines

What are some of your hobbies and/or interests?

Cooking – creating recipes, arts and crafts. (Editor’s note: We’d love to post some of your original recipes, Jo!)

What’s your favorite dessert?

Ice cream.

How have you seen God work in your life recently?

–I’ve been able to trust God about the future of our family.

–God is working in my heart to be able to forgive some people in my family about past issues.

How can we be praying for you?

About my family’s future direction.

All of us have mothers, many of us are mothers, some of us hope to be mothers some day, and most of us mother others in some way. Probably all of us can point to a mother or mother figure who has had a huge impact on our lives. What a wonderful blessing the Lord has given us in His commands for older women to teach younger women, to mother them.

So Happy Mother’s Day, readers of Craving Grace blog!! We hope you have a good day of reflecting on the special role certain women have in your life, being honored for the roles you have in others’ lives, and may the Lord give you comfort if today is a day that makes you mourn.

Easy Coffee Cake from Marianne Whitehill
 
Two 8-ounce cans refrigerated crescent rolls
1 cup sugar
Two 8-ounce packages cream cheese, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg, separated
1/2 cup chopped pecans
 
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spread one can of crescent rolls in bottom of 13×9 inch pan.  Cream together 3/4 cup sugar, cream cheese, vanilla, and egg yolk.  Spread mixture over rolls.  Top with second package of crescent roll dough.  Beat egg white until frothy and spread on top.  Sprinkle top with remaining sugar and nuts.  Bake for 30 to 35 minutes.

Here are a few tips from my experience: Don’t use reduced fat cream cheese or crescent rolls.  It does not turn out great.  If available I like the butter flavored crescent rolls. 

 I had this coffee cake at a baby shower recently, and it was delicious (and a huge hit with everyone else, too.)  Thanks for sharing the recipe Marianne!