Everyone loves these raspberry bars, they have an ultra-buttery shortbread crust topped with cooked raspberries and a streusel topping. They are very sweet, buttery, tender AND they cut nicely...perfect for gift giving.

Raspberries grow well in Alaska, so if you are lucky enough to have some in the freezer, this is a wonderful recipe for them; I'm not so lucky, so I used a 12 ounce bag of frozen raspberries.

NOTE: You can skip this step if you want to use raspberry (or ANY flavor) jam.

Put the berries (no need to thaw) in a heavy saucepan with 1/4 cup of water and one cup of white sugar. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce the heat to medium high and simmer the berries until thick (I turn mine down to a medium low heat for a gentle boil and cook them for about 15 minutes, stirring once in a while). Set aside to cool (they will thicken even more as they cool).
SHORTBREAD CRUST21 tablespoons of butter, melted and cooled to room temp.This seems like a lot of butter, but it makes an upper AND lower crust3/4 cup of white sugar2 large egg yolks3 cups + 3 tablespoons all purpose flour
1 teaspoon vanilla

Mix everything in a stand mixer: it will make a very stiff dough. Remove TWO CUPS of this dough and pat it evenly into a parchment (or foil) lined 9 x 13 pan. Chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes (or freezer for 10 minutes). Remove and prick the dough with a fork.

Bake the 9 x 13 chilled pan of dough, on the middle rack of y...