Rum Raisin Squares

Time: 1 hour 15 minutes

Music Selection: Meditation Melodies – Afternoon Tea Music

The other night, over conversation with some friends we came to realize that the men in our group all had a strong like for raisins in desserts – raisin tarts, raisin pie and definitely raisins in rice pudding. Having a bag of raisins that were starting to get a bit dry, I decided to make this delicious recipe that is great for Fall, Christmas and also high noon tea. Enjoy with an hours worth of tea party music!

Ingredients:

2 c flour

1 c sugar

1 c butter

1 egg

1 tsp baking powder

Filling:

¼ cup spiced rum

1 ½ cups boiling water

2 cups raisins

1 cup sour cream

¼ cup sugar

2 heaping Tbsp flour

Directions:

Butter/grease a 9 x 9 pan. Preheat oven to 350 deg F.

In a bowl (or in a small pot) mix raisins, hot water and rum. Let sit for 15 minutes. Mix so the raisins break up. Place in a pot and turn on medium heat. Mix in the sugar and flour. Bring to a boil, mixing all the while until it thickens. Remove from heat and let cool.

In a bowl, cut butter, sugar, flour and baking powder with a pastry cutter. Once well mixed, add in egg and mix until consistent. Press half of the pastry dough into the bottom of the pan and reserve other half.

Once the raisins have cooled, mix in the sour cream and then pour mix over the pastry dough.

With remaining dough, sprinkle it over the top or you can roll it out to fit the pan and place on top (if you want to do this, cut parchment paper the size of the pan, then roll the dough the size of the paper and flip onto the dessert.