"Berry Gooey" Granola Squares

Growing up I loved granola bars; vanilla yogurt, chocolate chip, apple filling, you name it I ate it!  I decided to come up with a more sophisticated granola bar and ended up with pecan-brown sugar granola sandwiched with home-made mixed berry preserves, making for a delicious sweet and salty combination.  Only problem is, they're quite addicting so make sure you have plenty of people to share them with!

Gooey Granola Squares

Granola:

• 1 1/2 sticks butter, cold and cubed (plus extra for the pan)
• 1 cup pecans, roughly chopped
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/4 cups old-fashioned rolled oats (lightly toast them for extra flavor!)
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1/3 cup dark brown sugar (or light if you don't have brown)
• 1 1/4 teaspoon salt, plus 1/8 teaspoon, separated
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Mixed Berry Preserves:

• 3 cups mixed blackberries, strawberries, and raspberries
• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• Half a lemon, zested and juiced
• 2 once-used cinnamon sticks, or 1 1/2 fresh cinnamon sticks
• 1 vanilla bean, or 1 tablespoon vanilla bean paste
• 1 tablespoon powdered pectin

To Prepare the Preserves:

Have an ice bath prepared: Large bowl filled with 50% ice 50% water

1. Place the berries, sugar, lemon zest and juice, cinnamon sticks, and vanilla bean (scraped and pod) or paste, in a deep saucepan and place over medium heat.  Bring the berry mixture to a boil, stirring regularly with a wooden spoon and mashing large pieces of fruit with a fork, reduce to a simmer.
2. Stirring frequently, after about 2 minutes take out 1/3 of the berry mixture and strain through a fine-mesh sieve reserving the liquid and add it back to the pan, continuing to stir.
3. When the mixture has thickened some more (another minute), sprinkle in the pectin and stir to cook until the jam has thickened.  To test for proper thickness, I like to make sure the mixture coats the back of the spoon, or scrape the pan with my spoon and look to see that the trench formed slowly fills back in.
4. When mixture has thickened, place over the ice bath stirring frequently until cooled.  It should now have the proper thickness like that of jarred preserves.  Set aside for use.

To Prepare the Granola:

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees

1. Butter an 8-inch square baking pan and line the bottom with parchment and butter the parchment.
2. Toss the chopped pecans with the 1/8 teaspoon and toast until fragrant and lightly browned, set aside to cool.
3. Whisk together the flour, oats, granulated sugar, brown sugar, remaining salt, and pecans.
4. Add the cold cubed butter into the flour mixture and using a bench scraper (or two knives if you don't have), cut the butter into the flour mixture until it forms a rough, sandy consistency.  *The mixture should have small clumps throughout.  You do not want it to be too sandy because it will not hold together when baking.  
5. Add in the vanilla extract until well combined.
6. Press gently 2/3 of the granola mixture into the bottom of the pan then spread the mixed berry preserves to cover.  Place the rest of granola mixture on top of the preserves and gently press into the pan.  
7. Bake the granola for 40-45 minutes, rotating the pan halfway (top to bottom, front to back)
8. When done, the granola should look toasted and lightly browned.  Remove from oven and cool completely before cutting.
9. When completely cool, loosen the sides of the pan carefully by running a knife along the sides, then cut desired size squares while still in the pan. You can use a spatula or knife to remove the squares from the pan, they should stay very intact.