rum & raisin bars

Rum & Raisin bars
(recipe from the Fat Witch Cookbook - made by Amanda Bradley)
Ingredients:
½ cup light rum 2 large eggs
1 ¾ cups raisins (of any sort or combination) 1 tsp vanilla extract
4oz/1/2 cup butter/margarine/oil 11/2 cups plain flour
11/2 cups packed light brown sugar 1 tsp salt

Method:
Pour rum into a bowl and add the raisins. Stir well, then leave to soak for at least 6 hours or overnight.
Prepare a 9”x9” pan. Preheat the oven to 350F/180C
Cream butter/margarine/oil and sugar in a large bowl until smooth. Beat in eggs & vanilla and mix until well combined.
Measure flour and salt directly into the batter. Mix gently until no trace of dry ingredients remain.
Strain the rum-soaked raisins and mix in by hand.
Spread the batter evenly in the prepared pan. It will be very sticky!
Bake for 30 minutes (i bake for about 25 minutes) or until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean (it won;t though, there are too many sticky raisins for it to get stuck into)

Just to confess again – i am a serial offender at departing from the instructions in recipes. I only ever make this with oil; i have been known to use different kinds of sugar if i run out of light brown sugar; and i have used about ½ a cup fewer raisins before due to a raisin shortage. So rest assured, this recipe is flexible. But always hard to cut, thanks to all the raisins.