Chocolate Chunk Raspberry Bars

I actually doubled the original recipe, so you could half this and use an 8x8 pan, but would need to figure out calorie count per serving since you'd likely end up with 16, rather than 15 (which would be half of this recipe).

2/3 cup sugar
4 tablespoons margarine
4 tablespoons water
24 oz. semi-sweet chocolate morsels
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup seedless raspberry preserves or jam
1 cup finely chopped nuts (optional - not included in calorie count)

Heat oven to 350 F. Grease 9x13 baking pan. In medium saucepan, combine sugar, butter, and water. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture boils.

Remove from heat; immediately add 1 1/4 cup chocolate morsels, stirring until melted. Stir in eggs and vanilla. Stir together flour, baking powder, and salt; add to chocolate mixture, beating until blended. Stir in remaining chocolate morsels; spread batter into prepared pan.

Place pan in freezer 10 minutes. Stir preserves to soften; spread over chilled batter. Sprinkle chopped nuts over top.

Bake 35 to 40 minutes or until bars begin to pull away from sides of pan. Cool completely in pan on wire rack. Cut into bars. Garnish with pecan halves, if desired.

Makes 30 bars (6x5).

Number of Servings: 30

Recipe submitted by SparkPeople user MOPSIE2002.