Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and line an 8x8 baking pan with parchment paper. Use a little butter to grease the exposed sides of the pan.

In a bowl combine the flour, oats, brown sugar, baking soda and salt. Use a wooden spoon to break up the brown sugar and mix all of the ingredients together. Next add in the applesauce and melted butter, stirring until combined.

Press a little over half of the dough into the bottom of your prepared pan. Use your fingers to press and spread the dough on the bottom of the pan. Slide the pan on to the middle rack of your preheated oven and bake for 12 minutes. Remove and allow cool for a few minutes.

Meanwhile add the chopped almonds to the remaining dough.

Spread the jam onto the bars and spread, leaving a small border. Drop small clusters of the almond-studded dough on top of the jam bars and then slide back into your oven to bake for an additional 18 to 20 minutes, or when the almond crumble is lightly golden brown.

Allow the jam bars to cool completely before cutting and serving. Once the pan has cooled down quite a bit, I like to pop the bars into the fridge to finish cooling.