Dessert: Cherry Pie Bars

Happy 4th to everyone!

I know it’s not Friday, but I just needed to share this recipe in time for the holiday tomorrow.

We hosted a dinner over the weekend and I wanted to create the desserts myself. Apple pie and brownies were already on the menu, but I wanted to add something I hadn’t made before.

#Summer always makes me think of cherries. I used Pinterest to locate a simple recipe using cherries in something other than a pie. If you want to peruse my Pinterest boards, you can check them out here. We all know that pie is ALWAYS a great idea, but since I was already making apple, cherry pie bars were the winner.

I pinned two recipes for these awhile back from lilluna and MomSpark and forgot about them. I decided to combine the two. They were really easy to make and a big hit at our dinner.

Cherry Pie Bars

BARS:

• 2 cups sugar
• 1 cup butter, room temperature
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 4 eggs
• 3 cups flour
• 1 1/2 tsps baking powder
• 1/4 tsp almond extract
• 2 – 3 (21 oz) cans cherry pie filling

GLAZE:

• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1-2 TBSP milk
• 1/2 tsp almond extract

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Grease your large jelly roll pan or cookie sheets with tall sides. Personally, I prefer to use parchment paper in lieu of greasing the pan.
3. Cream sugar, butter, and vanilla in a medium bowl until light and fluffy. Add eggs, beating well. Add flour and baking powder, stir just until blended.

   

4. Spread 2/3 of the batter into the cookie sheet.
5. Spread the pie filling over the batter.
6. Drop remaining batter by teaspoonfuls over the pie filling.
7. Bake for 35-40 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out  clean.
8. Cool completely.
9. Mix together the glaze ingredients in a medium bowl.
10. Drizzle glaze over fully cooled bars and allow glaze to set.
11. Cut into bars and serve!

Enjoy the holiday!

-Kim