Cherry Pie Bars
Description
I made these in the morning and they were super perfect and set and soft for when I served them with dinner. When cooled completely, they also slice like a dream. I couldn’t find frozen sour cherries as listed in the original, so with the sweet cherries, I cut the sugar a bit (as below). If you want to take these bars ‘over-the-top’ – and they already taste like actual cherry pie – then consider Sally’s suggestion of the optional almond icing – enjoy!
Ingredients
Crust (and Topping)
1 1/2 c. (188 g) flour AND 1 c. (85 g) large flake oats
1/2 c. (100 g) brown sugar AND 1/8 t. salt
1 t. EACH baking powder AND lemon zest
10 T. (142 g) butter, melted AND 1 t. vanilla
Cherry Filling
1 1/2 T. (11 g) cornstarch – place this in it’s own small bowl
3 1/2 c. (525 g) frozen dark, sweet cherries – do not thaw
1/3 c. (67 g) sugar
2 t. freshly squeezed lemon juice AND 1/4 t. almond extract
Topping – 2 T. (11 g) large flake oats to be added in the final step.
Instructions
Lightly spray and line a 9 x 9 cake pan with parchment, both ways, and preheat the oven to 350.
For the crust (and topping) – in a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, oats, brown sugar, salt, baking powder and lemon zest. Add in the melted butter and vanilla and stir with s sturdy spatula until the mixture is moist and crumbly throughout. You should have about 3 cups. Press about 2/3’s of this into your prepared cake pan, using the bottom of a cup to finish and make sure it’s even and level. Bake for 10 minutes, then set this aside to cool for a bit.
For the filling – in a medium saucepan over medium heat, stir together the cherries, sugar and lemon and cook for a few minutes until the cherries release their juices. When you have some juice to work with, carefully spoon out a couple of tablespoons and use a fork to whisk this into the cornstarch until this mix is smooth. Scrape this new mix back into the simmering cherries and continued to cook for another several minutes until the filling has thickened. Remove from the heat and stir in the almond extract.
Pour and spread the filling evenly over the crust and disperse the cherries so they’re in a single layer. Stir the extra 2 tablespoons of oats into the remaining crust mix and then crumble evenly over the filling – I found the mixing and crumbling easiest to do with my hands – and then lightly press the topping down using a spatula or another flat utensil.
Bake for 45 minutes until the top is lightly brown all over and the filling is obviously bubbling. Allow the bars to cool completely in the pan, set on a rack. If you need to speed this up a bit, after about an hour, you can pop the pan into the fridge. When all is completely cool, use the parchment ‘handles’ to lift the bars out onto a cutting board for slicing. These were a hit with everyone!
