Since spring has shown up, I’ve been spring cleaning the pantry in anticipation of gathering fresh fruits and vegetables to preserve. It’d been a while since we’d had anything cherry, so we made this variation of cherry bars, only with cream cheese. They’re scrumptious. Not too sweet, not too tart (we may have eaten a few for breakfast even)…they’re going fast!
Ingredients:
Crust
1 cup butter, softened
2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon salt
4 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 cans cherry pie filling
Cheesecake layer
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup sugar
1 egg
Glaze
1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
2 to 3 Tablespoons milk
Preheat the oven to 350F. Cream the butter, sugar and salt until fluffy. Add the eggs, vanilla and almond. Sift together the dry ingredients and add to the butter mixture. Spread about 2 1/2 cups batter onto a greased 15x10x1 baking sheet. To make the cream cheese layer, beat together the cream cheese, sugar and eggs. Pour over crust, then spread the cherry pie filling on top. Drop the remaining batter by spoonfuls over the filing. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes or until golden. Cool completely. Mix all ingredients for glaze and once bars are cooled, drizzle over the top. Slice and share!
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| So much cream cheese cherry bars to eat, so little time. |
