A little side note before I jump into this post: The photos you are about to see are the result of a freakin’ miracle.
I was dutifully trying to get ahead in my blog work, so I decided to block off a Sunday to cook and photograph all my December post recipes in one day. I’ve done this before and, while it’s exhausting, it’s extremely helpful in terms of freeing up time later on.
I had three recipes scheduled for that Sunday, but I was only able to get through two. I had taken all my photos, though, and, quite uncharacteristically, had immediately uploaded them from my phone to my external hard drive for “safe-keeping.” (Can you see already where this is going?)
I then happily sauntered off to dinner with my husband, chattering about my blog work for the day, feeling quite smug about my foresight in saving all my photos from my phone. Because, y’know, something might happen to my phone and cause me to lose all my photos.
A very long and painful story short, my external hard drive crashed that night as I started to edit my photos. I lost everything I did that day, plus a good amount of other important stuff. Because, no, I hadn’t backed up my external hard drive. For about a week. (I know, I know. I saw that episode of Sex and the City, too.)
Or, so I thought. Somewhere, somehow, I must have backed up the photos for these cherry pie bars before I skipped gaily out the door without a care in the world.
After about a week of sniffling over my lost photos, I finally booted up my laptop to assess the damage, and while I had definitely lost the original photos of my chocolate covered Christmas pretzels, I happily discovered these photos hiding in a folder I had overlooked that fateful night.
I’m surprised you didn’t hear my scream of happiness and relief from wherever you sit reading this blog.
OKAY! Now that I have acknowledged The Miracle of the Saved Photos, we can proceed with our regularly scheduled post.
There is SO much good food in From The Kitchen of Half Truth that it was really difficult to settle on just one book-inspired recipe. As I said in my review, the book is filled with all sorts of savory and sweet concoctions. However, despite all the recipe ideas running through my head, I kept coming back to the idea of making a cherry dessert.
We’re introduced to Meg’s crazy, food-filled world by learning that her French pastry chef father had once promised her mother Valerie to create the most amazing cherry pastry and name it after her. All was going according to plan when [not a spoiler] he tragically fell into a pastry-mixing machine and met his untimely end.
With Meg’s father down for the count, I figured I better take up the whisk and get to making this treat myself so this poor woman finally gets her namesake dessert: Valerie’s Cherry Pie Bars.
While I’m sure Meg’s father had something a bit more flaky and buttery in mind when he promised a cherry “pastry,” I’m here to tell you that I don’t do pastry dough. Unless I can pull it out of a Pepperidge Farm freezer box, I avoid it like the plague. I could have done that with this recipe, but I wanted to try something a little more homemade.
I also have a confession to make: I suck at making pies. Specifically, at making pie crust. I had a good friend, who is a great pie baker, try to teach me once. I did all right at her side, but once I was left to my own devices, my newly acquired skills beat a hasty and permanent retreat. I’ve attempted making a pie here and there ever since, but they are certainly not my forte.
Which is why I got incredibly excited about these cherry pie bars when I saw the recipe in Southern Living a few years ago. All the taste of cherry pie without having to make a stinkin’ pie crust?
SIGN. ME. UP.
I’ve doctored up the original recipe a bit, adding some cinnamon into the streusel topping and some almond extract into the cherry filling. The crust recipe remains the same, and it is super easy to do. It’s a type of pie crust that you simply press into the pan; no rolling pin required! And, as an added bonus, you can make both the dough and the streusel topping in the food processor, so this recipe is pretty easy on the clean-up.
Parchment paper is your friend with this recipe. The cherry filling gets incredibly bubbly and delicious as the bars bake up, but that also means it sticks like crazy to the pan…unless you line the bottom and sides of the pan with parchment paper. I made handles with the parchment to make lifting the baked bars directly out of the pan easy, and it worked beautifully. I heartily recommend you do the same.
These cherry pie bars are DELICIOUS. The bottom crust tastes like pie crust, but it holds up like a shortbread cookie would, which is great since these bars are quite dense, thanks to the satiny and luscious cherries inside. The hint of almond in the filling is enhanced by the cinnamony, nutty streusel topping, which adds the perfect crunch to otherwise soft bars. I also whipped up the simple icing from my Cinnamon Streusel Coffee Cake and drizzled it over the bars. That extra bit of sweetness reminds you more of a pastry than a pie, in keeping with what Valerie’s father might have originally had in mind.
I also love how these bars look. The glistening, red filling is incredibly festive-looking, and nothing says “holidays” to me like a an overly decadent dessert. The bars are incredibly rich, so I recommend cutting them into about 16 bars. I originally cut them into 12 bars, and I found myself on sugar overload after eating just one. Smaller is better with this dessert, making it a great recipe to feed a crowd. With the holidays coming up, this is one to keep in your back pocket.
I think Valerie would be pretty pleased with these bars, particularly if you can make the pie filling using fresh cherries picked from your own garden. However, if you need to use canned cherry filling (like I did), that works just fine, too.
Valerie's Cherry Pie Bars
Ingredients
Crust and Streusel Ingredients
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1.5 cups unsalted butter, cold and cubed
- 3/4 cup whole pecans
- 1/2 tbsp ground cinnamon
Filling Ingredients
- 3 cups canned cherry pie filling
- 1 tsp almond extract
Icing Ingredients
- 3/4 cup confectioner's sugar
- 1.5 tbsp milk
Instructions
PREP INSTRUCTIONS
- Preheat your oven to 350F.
- Spray a 9x13 baking dish with baking spray, then press a large sheet of parchment paper into the greased dish (this will help the bottom stick) and fold the edges over the sides to create handles. Set aside.
BAKING INSTRUCTIONS
- In a food processor, pulse together the flour, granulated sugar, and salt until combined.
- Cube cold butter and immediately add it to the food processor. Pulse 10-15 times to combine, until mixture is crumbly.
- Scoop out 1 cup of the flour mixture and set it in the fridge to keep cold. Then turn out the remaining flour mixture from the food processor into your prepared baking dish. (But don't put the empty bowl in the sink just yet!) Press the flour mixture into the bottom of the pan, using the bottom of a glass to make sure the crust is even.
- Bake the crust in the oven at 350F for 25-30 minutes, until lightly browned.
- In the meantime, make the streusel topping: Fit the used food processor bowl back onto the processor base. Add the whole pecans and pulse a few times to roughly chop. Add the cinnamon and the 1 cup of reserved flour mixture, then pulse a few more times to combine. Put streusel mixture in fridge to keep cold.
- Next, make your filling: Measure out your cherry filling into a medium bowl, then stir in the almond extra. Set aside.
- Once crust is lightly browned, remove from oven to workspace. Spread the cherry almond filling evenly over the crust, then sprinkle the cold streusel topping evenly over the filling.
- Place dish back in the oven and bake bars at 350F for 40-45 minutes, until golden brown and cherry filling is bubbly.
- Remove bars from oven and cool completely in the baking dish on a cooling rack.
ICING INSTRUCTIONS
- Whisk together the confectioner's sugar and milk, then drizzle the glaze onto the completely cooled bars. Place baking dish in the fridge for about an hour so icing can set.
- Once icing is set, you can cut the bars. Lift the baked, iced bars out of the baking dish using the parchment paper handles, then cut into 12-16 bars. Serve at room temperature, but store bars in the fridge.
Notes
