Tag Archive | Cherry

Cherry Pie Bars

Jul15

Plated Cherry BarsFirst off, these cherry pie bars are seriously good and super easy to make! When I whip up a batch of them I’m immediately transported into one of my favorite kitchens in the world—my dear friend Rosel’s in Haßloch Pfalz, Germany. She lived in my neighborhood growing up and was my Mom’s best friend so became like a second mom to me. She loved cooking and baking and nurtured those passions in me.
Ironically, this recipe is American and was featured in Taste of Home magazine. I brought several cooking magazines with me when I visited several years ago and I made these cherry bars for Rosel and her family. They all hailed it a great culinary triumph and begged for me to make them again and again while I was there.
So what makes these cherry pie bars so special? These bars are cakey and rich and spiked with delicious cherries and almonds. They really are heavenly! After telling Tom the story behind this recipe, I whipped up a batch for him and he said he totally understood what all the fuss was about. 🙂

Cherry Pie Bars

Ingredients: 

  • 1 cup butter, softened
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 4 eggs
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/4 teaspoon almond extract
  • 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
  • 3 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 cans (21 ounces each) cherry pie filling
  • 1/2 cup sliced toasted almonds

Glaze: 

  • 1 cup confectioners’ sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
  • 2-3 tablespoons milk

Directions: 

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. In a large bowl, cream together butter, sugar, and salt until fluffy. Add eggs and beat well. Add extracts and lemon juice. Add the flour in gradually, mixing well.

Batter in bowl

2. Grease a bar or jelly roll pan or, if you prefer thicker cherry bars, use a 9×13. Spread 3 cups of the batter onto the bottom of the pan, reserving the rest for spooning on top.

Batter in pan

Cover batter with the cherry pie filling.

Cherry on top of batter

Sprinkle almonds over the top and then drop spoonfuls of the remaining batter on top of the of the filling and almonds.

spoonfuls of batter over the top

3. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until cake part is golden brown. Note: If using a 9×13 the baking time will be longer. 

Baked cherry bars

4. While bars are cooling, prepare the icing. Mix the ingredients for the icing in a small bowl and drizzle over the cooled cherry bars.

Cherry Bars

Enjoy!

Dark Chocolate Cherry Oatmeal Cookies

Jun21

If you like chewy oatmeal cookies then you’ll love this recipe which incorporates dark chocolate chips, dried cherries, and walnuts. The flavors work really well together and make for a very tasty cookie!

Plated Cookies

Dark Chocolate Cherry Oatmeal Cookies
Makes 2 dozen cookies

Ingredients:

  • 1/2 cup butter, softened
  • 1/4 cup white sugar
  • 1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
  • 1 eggs
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 2/3 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 & 2/3 cups quick-cooking oats
  • 3/4 cup chopped walnuts
  • 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips
  • 1/2 cup dried cherries

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325°F.

In a medium bowl, cream together the sugars and butter.

Sugar and butter

Add egg and vanilla and beat. Whisk in flour, baking soda, and salt and beat until well blended.

Blended Dough

Stir in the oats, walnuts, chocolate chips and cherries.

Finished Dough

Using a cookie scoop or a large spoon, scoop spoonfuls of cookie dough onto a greased cookie sheet.

Cookies on cookie sheet

Bake for 13 minutes or until cookies are chewy in the center and crispy on the edges.

Note: With any cookie recipe, I strongly recommend you bake one cookie all by itself to test out the exact baking time for your oven. It’s a lot better to pitch one burnt cookie than an entire pan. I’ve learned this lesson the hard way!

Plated Cookies

Cherry White Chocolate Chip Waffles

Jun13

I love waffles, whether for Saturday breakfast or even dinner during the week. I was sort of at a loss as to what I was craving for dinner so asked Tom to pick. He voted on my waffles, which instantly sounded great. Instead of my plain waffles (which are pretty awesome I have to admit) I decided to add a little pizazz and see what happened. I had some dried cherries and white chocolate chips on hand so decided to throw them in the batter. They turned out great! The cherries add a tartness that contrasts really well with the sweetness of the chocolate chips and syrup. So good and so going at the top of the list for future waffle nights.

Plated waflfes

Cherry White Chocolate Chip Waffles

Ingredients:

  • 2 eggs
  • 1 1/2 cups warm milk
  • 1/3 cup butter, melted
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 4 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 cup white chocolate chips
  • 1/3 cup dried cherries

Directions:

In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, butter, sugar, and vanilla extract. Sift in the flour, salt, and baking powder, and whisk until smooth. Add white chocolate chips and dried cherries.

Batter

Pre-heat your waffle iron and spray with non-stick spray. Ladle batter onto the waffle iron.

Loaded waffle maker

Note: Cherries and chocolate chips will tend to sink to the bottom so be sure to give the batter a good stir and scoop up from the bottom each time you load the waffle maker.

Cook waffles until golden brown and crispy. Serve plain or with butter and maple syrup.

Crispy Waffle

Helpful Tip: Set your oven to the warm setting and place a cookie sheet in the oven while you’re making waffles. Just pile up the waffles on the cookie sheet and then the whole stack will be nice and warm when it’s time to serve.

This recipe is super easy and I often double it so I can freeze extra waffles. Just pop a frozen waffle in the toaster and you’ve got a quick and tasty breakfast.

Plated waffles