Homemade Merry Cherry Bars Recipes

CHERRY BARS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°. In a large bowl, cream butter, sugar and salt until light and fluffy, 5-7 minutes. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in extracts. Gradually add flour., Spread 3 cups dough into a greased 15x10x1-in. baking pan. Spread with pie filling. Drop remaining dough by teaspoonfuls over filling. Bake 35-40 minutes or until golden brown. Cool completely in pan on a wire rack., In a small bowl, mix confectioners' sugar, extracts and enough milk to reach desired consistency; drizzle over top.

MERRY CHERRY BARS

Steps:

• 1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
• 2. Place the butter and sugar into your stand mixer or large mixing bowl. Cream together for 1-2 minutes or until light and fluffy.
• 3. Add the egg and mix for an additional 2 minutes.
• 4. Add the almond extract and mix just until combined.
• 5. In a separate bowl toss together the flour and salt. Add it to the creamed mixture and mix just until combined.
• 6. Chop the candied cherries into small pieces. Add them and the m and m candies to the mixing bowl and mix just until combined. Your mixer will chop up the chocolate just a bit for you (which is a good thing!) but be sure not to let the mixer run too long. You still want the m and ms to be fairly whole.
• 7. Spray a 9x13 pan with cooking spray and press the dough out evenly into it.
• 8. Bake for 17 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
• 9. Allow the bars to cool completely (should take about an hour).
• 10. Make the glaze by whisking the powdered sugar, almond extract and about 3 Tb warm water together. Add more water as needed. Drizzle over the cooled bars. Allow the glaze to set up and then cut into bars.

MERRY CHERRY BARS

Steps:

• 1. Preheat oven to 350º. In a food processor, process the sugar, flour, and butter until crumbly, like course sand. Press evenly into a 9"X13" pan. Bake for 12 minutes.
• 2. While crust is baking, prepare filling. Drain the juice from the cherries (reserving 1/4 cup for glaze) and coursely chop. Chop the pecans. Mix the eggs, sugar, flour, baking powder, and salt. Stir in the cherries, pecans, and coconut until well mixed and pour over baked crust. Bake an additional 20-25 minutes at 350º until the edges are turning golden brown.
• 3. While the bars are baking, prepare the glaze. Melt the butter and mix in a medium sized bowl with the cherry juice and the powdered sugar. Drizzle glaze evenly over bars while still warm.
• 4. Cut into bars approximately 1" X 2" . Makes about 48 bars.