Cherry Almond Bars

For Father’s Day, we were cooking my father-in-law dinner. I had asked my mother-in-law what he liked for dessert, and she said something “gooey.” So this was my last-minute gooey dessert recipe, as I forgot completely about dessert (how did that happen?) until all the other food was in the oven/on the stove. By the way, is it just me, or does cherry almond immediately take anyone else back to the mid-90s and the scent of Jergen’s hand soap? Anyone?

First, you gotta pit the cherries. You will see that we are the proud owners of a handy-dandy cherry pitter that my lovely Aunt Ginger got my husband one year as a Chistmas gift…just to see if he could figure out what it was by looking at it. He could, after about a minute. He’s disgusting like that.

Anyway, after they’re pitted and quartered, add them to a saucepan with some vanilla sugar syrup.

You whip up the dough – it’s batter-lickin’ good.

Peanut-Butter Jelly…Spread (it) Out. First come the almonds.

And then the cooked down cherry mixture.

Bake. Eat. Repeat.

Cherry Almond Bars
1 1/2 C. cherries, pitted and quartered
2 T. vanilla sugar syrup (or 2 T. sugar and 1/2 t. vanilla extract)
1 C. softened butter
2 C. packed brown sugar
2 t. baking powder
1 egg
1 t. almond extract
2 C. all-purpose flour
1 T. milk
1/3 C. slivered almonds

Combine cherries and sugar syrup over medium heat in a small saucepan. Once boiling, turn heat to medium-low and cook down for approximately 20 minutes. Let cool slightly. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place butter in mixer, and beat on high until creamy. Add brown sugar and baking powder, mixing well, scraping down the bowl once. Add in egg and almond extract, and mix until combined. Take a minute to smell the mixture. Mmm. Add in flour, mixing very slowly to avoid a dust cloud. Finally, add in milk to thin batter slightly. Spread evenly into 9×13 well-greased pan. Bake for 40 minutes, or until middle doesn’t jiggle. (Perhaps this would be a good workout goal for me?) Let cool for 10 minutes and serve with ice cream, or cool completely and serve unaccompanied.

Enjoy!