Cherry Pie Bars

Cherry. Pie. Bars. Everything I love in one insanely delicious dessert! I’m yet to make a cherry pie, it’s in my future plans (my list is forever long though so we’ll see how soon it comes), but for now I thought these looked just as good as a cherry pie but more modern and simplistic. Bars are the “it” thing you know. These bars are destined for greatness. Who wouldn’t loves these? And I love the shortcut of the store-bought cherry pie filling.

Normally I snub a lot of store bought stuff when it can be homemade, but cherry pie filling, yes from a can, I actually love it. The flavors of these bars are summer bliss. You get a buttery almond flavored cookie like batter which is topped with that simple yet incredible cherry pie filling, then it’s topped with more dollops of the batter and it’s baked to light golden perfection. But wait, it doesn’t end there. It’s finished with a rich and creamy vanilla almond flavored glaze. Indeed you are going to love these.

Ingredients:

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
• 1 cup unsalted butter , softened
• 3 large eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp almond extract
• 1 1/2 (21 oz) cans cherry pie filling

Glaze

• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp almond extract
• 2 1/2 - 3 Tbsp half and half