Fruit bars

I needed to make a dessert for a holiday party. I assumed there was going to be lots of brownies and chocolate desserts as that's what most people automatically think of when making desserts for a crowd. So I specifically looked for a recipe that didn't use chocolate. And I wanted it to be easy because I didn't want to put too much effort into it. And I wanted it to fit in a 9x13 pan because I had a extra disposable one I wanted to use. The following recipe (courtesy of the Betty Crocker website) fit all my criteria. It's the first time I've made it so who knows if it's any good.

It's a buy, mix and bake recipe which definitely fits in the easy category. I didn't want to buy almond extract so I just used vanilla.

Base ingredients get mixed together to form a rather stiff dough. Half gets pressed into a 9x13 pan that's been sprayed with vegetable oil.

The recipe calls for cherry pie filling, which I used. I hear you can use whatever pie filling you desire, blueberry, apple, etc. I wanted to use raspberry but I couldn't find it and I'm not sure raspberry pie filling in a can even exists. Maybe a jar of raspberry jam?

The rest of the dough gets spooned on top. I just globbed it on there in a roughly even fashion. It's like cobbler for sissies.

I baked mine for 40 minutes (5 minutes less than the recipe time) and it was very golden brown, so keep an eye on it.

After a 10 minute cooling period, I mixed up a rather thick glaze using powdered sugar, vanilla, and a touch of milk.

It basically looks like a big ol' Toaster Strudel. Which is fine by me as Toaster Strudels can be pretty darn tasty.


Fruit bars

Base:
2 pouches (1 lb 1.5 oz each) sugar cookie mix (Betty Crocker)
1 cup butter, softened
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
2 eggs

Filling:
1 can (21 oz) cherry pie filling

Topping:
1 cup powdered sugar
1 tablespoon milk
1/4 teaspoon almond extract

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Spray bottom and sides of 9x13 baking pan with cooking spray.
2. In a large bowl, stir base ingredients until soft dough forms. Press half of dough in bottom of pan.
3. Spread pie filling over dough. Drop remaining dough by teaspoonfuls over filling.
4. Bake 45 to 50 minutes or until golden brown. Cool 10 minutes.
5. In a small bowl, stir glaze ingredients until smooth. If necessary, add additional milk, 1 teaspoon at a time, until thin enough to drizzle. Drizzle glaze over warm bars. Store covered at room temperature.