Recipe: Cherry Pie Bars

I am a huge fan of cherry pie. I remember Mike not being a huge fan, but then again, the same could be said about a lot of things that he says he "doesn't" like...like cheese, yet cheese soup is on the menu often. I found this recipe and saw how easy it was to make. I couldn't pass up the chance to try it out and of course, I think I'll be making it again here today...and quite possibly the next week once the second batch is gone.
Mike and I devoured this dessert within three-four days.


So, here it is...

Ingredients:

1 cup butter, softened
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
21 ounces cherry pie filling (I think it would be better with 2 cans)

For glaze:
1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
2 tablespoons milk


Cream together butter and sugar. Add eggs and beat well. Add extracts and continue to mix.

In a separate bowl, combine flour and salt. Add to the creamed mixture. Mix well.

Grease a 9x13 or 15x10 pan. (I used 9x13) Spread 3 cups of the batter into the prepared dish. Spread the cherry pie filling on top, and drop the rest of the batter on top of that.

Bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.*

Combine glaze ingredients and drizzle over entire cooled batch. Enjoy!

Note*: An observation to be aware of...even though my toothpick came out clean, it was still pretty under done. I put it in for an extra ten minutes and it was still kind of gooey. If you don't want that yummy gooey texture, try baking the base first, then adding the filling on top and baking again.