Promised Bar Recipes

White Chocolate Almond Bars


This simple bar is a Pillsbury recipe. The addition of white chocolate into the batter makes it moist and delicious, while imparting a beautiful golden color to the finished product. I piped small rosettes of a cream cheese frosting on each square, but it is as delicious without it.

• 2 oz white chocolate, chopped
• 1/2 c unsalted butter
  
• 3/4 c sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp almond extract
• 2/3 c flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 c chopped almonds
  

Heat oven to 350F. Grease and flour a 9" square pan. Melt white chocolate over very low heat, stirring continuously. Add the butter and whisk until melted. Remove from heat. Add sugar. Whisk in the eggs one at a time. Add almond extract. Mix flour, baking powder, salt and almonds in a bowl. Add to the white chocolate mixture and mix well. Spread in the prepared pan. Bake 25-35 minutes or until golden brown and set. Cool before you cut into squares.

Raspberry Almond Bars

These three-layer bars are really rich and can be cut as a confection. The recipe is again from a Pillsbury booklet; but instead of the powdered sugar icing in the original recipe, I used a cream cheese frosting which I prefer.

Base

• 1 c flour
• 1/3 c softened butter
• 1/4 firmly packed brown sugar

Topping

• 1/2 c raspberry jam
• 1/2 c flour
• 2/3 c sugar
• 1/2 c softened butter
• 1/2 tsp almond extract
• 2 eggs

Frosting

• 8 oz cream cheese, softened
• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup sifted confectioners' sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  

Heat oven to 375 F. Combine all base ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Press in bottom of an ungreased 9" square pan. Bake for 8-10 minutes and remove from the oven.

Spread the base carefully with jam and let cool slightly. Meanwhile, combine the remaining topping ingredients in a bowl and blend until smooth. Spread gently over the jam layer and bake an additional 25 minutes or until light brown. Let cool.

To prepare the frosting, mix together the cream cheese and butter until creamy. Add the vanilla, then gradually stir in the confectioners' sugar. Frost the bars and decorate with ground almonds or toasted sliced almonds. Cut into bars.