Cherry Pie Crumble Bars

Yield: 24 bars

Ingredients

For the Crust & Crumble Top Pastry

3½ cups (438 g) unbleached all-purpose flour
1¼ cups (250 g) granulated cane sugar
1¼ teaspoons (6 g) baking powder
½ to ¾ teaspoon (2.4 to 3.6 g) fine-grain sea salt, or ½ to ¾ teaspoon (3 to 4.5 g) regular table salt
1¼ cups (2½ sticks or 282.5 g) unsalted butter, chilled & cut into bits
2 large egg yolks (mine weighed 36 g), lightly beaten
2 teaspoons (10 ml) pure vanilla extract
½ teaspoon (2.5 ml) pure almond extract
Shortening, to prepare baking pan

For the Tart Cherry Pie Filling

4 cups (2 pints or 1080 g) Homemade Tart Cherry Pie Filling, recipe by Wicked Good Kitchen (Site went down continue looking below)

Directions

Arrange oven rack in lower third of oven and preheat oven to 375ºF (190ºC). Lightly grease a 9×13-inch (23 x 33 cm) metal baking pan with shortening. (I like to use my Williams-Sonoma Goldtouch® Nonstick Rectangular Cake Pan.) Line pan with baking parchment so there is an overhang. Do this by measuring parchment 4 inches (10 cm) in length additionally at each side of pan. This will allow 2 inches (5 cm) of coverage on each end once folded and tucked in. Lightly grease parchment paper. This will create “handles” which will help removing bars from pan and to transfer to cutting board to cut into even bars after chilling.
Prepare the Crust & Crumble Top Pastry: In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt until well combined. Using a pastry blender, cut butter into flour mixture until it resembles a coarse meal with small pea-sized pieces of butter. (Alternatively, process in your food processor until mixture is crumbly.) In a small bowl, whisk extracts into beaten egg yolks using a fork. With a fork, gently toss into flour mixture until moistened and dough starts to hold together. Continue to toss and blend gently with fingertips until well combined yet taking care not to overwork the dough.
Remove 2 generous cups (approx. 250 g) of the crumb mixture and set aside for the topping in a small bowl. Press remaining dough evenly into prepared baking pan. Spoon Tart Cherry Pie Filling into pan on top of dough and spread evenly with rubber spatula; sprinkle with reserved crumb mixture.
Bake in preheated oven until topping is golden brown and filling is cooked through and bubbly, about 45 to 55 minutes. To prevent over-browning of topping, cover with sheet of aluminum foil during last 20 minutes of baking. Remove foil and carefully transfer to wire rack to cool completely before cutting into squares. See Tips below for cutting into even squares.
To Serve Bars: Serve at room temperature, chilled or slightly warmed in microwave oven. If desired, serve warm with fresh whipped cream or a la mode with vanilla ice cream.

Recipe Notes

Tips:

For even cut squares, cool bars for 1 hour on wire rack. Then, chill in refrigerator for at least 1 hour. Remove from pan using folded parchment paper at sides of pan as “handles”. Transfer to large cutting board. Carefully cut into even squares using a ruler as a guide with a sharp chef’s knife peeling away parchment paper as you go.

Leftovers can be stored in an airtight container or wrapped in plastic wrap at room temperature or in the refrigerator.

Variation:

For Gluten-Free Option: Substitute 3½ cups (448 g) Cup4Cup® Gluten-Free Flour, available at Williams-Sonoma, or your favorite gluten-free flour blend measured cup for cup or by grams in place of the all-purpose wheat flour called for in the recipe.

Shopping Suggestions:

Wicked Good Kitchen highly recommends selecting organic ingredients whenever possible.

For this recipe, and all our baking recipes calling for unbleached all-purpose flour, we highly recommend the pure and Organic Unbleached All-Purpose Flour by Hodgson Mill® because it is naturally white and contains no additives. We also highly recommend aluminum free baking powder, organic grass-fed butter, eggs and granulated cane sugar as well as Nielsen-Massey® Organic Pure Vanilla Extract, Nielsen-Massey® Pure Almond Extractand Cup4Cup® Gluten-Free Flour. In addition, we highly recommend natural baking parchment paper by Beyond Gourmet™.

Recipe Adapted From: Allrecipes.com
Original Recipe Source: WickedGoodKitchen.com

Copyright © Wicked Good Kitchen. All content and images are copyright protected. Please do not use my images without prior permission. If you want to republish this recipe, please re-write the recipe in your own words. Alternatively, link back to this post for the recipe.

Mom’s Homemade Tart Cherry Pie Filling

Recipe from Wicked Good Kitchen

Ingredients

For the Cherry Pie Filling

6 cups (1135 g) fresh pitted tart cherries, about 2½ pounds
1 teaspoon (5 ml) freshly squeezed lemon juice
1¼ cups (250 g) granulated cane sugar
6 to 7 tablespoons (36 to 42 g) tapioca flour (also known as starch), see Recipe Notes
½ teaspoon natural dry red food coloring
Pinch of fine-grain sea salt, or regular table salt
½ cup (120 ml) tart cherry juice, not from concentrate
½ teaspoon (2.5 ml) pure almond extract
¼ teaspoon (1.25 ml) pure vanilla extract

Directions

In a large bowl, gently toss pitted cherries with lemon juice to prevent browning. Set aside.
In a large saucepan, blend together sugar, tapioca flour, food coloring and salt using a whisk before placing over heat.
Add cherry juice and whisk over medium-low heat until well blended and sugar dissolves.
Add pitted cherries and stir until well combined using a silicone (high heat) spatula.
Increase heat to medium-high, then cook while stirring constantly until mixture reaches a boil. Then, continue to cook, stirring constantly and scraping bottom and sides of saucepan with spatula to prevent scorching and burning until thickened, about 2 to 3 minutes.
Remove from heat and stir in extracts until blended. Set aside to cool to room temperature.
Use as a filling or topping immediately in recipes. Store refrigerated in jars with tight-fitting lids.

Recipe Notes

Tips:

Store pie filling refrigerated in jars with tight-fitting lids for up to two (2) days.

If storing pie filling in the refrigerator, it may separate. To thicken again, reheat filling in a saucepan over medium heat stirring frequently. Cool to room temperature before using in recipes.

For Making Tart Cherry Crisp: Add only 6 tablespoons (36 grams) tapioca flour so the filling is juicy and not too thick.

For Making Tart Cherry Pie: Add 7 tablespoons (42 grams) tapioca flour so the filling is nice and thick for slicing pie into pretty pie slices.

Variation:

For Rich Tart Cherry Pie Filling: When preparing recipe to use as a pie filling vs. a dessert topping, dotting the filling with butter after pouring into unbaked pie shell (but before adding top lattice pie crust) is an option for a richer Tart Cherry Pie Filling. Simply cut 2 tablespoons of chilled unsalted butter (¼ stick or about 28 grams) into small bits then evenly dot top surface of filling before adding top lattice pie crust and baking.

Substitutions:

In lieu of the pure almond extract, 1 tablespoon (15 ml) amaretto liqueur may be used.

Shopping Suggestions:

Wicked Good Kitchen highly recommends selecting organic ingredients whenever possible.

For this recipe, we recommend organic tart cherries, lemons, grass-fed butter and granulated cane sugar. In addition, we recommend Eden Foods® Organic Tart Cherry Juice (not from concentrate and made with Montmorency tart cherries), Arrowhead Mills™ Organic Tapioca Flour, Nielsen-Massey® Organic Pure Vanilla Extract and Nielsen-Massey® Pure Almond Extract as well as TruColor™ Natural Gel Paste Powder Food Coloring (natural dry red food coloring). We also recommend the Progressive Cherry-It Cherry Pitter.

Original Recipe Source: WickedGoodKitchen.com