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Oatmeal Cherry Bars

Oatmeal Cherry Bars

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Can Be Made Ahead


Active Time: 20 minutes
Start to Finish: 1 hour, plus cooling time.

ingredients

  • Crust
  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1 cup quick cooking oats
  • 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
  • 1/4 tsp. salt
  • 1/4 tsp. baking soda
  • 1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
  • 6 Tbs. butter, melted
  • 3 Tbs. orange juice
  • Cherry Topping
  • 1 1/3 cups dried cherries
  • 3/4 cup sour cream
  • 1/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 2 Tbs. all-purpose flour
  • 1 tsp. vanilla extract
  • 1/2 tsp. grated lemon rind
  • 1 large egg white, lightly beaten

directions

Preheat oven to 325°.

Crust
To create the bottom crust, combine flour, oats, brown sugar, salt, baking soda and cinnamon in a medium bowl, stirring well. Slowly pour butter and juice over flour mixture, stirring until fully incorporated. The mixture will be crumbly. Reserve 1/2 cup of the oat mixture. Add remaining oat mixture into the bottom of an 11 x 8-inch baking dish coated with cooking spray and press into the bottom.

Cherry Topping
To prepare the cherry topping, combine cherries, sour cream, granulated sugar, 2 Tbsp flour, vanilla extract, lemon rind and egg and stir until uniform. Spread cherry mixture over crust at the bottom of the baking dish; sprinkle reserved oat mixture evenly over filling. Bake at 325° for 40 minutes or until edges are golden. Cool completely in pan on a wire rack.

Notes

These are great for bringing to a party and/or making the night before.

The original recipe is from Cooking Light and used more granulated sugar (1/2 cup). It also suggested that the recipe made 24 servings - which each end up being very small. Consider cutting into 12 or 18 pieces if you want more reasonably sized pieces.

To make this recipe healthier, try any or all of the following: Use wheat flour; use 4 or 5 tablespoons of butter; use reduced fat sour cream, or 1/2 regular sour cream, 1/2 reduced fat; reduce the brown sugar to 1/3 of a cup.

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recipe type

Dessert

source

Cooking Light

yield

12

difficulty

1111

tips

Kosher v. table salt
We always use kosher salt in our cooking because its crystals dissolve better in water than ordinary table salt. However, kosher and table salt are not equivalent when you are measuring amounts for a recipe. To further confuse matters, different types of kosher salt measure differently. If a recipe calls for table salt (or just salt), and the amounts are relatively small (e.g., one teaspoon), we simply use the amount called for in the recipe. You can always add a bit more salt to taste. If however, the recipe calls for larger amounts of salt, as would be the case, for example, in a brine, then you should convert the amount called for. Most sources cite 2 types of kosher salt as being widely available: Morton (which is what we use) and Diamond Crystal (which none of us have ever been able to find.) In any case, to convert the amount of table salt to Morton Kosher Salt, multiply the table salt by 1.5; to convert to Diamond Crystal, multiply by 2.

Just another example of why algebra really is im

Salted or Unsalted?Salted or Unsalted?
We always cook with unsalted butter. Salted butter is usually less fresh than unsalted, and the salt can be used to mask inferior flavors. Also, manufacturers add different amounts of salt to their butter, so it is difficult to control the amount of salt in your recipe. In a pinch, you can use salted butter in a savory recipe, but we would not recommend using it for baking.