Sweet Cherry Almond Bars

Ingredients

• About 14 ounces of pitted cherries, halved or rough chopped (about 2 1/2 cups)
• 2 Tbsp sugar
• Juice of 1/2 lemon
• 1/2 tsp almond extract
• 1 tsp cornstarch
• Shortbread dough
• 1 cup flour
• 1/4 cup almond meal or almond flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• Pinch of salt
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 tsp almond extract
• 1 stick (1/2 cup or 4 ounces) cold, unsalted butter cut in pieces
• Topping: 1/4 cup sliced almonds

Method

1. Set oven to 350F
2. Lightly spray an 8x8 baking pan
3. Stir together the cherries with the sugar, lemon juice, extract, and cornstarch. Set aside, tossing occasionally to encourage some of the juices to start flowing.
4. Put the flour, almond meal, sugar, salt, and baking powder into the bowl of a food processor and pulse to combine.
5. Add the yolk, extract, and butter, and pulse or process to combine just until the dough comes together, it will be crumbly.
6. Press 2/3 of the dough into the bottom of your pan to form the crust. Top with the cherries. Then crumble the remaining dough evenly over the cherries. Top with the sliced almonds and bake for about 40 minutes until the dough is just golden and the filling is bubbling.
7. Let cool before cutting.

Notes

• If you don’t like almond extract, use vanilla extract instead.
• You can make your own almond meal by grinding whole almonds in a food processor.