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Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Cherry Crumb Cream Cheese Bars and Candy Bar Blondies

This Valentines Day weekend was a killer at work! Valentines Day wasn't just one day at the restaurant, it ended up being the whole weekend. Saturday morning we had 300 people in for breakfast from 7am till 11:oo am, then we dealt with lunch! On Sunday it seems sweethearts were bringing they're entire families in after church for lunch, what a madhouse we had!! LOL!! I was in bed every night at 8:30 trying to nurse my burning aching feet. Yesterday I took it easy trying to recover, you know the old saying ...the mind is willing but the body, well mine was revolting against me. I tried to visit as many of you as I could over the weekend but I need to get caught up. It's amazing how much blogs and the people behind them can become a part of your life and when you can't get to the blogs you enjoy reading on a daily basis you miss them! Today I feel rested and decided to make bars, the first bar is a



Cherry Crumb Cream Cheese Bar

Cherry Dessert photo 3288921856_364b46f929_o_zps90113741.jpg

This is based on an Apple Crumble Bar that I made quite awhile ago that I found on pete bakes. I LOVE that bar! I adore crumb topping and that bar had loads of it. The top as well as the bottom of the bar is made of crumb topping.  To Read More, Click On The Recipe Title.
Since my husband loves anything cherry I decided to try it with a cherry pie filling with a cream cheese layer thrown in for good measure. I followed pete bakes recipe and just substituted cherry pie filling for the apples and made a cream cheese filling. This turned out very very well! Below is pete bakes recipe with my changes.



Cherry Cream Cheese Crumb Bars
Adapted from
pete bakes Apple Crumble Bars

4 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 cups butter, softened
1 can cherry pie filling

Cream Cheese Filling

8 0z cream cheese, softened
1/3 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla

1. Take the butter out of the fridge to soften (do NOT melt) on the counter.
2. Combine the flour, salt, white sugar and brown sugar in a bowl.
3. Cut the butter into the dry ingredients. the butter should not be melted. what we’re going for here are crumbs. you can either do this with a wooden spoon, or you can do what i do, and use your hands to crush it all together.
4. Take 1 cup of the crumb mixture and mix it with the the cherry pie filling.
5. Preheat the oven to 350 F and grease and flour a 9×13 baking pan. take 1/2 of your remaining crumb mixture and press it into the bottom of the pan. bake for 10 minutes.
6. Remove the crust from the oven, pour in the cherry mixture , then top the pie filling with the cream cheese filling and spread the rest of the crumbs on top. Put it back in the oven for another 45 minutes. when it’s done, the top should be a beautiful golden brown. cool by putting the pan on a wire rack so air can circulate around it. cut into bars after they’ve completely cooled, if you can resist it. it’s a great idea to refrigerate the bars so they set a bit more.

 photo 3288937696_d6a046b35e_o_zpsc8d05ec6.jpg

The second bar I made today was a very easy blondie that you make in a saucepan, much like the Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Brownie...er Blondie, sorry Ingrid!! LOL!! Oh boy did the kids love this! I used Reese's Peanut Butter cups, a Heath bar and a Butter finger Candy bar. These were the bigger bars, the pb cups had 3 in the pack. You can use any combination you like to make this, next time I'm thinking ...Milky Way Bars!!

Candy Bar Blondie
Candy Bar Blondies photo 3287851373_d5e02d4706_o_zps9069344d.jpg

Carol posted this recipe on a private forum, she got the recipe from snagwire, I knew the minute I saw it I was making it! It didn't disappoint, it was fantastic!


Candy Bar Blondies
adapted from Gourmet
Found on Snagwire Media

2 sticks (1/2 lb) unsalted butter
2 cups packed light brown sugar
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups of your favorite candy bars, roughly chopped

Preheat oven to 350°F with rack in middle. Butter and flour a 13- by 9-inch baking pan.
Melt butter in a 3-qt heavy saucepan over low heat, stirring, until smooth. Remove from heat and cool to lukewarm. Whisk in brown sugar and vanilla. Whisk in eggs 1 at a time until mixture is glossy and smooth.
Whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt, then whisk into butter mixture. Stir in candy pieces reserving 1/2 cup to sprinkle on top.
Spread in pan and sprinkle with remaining 1/2 cup candy. Bake until a pick inserted in center comes out clean, about 35 minutes. Cool completely

Candy Bar Blondies photo 3287862873_ceeb6950a8_o_zps56d4a43a.jpg

43 comments:

Karen said...

Both recipes look delicious. I like the blondies - then you can use your favorite candy bar... or for a gift, use the person's favorite.

Dewi said...

OMG, these are really treats, they both look heavenly,
Cheers,
Elra

Deeba PAB said...

Both look rocking good Carol. I'm having a tough time picking one!

Anonymous said...

Both look great but I am partial to the cherry crumb bars! Of course, I could just eat a can of cherry pie filling while watching TV. lol.

Meg said...

Wow! I love both of these amazing recipes! I wish I could have a taste of both right now.

Reeni said...

I don't know which one I like better!! They both look so scrumptious!

MaryBeth said...

Both bars look wonderful, I would have a hard time choosing the one to eat...so I guess it would have to be both, just to be fair of course.

Elyse said...

I don't know where to start! Both of these look AMAZING. Hmmm...cherry and cheesecake, an awesome, super-yummy combination! Oh, but then there's my favorite candy bars put into blondies...double-yum! I can't wait to try both of these!

Jenny said...

I'm sitting in front of the computer saying MMMMMM. Looks fabulous!

Ivy said...

OMG, I want both of them.

pigpigscorner said...

oh my..I'm suppose to stay away from desserts but I just can't resist these! They look really delicious.

grace said...

frankly, i'm not sure which of these i'd devour first--they're both incredible! the crumb on those cream cheese bars is ridiculously lovely, and come on--candy bar blondies!!

Debbie said...

Both of those look absolutely fantastic. I will definitely give the Cream Cheese Bars a try!!

Theresa said...

Ooh, both soo good!

Heather said...

oh my gosh! cherries and cream cheese! and candy bar blondies!! i don't know what i want to eat first!!

Kendra said...

You make me want to lick my screen. LOOKS soooo good!

Lucy..♥ said...

Pure torture.... as to which one to choose!!! Okay, one of each will do me just fine!

The Blonde Duck said...

I'll have both, please. They look fabulous!

RecipeGirl said...

They both look absolutely droolworthy. I'm quite smitten with candy bar baked goods, so I'd go with that one first :)

Valerie Harrison (bellini) said...

It certainly does sound like you had a really busy time. Hopefully there was plenty of tips. These bars both sound pretty tempting:D

giz said...

I especially love the cherry cream cheese bars - this would be absolutely ideal for the sweet table for Psychgrad's event and wedding :)

Susan said...

OMG these look wonderful- Im gaining weight just looking at them!

Selba said...

Wow... it looks so delicious...

Nazarina A said...

Please sign me up for the cherry cream cheese bars please, I shall have to hide and eat it because otherwise I shall have to share!!!

Jacque said...

Oh my goodness, those both look fantastic!! Give me a glass of milk and a pile of those and I'd be set.

Anonymous said...

Delicious looking...both of them. I would be making those bars with Heath or Take 5...yum.

Emily said...

Oh wow, I've got to try making your cherry crumb bars. Those look fantastic. They remind me of that pizza with cherry pie filling and streusel.. yum!

Rest up lady!

Ingrid_3Bs said...

GREAT photos Bunny! I like that you added cream cheese to the cherry bars: cream cheese makes things better.

As for your blondies, I've made them before though I used the recipe that Joy the Baker posted. They were good....I'll be using your one pot recipe the next time.
~ingrid

Unknown said...

i love cherries!!! your bars look so yum... and the blondies, mmm... can i have some? :)

Donna-FFW said...

Wow! Both of these look so very good. I have to print them out. Your whole blog just amazes me. I love everything you have here. I am so glad I read about it on Ingrids site.

The Short (dis)Order Cook said...

These both look so great. I love cherry desserts. I can also see those blondies with some of my favorite like Twix or Reeses.

Lori said...

I will take one of each since they look so delicious!

Gigi said...

The cherry crumb bar is calling my name! I am going to have to try that soon!

LissyLou said...

oh my god!! the cherry crumb cream cheese bar looks fab, i will be trying those!! x

Anonymous said...

Those Candy Bar Blondies look fabulous! Yum! And made with any favorite candy bar is a great idea.

Amanda said...

OMG Bunny, these look really good. I'm especially fond of blondies, may need to try this recipe!

Daziano said...

Gosh, I can't believe I've never had a blondie so far!!!

Marie Rayner said...

Oh gosh . . . me want . . . NOW!

Amanda said...

Hello Bunny my dear! I know I have already commented on this post but I'm stopping by everyone on my blogroll to let them know that I've started a new blog event called Thrifty Thursdays if you are interested in blogging along! http://amandascookin.blogspot.com/2009/02/gauging-interest-thrifty-thursday.html :)

eatme_delicious said...

Yumm I'll take one of each! I especially love all the crumb on top of those cherry bars!

Lisa said...

Gotta have those cherries in February! Gorgeous sweets. The Cherry Cream Cheese Bars look especially festive.

Anonymous said...

I made the cherry crumb cream cheese bars last night and they came out beautifully. They are so rich. I'm going to take the rest to work to get it out of my house before I eat the whole pan!!

Unknown said...

I needed to bring a dessert to a potluck at work. I searched online for cherry pie filling and cream cheese and your recipe was JUST what I was looking for. Delicous! They were the FIRST to disappear from a wide variety of potluck items. Only bad thing was I didn't get to bring any leftovers home!