Almond Bars

Well today is the day I try something new! 

I've been looking and looking at this recipe from a church cookbook and I just couldn't resist anymore. I just had to make these bars. I guess being home by myself didn't help the cause. I know I'm trying to watch the sweets intake here, but these just sounded too good to pass up any more.

After looking over the ingredients for about the billionth time.... butter, check... powdered sugar, check.... cream cheese, check..... slivered almonds, check! All the other stuff regular staples of my pantry.

So I'm started mixing the ingredients for the crust. Going good, but make sure the butter is really soft or it is a pain to mix it well. I pop it in the oven to bake. Smells great!

Then it's filling time. I soften the cream cheese in the microwave.Add the sugar, eggs and almond extract!! Holy crap my almond extract is gone! I resolve to use vanilla extract and it proves to be just as good. No fears here. So I blend this with the mixer and pour over the crust and bake again.

Finally it's on to the frosting. I find I have to wait for the bars to cool before frosting so I step away for awhile and come back later to whip it up and add to the bars.

These bars are quick and simple to make and they taste absolutely wonderful. Now the recipe did call for almond extract and if I wasn't out I would have used it, but it still tasted great with the vanilla. I'm starting to think that maybe another flavor of extract like lemon or something like that would also taste great.

Give it a try and let me know what you think.

Almond Bars
Crust
1C butter
2 C flour 
1/2 C powdered sugar

Mix butter, powdered sugar and flour. Pat evenly into a 9 X 13 pan. Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes.

Filling
1-8 oz pkg. cream cheese
2 eggs
1/2 C granulated sugar
1 t almond extract (I used vanilla)

Mix cream cheese, eggs, sugar and extract. Pour over crust while still hot. Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes. Cool.

Frosting
1 1/2 C powdered sugar
1 1/2 T milk
1/4 C butter
1 t almond extract (I used vanilla)
sliced almonds

Mix powdered sugar, milk, butter, and almond extract. Spread evenly over bars. Sprinkle sliced almonds on top.