Walnut Cherry Cookie Bars

By JanetLynn198

Having finally purchased a food processor, Diane was eager to create a dessert using it. “I read all the food processor recipes and came up with this one,” she says. It uses walnuts and cherry preserves, a combo favored by her family. If you’re not a fan of the cherry flavor, Diane suggests substituting fig preserves.

PER BAR: 220 calories, 11 g total fat (4.5 g saturated fat), 2.5 g protein, 28 g carbohydrate, 25 mg cholesterol, 120 mg sodium, 1 g fiber

TIP *To toast walnuts, place on baking sheet; bake at 350°F. for 6-8 mins or until pale brown and fragrant. Cool.

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 cups coarsely chopped walnuts, toasted*
• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 3/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 3/4 cup plus 2 tbsp butter, chilled, cut up
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups cherry preserves
• Powdered sugar for sprinkling

Preparation

Step 1

1 Heat oven to 350F. Spray 9" square baking pan with cooking spray. Pulse walnuts in food processor until chopped to medium consistency. Add flour, sugar, baking soda and salt; pulse to combine. Add butter; pulse until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add egg and vanilla; pulse until blended and moistened.

2 Press 3 cups of the crumb mixture into bottom of pan; spread with preserves. Sprinkle remaining 2 cups crumb mixture over preserves, squeezing slightly to form clumps.

3 Bake 40-45 mins or until lightly browned. Cool completely in pan on wire rack. Sprinkle with powdered sugar just before serving.