White Chocolate Cherry Almond Shortbread

So after reading the ridiculously long title of this blog post, you must be exhausted and ravenous! Obviously you're going to have to get right to making these deliciously buttery and sweet dessert bars!

With Friday being my final day at work, I really wanted to end the semester with a bang and thank my co-workers for the amazing support they have provided me throughout my time in the office. They have always been the best recipe guinea pigs, so I thought I'd take one more dessert creation for a trial run. For whatever reason I have always loved pairing the flavors of cherries and almonds. I happen to think the two ingredients make a delectable combination, and clearly a great dessert is only made better by the addition of chocolate! Of course I had no choice but to bundle all of these flavors between layers of tender shortbread. And thus the White Chocolate Cherry Almond Shortbread was born!

In a saucepan, I mixed frozen cherries together with almond extract and sugar. I did my best to break the cherries up a bit while they cooked down. I wanted the cherries to offer some texture, so I was sure to leave some integrity to the fruit. Once the mixture came to a boil, I added a touch of corn starch to help the cherries thicken to almost resemble a thin jelly preserve. In the future, I might first stir the corn starch together with a bit of water to keep the starch from clumping in the cherry mixture. After allowing the cherries to thicken, I removed the pan from the heat.

Using a hand mixer, I creamed together an extraordinary amount of butter and sugar. I promised this dish would be heavenly, not figure friendly... After the butter was fluffy and light in color, I added an egg, some vanilla, and salt. Slowly I incorporated a mess of flour and a handful of slivered almonds. I prefer slivered to sliced almonds in the shortbread, but it's honestly up to your own textual palette. After pouring about two-thirds of the dough into a greased baking dish, I pressed the mixture evenly into the pan. I poured the cherries over the shortbread and topped it with white chocolate. I sprinkled the remaining dough over the white chocolate. Finally, I threw the pan in the oven and waited for dessert happiness.

Let me just tell you, the wait was well worth it. Again, this is certainly not the healthiest recipe I've created in the last couple of months, but I think I'm guaranteed a great deal of smiles and gratitude when I walk into the office with a tray full of these shortbread bars!


White Chocolate Cherry Almond Shortbread

Ingredients:

• 18oz frozen cherries
• 1 tsp almond extract
• 2 cup sugar
• 1 tbsp corn starch
• 4 cups flour
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 3 sticks butter, softened
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 3/4 cup slivered almonds
• 1 cup white chocolate chips

Over high heat mix together cherries, almond extract, and 1/2 cup sugar. Bring to boil. In a small bowl mix corn starch with 1 tbsp water. Remove any clumps. Add starch to cherries. Cook for 15 minutes on medium-high heat until mixture is think. Preheat oven to 350°F. In a bowl, cream together butter and sugar. Add vanilla, egg and salt. Gradually incorporate flour until mixture is crumbly. Stir in almonds. Grease a 13x9'' baking pan. Press two-thirds of the dough into the pan. Pour cherries over the dough. Sprinkle white chocolate over the cherries. Crumble remaining dough over the chocolate. Bake for 45 minutes until the top is golden brown,

Makes 24 bars.