Treat your Valentine Sweetheart with this delicious dessert!

Cherry Pie and Malt Crumble Bars

Ingredients

Ingredients:

For the Crust & Crumble Top

3 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1 ¼ cups granulated cane sugar
½ cup of Soda Fountain® Malted Milk Powder
1 ¼ teaspoon sea salt (fine grain)
1 ¼ cups (2 ½ sticks) butter (chilled enough to cut into small bits)
2 large egg yolks, beaten
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
½ teaspoon pure almond extract

Cherry Pie Filling (you can use blueberry pie filling instead of the cherry)

2 – 21 oz. cans cherry pie filling & topping

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375°F, with rack placed in middle position. In a 9×13” baking pan (metal), line pan with baking parchment paper with a 2” overhang on each side. Lightly grease parchment paper.

Prepare the Crust & Crumble Topping: In a large bowl, mix together flour, sugar, malt and salt. Cut chilled butter sticks into small (pea-size) bits. With a hand blender or mixer, cut the butter into flour mixture until you achieve a crumble consistency.

In a small bowl, beat together with a fork, egg yolks, vanilla extract and almond extract. Pour into crumb mixture and toss gently until well combined yet not over working the mixture. Remove 2 cups of mixture in a small bowl for topping. Press down the remaining crumble mix in prepared baking pan. Evenly spread the 2 cans of cherry pie filling over crust. Sprinkle evenly with the reserve crumb mixture.

Bake in preheated oven until topping is golden brown and filling is cooked through and bubbly. About 45 to 55 minutes. The last 20 minutes, you might want to cover with aluminum foil to prevent over browning top. Remove from oven, and place on a wire rack to cool. Once cooled, sprinkle with malted milk powder and lift bars out of pan with parchment paper, and place on a large wooden cutting board. Cut bars and serve at room temperature, chilled or slightly warmed.

Enjoy!