Cherry Almond Squares

Part cherry pie, part coffee cake, altogether amazing and ready in under an hour.

Part cherry pie, part coffee cake. Elegant and easy.  A time saver for when you have to feed a crowd, that’s the best way to describe these Cherry Almond Squares.

Well there’s no denying that we are heading into the holiday swing. For many of us, that means lots of family gatherings, carry in dinners, holiday programs and open houses. You know, along with all your other responsibilities. It’s a busy, busy time. Now more than ever, the kitchen is the heart of my home.

Let me ask you this, have you ever been so busy with the preparation of a holiday meal, making sure that everything is just right and everyone is taken care of that by the time you get to make your own plate, everything is picked over? Especially those pies and cakes. Come on now, I’ve seen stampedes to the dessert table more than once. To be honest, sometimes I’m the stampeder. My brother and I have gotten into throwdowns over the last piece of something…as adults.  (I’m a scrappy fighter, but he’s twice my size and half my age.)

These Cherry Almond Squares are perfect for this time of year because:

1. They’re beautiful and festive.
2. Make a batch large enough for big family dinners or potlucks.
3. Only take about 35 minutes.
4. Rely mostly on inexpensive pantry ingredients.

These squares start off with a plain old white cake mix, but thanks to the addition of one whole cup of sour cream in the recipe no one will ever be able to tell of their humble beginnings. Tender and moist sour cream cake topped with cherries, sliced almonds and a sweet almond glaze. Part coffee cake, part cherry pie, altogether awesome. You also won’t want to miss new flavor variations I’ve added to the blog of this recipe: Raspberry Cream Cheese and Lemon Poppy Seed Blueberry. Now, I’m not guaranteeing there will be no squabbles over these Cherry Almond Squares because my husband and brother in law took it upon themselves to see who could eat the most. But that’s a lot better squabble than fighting for the last piece of pie, right? 

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Cherry Almond Squares

Yield: 24

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 25 minutes

Total Time: 35 minutes

These easy and elegant cherry almond squares come together in a snap and make enough for a crowd.

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Ingredients

• 1 cup dairy sour cream
• 1/4 cup water
• 3 large eggs
• 1 package white cake mix
• 1 21 ounce can cherry pie filling
• 1/4 cup sliced almonds

Glaze

• 1 1/2 cups confectioners sugar
• 2 Tablespoons milk
• 2 Tablespoons softened butter
• 1/2 teaspoon almond extract

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Generously grease and flour a cookie sheet pan.
3. In a medium sized bowl, mix together the sour cream, water, and eggs. Stir in the cake mix until moistened. The batter will remain slightly lumpy.
4. Spread the batter evenly in the jelly roll pan.
5. Drop the pie filling by spoonfuls over the batter, trying to evenly disperse the cherries throughout the batter.
6. Bake until the cake springs back when touched lightly 25-30 minutes.
7. Cool on a baking rack.
8. In a small bowl, mix the confectioners sugar, softened butter and almond extract. Beat well. Add in the milk starting with 2 Tablespoons, adding more if necessary until the glaze reaches the desired consistency.
9. Sprinkle with sliced almonds and drizzle with glaze.

Notes

When choosing a pie filling, the "more fruit" varieties are best for this recipe.

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