Irresistible Black Forest Bars

Submitted by Irmgard

"These chocolate shortbread bars are a great way to use up sour cherry jam (if you happen to have that flavour on hand!) I use the Swiss Hero brand of red cherry jam to make these."

 

• Ready In: 1hr
• Ingredients: 10
• Serves: 40

ingredients

• Base

• 3⁄4 cup butter, softened
• 1⁄2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 3⁄4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1⁄2 cup cocoa powder

• Filling

• 3⁄4 cup sour cherry jam

• Topping

• 1⁄2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1⁄3 cup granulated sugar
• 2 tablespoons cocoa powder
• 1⁄3 cup cold butter
• 1 tablespoon icing sugar

directions

1. Line a 9" x 13" cake pan with parchment paper; set aside.
2. In a bowl, beat the softened butter with sugar until fluffy.
3. Sift the flour and cocoa over the top; stir until combined.
4. Press into the prepared pan.
5. Bake in the centre of a 350 degree F oven until firm, about 15 minutes.
6. Let cool in the pan on a rack.
7. Spread the cooled base with the sour cherry jam.
8. Whisk together the 1/2 cup of flour, 1/3 cup of sugar and 2 tablespoons cocoa powder.
9. Cut in the cold butter until crumbly.
10. Sprinkle over the jam.
11. Bake in the centre of the oven, again at 350 degrees F, until firm to the touch, about 30 minutes.
12. Let cool in the pan on a rack.
13. Dust with icing sugar.

Reviews

[Elle Woods Can Cook]

I had really high hopes for this recipe...FINALLY a chocolate-cherry bar without the cream cheese layer. Unfortunately I found the result a bit dry, probably because the shortbread crust made up the majority of the bar. The cherry filling and topping were great, although in the future I will try using basic brownie recipe instead of this crust. Nice idea, though!