I don't ever remember having so many beautiful cherries available in our markets. When I moved to this city 3 years ago, there were always some little "local" cherries and maybe a couple weeks where you could get some expensive "imported" looking ones. But cherries are everywhere right now. Big, juicy, red ones. And from talking to the sellers, they are actually being grown around here. I'll be the first to admit--fruit in China is rarely as flavorful as fruit in the US. Pomegranates, peaches and cherries are my prime examples of this. Oh how I'd love a good Georgia peach! Anyway, a couple weeks ago I tried this low-fat Cherry Almond breakfast cake I'd seen on some blog. Low on butter with lots of yogurt. But it was only mediocre--flavor was pretty good but the texture was pretty dense. Then I found this recipe--the ingredients are practically the same, just in more of a cookie/bar form. I heavily adapted the original recipe. I cut back on some of the butter, replacing it with Greek yogurt (using this handy substitution chart!), used less brown sugar and I created a way to use fresh cherries rather than cherry preserves. I hope if you have cherries where you are right now that you'll try this! They are yummy! Oh, and even though they are very dessert-y, they could totally pass for breakfast/brunch if you ask me! Oats, yogurt, fruit.....nutritious, right?!
Cherry Almond Oat Bars
1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup Greek yogurt
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 egg
3/4 tsp almond extract*
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups quick-cooking oats
1/2 cup sliced or slivered almonds*
Cherry Filling:
1 1/2 cups pitted and quartered cherries (~250-300g pre-prepped)
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
1 1/2 Tbs cornstarch
1 Tbs lemon juice
Pit about 250-300g of cherries (I bought the cheapest ones--doesn't matter if they are a little soft since you'll cook them). There are all kinds of methods or even cherry pitters out there for this, but I just sliced it along one edge of the pit, pulled it out and then halved the 2 halves. Loosely pack to measure about 1 1/2 cups of cherries. Place in a saucepan with sugar, water and cornstarch. Cook over medium-low heat until thickened. Stir in 1 Tbs lemon juice and allow to cool.
Meanwhile, cream together softened butter and yogurt (if using unsalted butter, add 1/4 tsp salt). Add in sugars and baking powder and mix well. Beat in egg and extract. Mix in the flour with your mixer if you can. Stir in any remaining flour and the oats and almonds. Line a 9x13 pan with foil or parchment or wax paper. Grease it lightly. Reserve about 3/4 cup of the dough and then press the remaining dough into the prepared pan (my dough was a little sticky--I floured my hands). Cover with the cherry mixture. Crumble the reserved dough over top of the cherry layer. Bake at 350F (180C) for about 30 minutes--until golden brown and set. Cut into 36 bars.
Variation Idea: Try this with blueberries, raspberries, or some other fruit!
*Notes: If you don't have the almond extract, it would change the flavor a lot, but just omit and do about 1 tsp vanilla. I buy sliced almonds cheaply from this taobao seller in my city! Free delivery in town for Y50+ orders. You could always just slice some whole ones as well, they would just be chunkier in the mixture.
Cherry Almond Oat Bars
1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup Greek yogurt
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 egg
3/4 tsp almond extract*
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups quick-cooking oats
1/2 cup sliced or slivered almonds*
Cherry Filling:
1 1/2 cups pitted and quartered cherries (~250-300g pre-prepped)
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
1 1/2 Tbs cornstarch
1 Tbs lemon juice
Pit about 250-300g of cherries (I bought the cheapest ones--doesn't matter if they are a little soft since you'll cook them). There are all kinds of methods or even cherry pitters out there for this, but I just sliced it along one edge of the pit, pulled it out and then halved the 2 halves. Loosely pack to measure about 1 1/2 cups of cherries. Place in a saucepan with sugar, water and cornstarch. Cook over medium-low heat until thickened. Stir in 1 Tbs lemon juice and allow to cool.
Meanwhile, cream together softened butter and yogurt (if using unsalted butter, add 1/4 tsp salt). Add in sugars and baking powder and mix well. Beat in egg and extract. Mix in the flour with your mixer if you can. Stir in any remaining flour and the oats and almonds. Line a 9x13 pan with foil or parchment or wax paper. Grease it lightly. Reserve about 3/4 cup of the dough and then press the remaining dough into the prepared pan (my dough was a little sticky--I floured my hands). Cover with the cherry mixture. Crumble the reserved dough over top of the cherry layer. Bake at 350F (180C) for about 30 minutes--until golden brown and set. Cut into 36 bars.
Variation Idea: Try this with blueberries, raspberries, or some other fruit!
*Notes: If you don't have the almond extract, it would change the flavor a lot, but just omit and do about 1 tsp vanilla. I buy sliced almonds cheaply from this taobao seller in my city! Free delivery in town for Y50+ orders. You could always just slice some whole ones as well, they would just be chunkier in the mixture.
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