Apple- and berry-filled desserts abound, but pears never seem to get their due. The honey-sweet fruit is delicious in desserts and also plays well with a host of other flavors. In these bars, we match the delicate, floral notes of pear with the tart but complementary punch of cherry. However, cramming two fruits into our bars weighed down the crust and made it soggy, so instead of using whole cherries we turned to cherry jam, which we spread over the bar base. And to eliminate excess moisture from the pears, we sautéed slices in butter with a little sugar before layering them on top of the jam. Cooking the pears also intensified their flavor, which we heightened further by adding some lemon juice and vanilla extract. Parbaking the crust ensured it stayed crisp below our lively fruit filling. Almonds, which complement both cherries and pears, and the caramel notes of brown sugar enhanced the streusel topping for a perfect finish to our unique bars.
Ingredients
- 2¼ cups (11¼ ounces) all-purpose flour
- 16 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 16 pieces and chilled, plus 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- ⅔ cup (4⅔ ounces) plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup sliced almonds
- ¼ cup packed (1¾ ounces) light brown sugar
- 4 ripe but firm Bartlett or Bosc pears, peeled, halved, cored, and sliced ¼ inch thick
- 2 teaspoons lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¾ cup cherry jam
- Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 375 degrees. Make foil sling for 13 by 9-inch baking pan by folding 2 long sheets of aluminum foil; first sheet should be 13 inches wide and second sheet should be 9 inches wide. Lay sheets of foil in pan perpendicular to each other, with extra foil hanging over edges of pan. Push foil into corners and up sides of pan, smoothing foil flush to pan. Grease foil.
- Process flour, 16 tablespoons chilled butter, ⅔ cup granulated sugar, and salt in food processor until mixture resembles coarse meal, about 30 seconds. Set aside 1 cup flour mixture in bowl for topping. Sprinkle remaining mixture into prepared pan and press firmly into even layer. Bake until golden brown, about 20 minutes. Transfer pan to wire rack.
- Return reserved flour mixture to now-empty food processor. Add almonds and brown sugar and pulse until just combined, 5 to 6 pulses.
- Melt remaining 2 tablespoons butter in 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat. Add pears and remaining 2 tablespoons granulated sugar and cook until pears are light golden brown and dry, about 10 minutes. Stir in lemon juice and vanilla.
- Spread jam evenly over warm crust, then top with even layer of pear mixture. Sprinkle with topping and bake until golden brown, 20 to 25 minutes. Let bars cool completely in pan on wire rack, about 2 hours. Using foil overhang, remove bars from pan. Cut into 24 pieces before serving.