Maple Cherry Pistachio Bars

I'm not the most strategic grocery shopper. I tend to buy way more than I need for any sensible length of time, in part because there are one hundred recipes I'm thinking about making at any given time, and most of them call for something I don't "normally" keep around the house. In this way, I wind up with a jam-packed pantry, duplicates hidden in the chaos, and lots of partially-used containers, which makes me feel guilty and annoys my other half, who would strongly prefer a sparsely stocked pantry and regular rotation of the best recipes.

So there I was, staring down ½ a half-gallon of heavy cream (yes, I typed that right), two open bags of dried cherries (one tart montmorency cherries, one dark sweet cherries, both from Trader Joe's), ¾ of a liter of maple syrup, four containers of citrus zest in the freezer, and an assortment of nuts in five different containers in my pantry. On a whim, I picked up Baked: New Frontiers in Baking to see if any of the upcoming recipes on the Baked Sunday Mornings schedule might help me with my overcrowding problem. The Honeycomb Bars aren't currently on our schedule, but the recipe leapt out at me; replace the honey with maple syrup, use zest in place of candied peel, and replace the sliced almonds with a nut I liked better, and voila: maple cherry pistachio bars plus more pantry space.

First, you make the easy sweet tart dough. This came together quite quickly in my stand mixer, although I needed to add 250% the original amount of heavy cream for my base to come together. Your experience might differ - I have this liquid:dry problem sometimes with Baked recipes. After forming the tart dough into a rough disk shape, it needs to chill in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes or up to 5 days (or 2 weeks in the freezer). I kept mine in the fridge for 26 hours, just because that timing worked best with my schedule.

This tart dough is quite sticky, but fortunately we're not trying for a perfect and unmarred pie crust here. My dough tore in multiple places when I rolled it out and when I tried to place it in the baking pan. I just pressed in the torn pieces to form an unbroken bottom layer.

Next, taking a cue from Erin McDowell's the Fearless Baker, I used the granulated sugar called for in the filling as my "pie weight" to keep the tart dough from bubbling up during the pre-bake. Erin recommends using granulated sugar as a pie weight for all your recipes, and saving the roasted sugar in a marked jar until it turns a golden hue (this should take 2-5 bakes, depending on duration and temperature). This golden toasted sugar brings further complexity and caramel-like richness to any recipe that calls for ordinary granulated sugar. Ten-to-twelve minutes is not enough time for the sugar to caramelize to that extent, but I figured it couldn't hurt the flavor of the filling any. If you don't want to do this, feel free to use regular pie weights or beans.

Once the tart base is parbaked, you'll make the filling by tossing the cherries with the orange zest (or candied peel) and a little flour and pinch of salt. You'll also want to measure out your pistachios (which you can place in the same bowl on top of your flour-dusted cherries) and your shot of Cointreau. The second to last step is making the candy filling, by stirring together the granulated sugar, heavy cream, maple syrup, and butter in a heavy-bottomed pot, then bringing the mixture to soft ball stage (240 F) without stirring. You'll want a candy thermometer to properly accomplish this step, and you'll need to devote your attention to the bubbling candy filling, even though it will seem like it's taking forever to reach 240 F. The Cointreau is whisked in (you could use ½ teaspoon almond extract and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract if you would prefer not to use alcohol), followed by the flour-coated cherries and the nuts. This molten filling is poured over the parbaked tart crust and baked another 15-18 minutes (it took my bars 16.5 minutes), until the top is golden brown and the edges are bubbly.

Caleb felt just "meh" about these maple cherry pistachio bars, which is not at all surprising since they involve dried fruit and nuts instead of chocolate. Also, he thought the base could be crispier. I disagree with him, but we've always had that difference of opinion on "doneness". He wants everything to cook another 2-4 minutes longer than I do.

On the other hand, I really enjoyed these, as did people at work. They're sweet, but not tooth-achingly so, and you only need a small square (although they're addictive enough that you might eat 5-6 small squares). All the different components work together to create a dessert that's visually stunning, easy to make, enough to feed a crowd, and packed with so much flavor that even the crumbs are good. A word of caution: they're rather messy, as the sugared topping tends to flake when you cut the bars and bite into them, so definitely eat them over a plate.

Adapted from Baked: New Frontiers in Baking

Maple Cherry Pistachio Bars

Print Pin Rate

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Keyword: Baked

Prep Time: 25 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 50 minutes minutes

Chilling time: 30 minutes minutes

Total Time: 1 hour hour 15 minutes minutes

Servings: 36 bars

Ingredients

For the sweet tart dough

• ½ cup unsalted butter softened
• ½ cup sugar
• 2-5 teaspoons heavy cream
• 1 large egg yolk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
• Pinch of salt
• sugar from filling as the "pie weight"

For the maple cherry pistachio filling

• ¾ cup (4 ounces) dried cherries (combination tart and sweet or all one type) chopped
• 2-3 tablespoons orange zest lemonz zest, or ⅓ cup diced candied orange peel
• 2 tablespoons cake flour
• Pinch of salt
• 1 ⅓ cups sugar
• 1 ¼ cups heavy cream
• ⅓ cup maple syrup or honey
• ½ cup unsalted butter cut into tiny cubes
• Shot of Cointreau or brandy or bourbon
• 1 ½ cups chopped pistachios toasted (or sliced almonds)

Instructions

Make the sweet tart dough

• In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar until combined.
• In a small bowl whisk together the 2 teaspoons heavy cream, egg yolk, and vanilla. Add this to the butter and sugar mixture and beat until incorporated. Scrape down the bowl and add the flour and salt until just combined. If you need more liquid, add a teaspoon more of heavy cream at a time until the dough comes together.
  
• Turn out the mixture onto a lightly floured surface and form into an oblong disk. Wrap the disk tightly in plastic and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
• Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Butter the sides and bottom of a 9-by-13-inch glass or light-colored metal baking pan.
• Lightly flour a work surface then roll out the dough into a large rectangle about the shape of the pan. Transfer the dough to the pan, and press into the bottom of the pan (do not press up the sides). If the dough cracks or splits, you can press it in pieces into the pan by hand.
• Cover the dough with a sheet of parchment paper. Distribute the 1-⅓ cup of granulated sugar over the parchment paper-covered dough and bake for 11 minutes. Carefully remove the sugar and parchment paper, reserving the toasted sugar for the filling. Bake the uncovered tart base for another 5-7 minutes, until lightly golden. Transfer from the oven to a cooling rack. Keep the oven on while you make the filling.

Make the honeycomb bar filling

• In a medium bowl, toss together the dried cherries, orange zest, cake flour, and salt. Set aside.
  
• In a large saucepan over medium heat, stir together the sugar, heavy cream, maple syrup, and butter. Clip a candy thermometer to the side of the pan and bring the mixture to the soft ball stage, approximately 240°F (116°C) . Do not stir the mixture while it is coming to this stage.
• Once the mixture reaches 240°F (116°C) , add the Cointreau and remove from the heat.
• Fold the dry ingredients and the pistachios into the hot sugar mixture, then pour the mixture into the parbaked tart crust. Spread the filling evenly, and smooth the top.
• Bake for about 15 minutes or until the bar is golden and bubbly. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely before cutting.

Notes

Bars can be stored at room temperature, covered and sealed, for up to 4 days.