Almond Bars

(This recipe was first posted in conjunction with the Meijer Ad Week of 1/15/12-1/21/12)

These bars have almost the same taste and chewy consistency of their more expensive siblings, but they are fairly cheap to make because they use almond extract instead of almond paste. 

Ingredients:

Bars:
4 eggs

2 cups sugar
dash of salt
2 cups flour
1 cup melted butter OR margarine
2 tsp almond extract
Glaze:
1 cup powdered sugar
2 Tbsp milk
1/4 tsp almond extract

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9x13 pan, and sprinkle with sugar.  (It's easiest to just dump a pile in the middle, and then shake and turn the pan until the sugar covers and sticks to the bottom and approximately one inch up the side of the pan.)  Beat together the eggs, sugar, and salt, then add flour, butter, and extract.  Beat until smooth.  Pour in the prepared 9x13 pan.  Bake 30 minutes.  Take out after 30 minutes even if it looks like the middle is not done (unless you know for sure that your oven regularly takes longer to bake things than directions call for).  Cool completely.  Whip glaze ingredients together with a fork.  If it's too thick to pour, then add a tiny bit more milk.  Pour glaze over cooled bars, and then put the pan in the fridge so that the glaze hardens before cutting.  Store cut bars in the refrigerator or freezer for best taste and texture.

Options and Tips

• Don't talk on the phone to your sister-in-law while making these bars.  You might forget the almond extract and have to transform them into Chocolate Frosted Vanilla Bars!  Yup, that was me!

This recipe was given to me by Alice Joostens.