I Cannot Tell A Lie! I ❤ Chocolate Cherry Bars!

Two friends have February birthdays this week; today and Saturday (I know of many others this month too!), plus tomorrow is Valentine's Day, and Monday is the President's Day holiday! What more reason in February to celebrate with chocolate and cherry (ala George Washington) could there be? It doesn't get much better than this!

Recipe makes 32 Bars  (cut in rows of 4 x 8 - they are very rich, so you can cut them smaller if you like)- only 18 shown here as I was bringing them to a birthday lunch. The remainder I took to work. I also cut them then iced them so the icing would drip over the edges of the zig-zag ones for aesthetics.
They are very rich due to all the chocolate, almond and cherry. You could probably add some chopped almonds too, but I had none on hand.

Bars:
1 cup butter (I used unsalted)
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon almond extract
2 cups flour
1/4 cup baking cocoa (if you omit this - the bars will be more like chocolate chip pan cookies)
1 teaspoon soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

1 10oz jar Marashino* Cherries ( drain cherries reserving liquid) and chop into small pieces.
1 12oz bag semi-sweet chocolate chips (divided)
1/2 cup chopped slivered almonds (optional) Or maybe sprinkle the icing with some sliced?


Icing:
3 to 4 Tablespoons cherry juice (or more to make a thin decorating consistency)
1 cup powdered sugar
2 tablespoons butter softened (again, I used unsalted)

Pre-heat oven to 325º Grease 13x9 pan on bottom and all sides.
Drain Cherries (saving the juice for the icing) and chop into small pieces.

Cream butter, add sugar. Mix in eggs and almond extract. Add cocoa powder, flour, soda and salt - mix well. Stir in cherry pieces and 1 cup of chocolate chips.

Bake 30-35 minutes. Remove from oven and sprinkle the rest of the chocolate chips on top to melt - Takes about 5 minutes - I covered the pan to keep in the heat and melt them faster. Spread evenly and let cool completely.

Mix the softened butter, powdered sugar and cherry juice til very smooth and thin enough to drizzle. I used several tablespoons of juice to achieve that consistency. You can just spoon across the bars, or you can load the icing into a cake decorator's tube, or even just a plastic bag with a corner cut out to draw more precisely any design or lettering.

If you like, you can also cut the bars first (8 rows by 4 rows), place them on a tray or dish, and that way the icing dribbles over the side. Be as creative as you like. Since they are for a Valentine's Day birthday lunch, I made hearts and some zig-zags for fun! Let icing set and enjoy!

So super chocolatey, cherry, and almond-y flavoured! ❤

Next time I will cut these into smaller bars as they are very rich; perhaps one by one, or one and a half inch squares, similar in size to a piece of fudge.

They would also be tasty with Raspberry or Orange, or even real Cherry! Mmmm

*I hesitated in buying the Maraschino Cherries as every brand the 'upscale grocery' carried listed high fructose corn syrup on the label, except one - 'Salad Cherries', and I wasn't sure they'd be the right type/flavour as they looked a bit darker. Figuring that only a small amount of the juice is used overall, I just used the cheapest store brand ($1.49 vs $2.00+), as every single ingredient in the other brands were exactly the same.