Cherry Chewbilees
Yield: 36 bars
Ingredients
Crust
- 1 cup walnut pieces, divided
- 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
- 1/2 cup softened butter
- 1/2 cup flaked coconut
Filling
- 2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
- 2/3 cup granulated sugar
- 2 eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 (21 ounce) can cherry pie filling
Instructions
- Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter a 9 x 13 inch baking pan.
Crust
- Coarsely chop 1/2 cup of the walnuts for topping; set aside. Finely chop remaining nuts.
- Combine flour, brown sugar and margarine until crumbly. Work in finely chopped nuts and coconut. Remove and reserve 1/2 cup of crumb mixture. Press remainder firmly on bottom of prepared pan.
- Bake for 12 to 15 minutes or until edges start to brown.
Filling
- Beat cream cheese with the sugar until creamy. Beat in eggs and vanilla extract. Spread over crumbs.
- Bake for 18 minutes. Remove from oven. Spread pie filling over cheese layer. Sprinkle reserved crumb mixture and nuts over top of cherries.
- Return to oven for 18 minutes longer.
- Cool to lukewarm.
- Refrigerate for several hours before cutting into 2 x 1 1/2 inch bars.
- Refrigerate leftovers. These tend to be a little soft at room temperature.
