Toaster Oven Cherry Pie Bars

Instructions

1. Wash, measure, and pit cherries.
2. Measure the cornstarch and water.
3. Whisk the cornstarch and water together to create a slurry.
4. Measure lemon juice, sugar, and vanilla  extract (for cherry filling).
5. Add the pitted cherries, lemon juice, sugar and vanilla to the slurry.
6. Transfer mixture to large pot over medium heat.
7. Bring mixture to a boil, stirring often. Then turn hear down to low.
8. Cook, continuing to stir often, for 15 minutes (or until the mixture has thickened).
9. Take mixture off of heat and let them cool to room temperature.
10. Preheat toaster oven to 350 degrees F.
11. Measure butter, sugar, and salt into a large mixing bowl. Soften butter.
12. Beat these three ingredients together until smooth.
13. Add eggs one at a time, beating them into the mixture until combined.
14. Measure vanilla extract (for bar mixture).
15. Add to mixture and give a quick stir.
16. Measure flour and baking powder.
17. Whisk together these two ingredients.
18. Add the dry mixture to the wet ingredients and beat until you see no more flour, then scrape down sides of bowl and fold in any dry ingredients.
19. Spray baking pan with cooking spray.
20. *THIS STEP IS TRICKY, READ THE WHOLE STEP* – Add 3 cups of the batter evenly into the pan. This will NOT be all of the batter.
21. Top the batter in the pan with prepared cherry filling.
22. Dot the top of the gilling with the remaining batter.
23. Bake of 30-40 minutes.
24. Let bars cool before slicing and serving.