Amaretto Cheescake Bars

I need some liquor after the past month I've had. Last night I had my moment with my fridge and said a final goodbye. After a month and 6 days without a fridge we're finally getting a new one! I feel like I'm almost qualified to build my own fridge now after everything we've been through. We got the freezer, ice maker and water working, but the fridge still won't get any cooler then 61 degrees. On Monday we made our choice and picked out a new fridge. It was supposed to be delivered yesterday, which turned out to be the worst day with everything going wrong they call and say it wasn't on the early truck so we have to reschedule to today. Fingers crossed it comes.

Anyway enough about my problems. For my final night with the fridge I made some tasty Amaretto Cheesecake Bars that Cookie Madness had posted a while back. They were quick and easy and tasted just like I had envisioned. I like to cook with Amaretto so anything I come across using it I want to try.

Amaretto Cheesecake Bars

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/3 cup brown sugar — packed

6 tablespoons unsalted butter — softened

1/4 teaspoon salt

8 oz cream cheese, softened

1/4 cup granulated sugar1 large egg, room temp

4 tablespoons amaretto

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

4 tablespoons whole roasted almonds — chopped

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line an 8 inch square metal pan with foil; spray foil with cooking spray.

Combine flour, salt and brown sugar in bowl of food process and pulse to mix. Add butter and pulse until mixture is coarse. Set aside about (estimate) 1 cup of mixture for topping, then press remaining into pan. Bake 12-15 minutes.

Clean food processor bowl and add cream cheese and sugar. Process cheese and sugar until very smooth. Add egg, amaretto and vanilla and pulse until mixed. Spread batter over partially baked crust.

Add almonds to reserved crumb mixture and sprinkle over cream cheese mixture.

Bake for 20-25 minutes. Cool completely on a wire rack, then chill.

Cut into 6 or 8 squares, then cut each square into a triangle.

(originally adapted from Diana’s Kitchen)
Makes 12 or 16

I left out the almonds and I used an 8x8 lined with foil, which made it easy to pull out and place on a plate for display. If I had more time I would probably add some pureed raspberries or have some fresh fruit with it.