Rosh Hashanah Recipe Box:Honey Fruit Bars

Hey KS Fans,

I  spend many a late night hour catching up on recipes and love reading my fellow food bloggers, kosher and non-kosher.

Recently one of the food blogs that I follow on twitter savorysimple.net, tweeted a photo of the most delicious looking Rosemary Apricot Bars.

After reading the recipe, I thought, hey -with a few little tweaks, this recipe would be great as a Holiday Fruit Bar for this Rosh Hashanah.

It dawned on me,that these savory sweet bars, with there shortbread like crust and crumble topping, would make a great base for some pareve vanilla ice cream.

The perfect dessert ending to one of my many yom tov meals.

Oh how right I was! These bars came out exactly like I imagined and were actually very simple to make.

I used a larger pan then the original recipe recommended, because I wanted my bars to be thinner and flatter for my dessert idea.

They are really quite delicious and I could not stop picking at them the whole day and were the perfect addition to my morning coffee the next day!

I know you will enjoy them as much as I did- Thanks savorysimple!

Sarah

Honey Fruit Bars

Ingredients:

for the dough:

12 tbsp. margarine, cubed and at room temperature

1/2 cup powered sugar

1/2 tsp. salt

3/4 tsp. vanilla extract

1 1/2 tsp. all spice

1 3/3 all purpose flour

For the fruit filling:

2 cups dried fruit

3/4 cups white wine

3/4 cups water

1 1/2 tbsp. lemon juice

1/2 cup sugara

3 tbsp. honey

2 tbsp. orange liqueur

pinch of salt

For the crumb topping:

1/2 cup all purpose flour

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

pinch of salt

4 tbsp. cold margarine, cubed

Directions:

Grease a 9×9 inch pan and line with parchment paper.  Set pan aside.

To make shortbread, cream the butter, powered sugar and salt in stand mixer on medium high until light and fluffy.

Add the vanilla and all-spice, then lower the speed to low and add flour gradually until dough is smooth

Press the dough evenly into the prepared pan. Take time to do this so your layers come out evenly and clean. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Bake the shortbread for 25-30 minutes, or until light golden brown. Allow to cool to room temperature.

Make the fruit filling by combining all the ingredients in a sauce pan. Simmer on low heat for 45 minutes, or until all the liquid is absorbed.

Allow to cool and then puree in a food processor until smooth, add a tbsp. of lemon juice to help puree

Make the crumb topping by combining all the ingredients in a stand mixer with paddle attachment until the mixture is just combined and crumbly, do not over mix.

Spread the fruit paste evenly over the shortbread. Making sure it is level.

Sprinkle the crumb topping evenly over the fruit jelly past.

Bake for 20-25 minutes, until topping is brown.

Let cool, and cut into bars.

Someone snuck a peice off the table - and is now begging for more!