Easy Peach Bars
CRUST:
1 cup shortening
2 & 2/3 cup flour
1/2 cup sugar
TOPPING:
1 can peaches
Ener-G Egg Replacer for two eggs (or your favorite binding agent)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon each: cloves, nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
4 Tablespoons flour
Preheat oven to 350. Mix crust ingredients together until uniformly crumbly. Press into the bottom of a 9 x 13 pan and bake for 20 minutes or until just lightly brown. Meanwhile, drain the peaches, reserving the juice, and put into a blender. Using reserved peach juice as replacement for water in Ener-G Egg Replacer, mix and add to peaches. Whirl until smooth, and then add the spices. Mix flour and baking powder together, and add, blending until smooth. When the crust comes out of the oven, pour the peach mixture over the HOT crust, and return to the oven for 25 minutes. Let cool, and slice into bars.
These bars are a great quickie for the oh no, I forgot blues. Canned pears also work well, although I would recommend ginger and cardamom in place of the other spices.
SO HOW'D IT GO?
This recipe needs a little tweaking. There is way too much crust, and that's why the filling doesn't stick to it well. The filling holds on to the top layer of crust, but the very bottom of it falls off. I made the variation, using pears. The filling does set up well, and tastes good. I used a flax egg replacer. Also, I used about 1/4 of the crust recipe on top of the filling. Even so, there was too much. If I make these again, I may also use some ground walnuts or almonds in place of some of the flour in the pastry.
can anyone suggest an alternative to the shortening?