If you can't get enough of Trisha Yearwood's peanut butter and jelly cookie bars, the country singer and chef has another recipe in mind to try out during the holiday season.
Yearwood said her fruitcake bars are the perfect addition to any festive spread, and she is sharing the recipe exclusively with "Good Morning America."
"People are passionate about their love or disdain for fruitcake," she told "GMA." "I promise you, even folks who don't like fruitcake love these bars."
"They're perfect for the holidays because they not only taste great but the candied fruit is colorful and makes for a beautiful dessert," she added.
The recipe appears in Yearwood's latest cookbook, "Trisha's Kitchen: Easy Comfort Food for Friends and Family," which she released in September. Other seasonal recipes in the book include Yearwood's skillet cheddar cornbread recipe and "Grandma’s Sky-High Biscuits" recipe.
Here is the full recipe for the fruitcake bars:
Ingredients:
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon kosher salt
½ teaspoon baking powder
1/3 cup raw cane sugar
2 cups pecans, roughly chopped
1 cup dates, pitted and roughly chopped into big pieces
1 cup dried apricots, roughly chopped into big pieces
½ cup dried figs, hard tips removed and roughly chopped into big pieces
1 large egg
1 tablespoon molasses
¼ teaspoon almond extract
¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
Directions:
- Preheat the oven to 325°F. Line an 8-inch square pan with aluminum foil, leaving enough hanging over the edges so you can lift out the bars later, and coat the foil with nonstick spray.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, baking powder, and raw sugar. Toss in the pecans, dates, apricots, and figs.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the egg, molasses, and almond and vanilla extracts. Pour the egg mixture over the dry mixture and stir together until fully blended. The mixture will seem dry at first, but keep mixing until the flour incorporates. The batter will be thick and chunky. Press the batter into the prepared pan, pushing it to fill in the corners and flattening it with the back of a spoon.
- Bake for 35 to 40 minutes until the bars are dark golden brown and look as though they have pulled away from the sides of the pan. Let cool in the pan for 15 minutes, then lift out onto a cutting board and let cool completely. Cut into bars and store in an airtight container for up to two weeks.
Trisha's Tips:
Dried fruit comes in a range of dryness. This recipe benefits from a good soft chew, so when selecting your dates, figs, and apricots, give them a squeeze to make sure they aren’t too dry.
If you prefer to use different fruits or nuts, go for it! Just make sure you use the same amounts so you get a good balance of fruit and nut in your bars.
Reprinted with permission from "TRISHA’S KITCHEN: Easy Comfort Food for Friends and Family" Copyright © 2021 by Trisha Yearwood with Beth Yearwood Bernard. Photography © 2021 by Ben Fink. Reproduced by permission of Mariner Books, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.
