One of the easiest potluck desserts I like to make are my Quick and Easy Cherry Pie Bars. There are a lot of recipes out there for Cherry Pie Bars, but these are by far easiest I have made. They start with Betty Crocker Sugar Cookie Mix. They are moist and delicious and they’re a nice change from brownies or other bar cookies.

2 pouches Betty Crocker Sugar Cookie Mix

1 tablespoon flour

2 sticks butter, softened

2 eggs

2 t. vanilla

1 – 21 oz. can Cherry Pie Filling

1 teaspoon almond flavoring

1 container Ready made cream cheese frosting (you will only need about 1/3 of the container)

Preheat oven to 350°.

With an electric mixer, mix together the pouches of cookie mix, flour, butter, eggs and vanilla. Mix until you no longer see lumps of dry mix. Spread half of the dough into a greased 13 x 9 pan.

In a separate bowl, stir 1 teaspoon almond flavoring into the cherry pie filling. (This helps to “punch up” the cherry flavor!)

Spread the cherry mixture over the first layer of dough.

Drop pieces of the remaining dough onto the cherry layer.

Bake for about 40 –  45 minutes or until golden and a toothpick inserted into the dough in the center of the pan comes out clean.

Remove from oven to a wire rack and allow to cool.

Scoop out about 1/3 of the frosting into a small microwave safe dish and cook on high power about 10 seconds. Stir. (All you need to do is soften the frosting so that it can drizzle over the cooled bars – it should not be runny!)

Keep bars covered until serving time. Refrigerate any leftovers.

The Sugar Cookie Mix can be found in most grocery stores or on Amazon.com.