Streudel Bars

This morning I had my first ever catering job! It sort of fell into my lap. While I love to plan everything down to the last detail, I love to entertain, and love to cook and bake, for some reason, catering never occurred to me. I've always been a teacher, and most recently a stay at home mom and a blogger. Yet, a couple of months ago when my neighbor crossed the street and asked if I'd be interested in catering a breakfast for his upcoming board of director's meeting, I only missed about 2 beats before I answered, "Sure. I can do that." So, today I began my foray into catering. We'll see where it goes...

This was a 7 o'clock breakfast meeting. I went with a menu of tried and true favorites. Some of the recipes have been posted here in the past, like this Spinach Bacon Quiche, these Bacon Twists, and my Banana Streusel Muffins with Caramel Glaze. I also served a couple of recipes that I love but have not written about: these streudel bars and frost fruit cups. And I tried one new recipe, Paula Deen's Sausage Quiche. For the next few days I'll be featuring these recipes, starting with these streudel bars.

The women in my family have been making this easy streudel recipe for as long as I can remember. I bet if we tallied the amount of times that my mom, sisters, and I have made this, the number would be around 100. Definitely a tried and true recipe.

To begin, mix 4 cups of flour with 2 cups of sugar.



Add in 1- 1/2 cups butter.



Cut it in...



Until it looks like this. I think my mom used to describe the appearance as "pea- sized chunks.



Then stir in 2 well-beaten eggs.



It'll look like this once the egg is incorporated into the dough.



Pour 3/4 of the dough into the bottom of a jelly roll pan.



Press it into place.



Top with pie filling. I usually go with cherry and blueberry, but since I was serving blueberry french toast, my client and I agreed that apple was a better choice.



Sprinkle the remaining topping over the filling, then bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.



You want it nice and golden brown. This actually could have gone a little longer. I like the topping crisp and the base holds up better in bar form if baked to a deeper golden brown.



Drizzle with icing and slice into bars before plating.



Enjoy!



Streudel Bars

4 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups butter
2 eggs, well beaten
2 cans pie filling or for apple: 5 cups sliced apples, 1/2 cup sugar, 1 teaspoon cinnamon

Mix together flour and sugar. Cut in butter until "pea-sized" crumbs are achieved. Stir in 2 beaten eggs. Pour 3/4 of mixture into a jelly roll pan. Top with apples or pie filling. Sprinkle remaining dough over the top.

Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until golden brown.

Drizzle with glaze:

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract (or almond extract for cherry streudel)
1 tablespoon milk
powdered sugar

Add powdered sugar and stir until drizzling consistency.

One note:
When making cherry streudel, I stir a little almond extract into the the pie filling.