Cherry Brown Butter Bars: Kidney Friendly Cherry Dessert

I look forward to cherry season all year long.  I know it has finally come when the price drops from $5.99/lb to finally <$2.99/lb.  Sometimes, I can get overly ambitious with my cherry purchases and can’t seem to quite finish the bag before they start to look withery (yeah, I know, not a word).

This is where it is good to have a few handy baked good ideas on hand.  Enter: Cherry Brown Butter Bars – a beautiful, tasty kidney friendly cherry dessert.

The plus side of using a shortbread-type recipe is that you really limit sodium without sacrificing flavor (thanks unsalted butter!).  We also used shortbread for chocolate-free s’mores a couple of weeks back and loved the results. So now to making our own shortbread…

KidneyGrub Verdict:

We really enjoyed the crispy crust on the bottom (a true shortbread) of this kidney friendly cherry dessert.  Although the topping with cherry filling wasn’t as creamy as I hoped, it still tasted great.  AND with only 35 mg sodium, 80 mg phos, and 74 mg potassium they are more than kidney friendly.  I think they would taste even more amazing with a little bit or orange zest and some orange extract in the creamy top.  But, that is another recipe for another day.

Cherry Brown Butter Bars

Adapted from SmittenKitchen

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Course: Dessert, Snack

Cuisine: American

Keyword: High Calorie, Low Phosphorus, Low Potassium, Low Protein, Low Sodium

Diet Type: CKD, Dialysis, VLPD

Servings: 16

Calories: 349kcal

Ingredients

Crust

• 3/4 cup unsalted butter melted
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups all-purpose flour plus 2 tablespoons
• 1/8 teaspoon salt

Creamy Top and Cherry Filling

• 1 cup unsalted butter diced
• 3 eggs
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon almond extract
• 4 cups cherries pitted, tossed with 2 tsp flour

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 375°F and line a 13 x 9-inch baking dish with parchment paper.
• Mix melted butter, sugar, and vanilla in a medium bowl with a spatula. Add flour and salt and stir until incorporated. Press dough evenly into bottom of prepared baking dish. Bake until crust is golden and slightly puffed, about 18 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and cool crust in pan.
• To prepare filling, cook butter in a heavy saucepan over medium heat, stirring constantly until it foams, turns clear, and then turns a deep brown, about 6 minutes. Pour browned butter into a glass measuring cup to cool slightly. Whisk together eggs, sugar, and salt in a medium bowl. Add flour and extracts and whisk until smooth. Gradually whisk in browned butter; whisk mixture until completely blended.
• Arrange cherries over cooled crust and carefully pour filling evenly over fruit. Bake for about 30 minutes, until filling is puffed and golden, and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool bars completely in pan on a wire rack. Carefully lift parchment to remove bars from pan and place on a cutting board; cut into squares using a serrated knife. Store bars in an airtight container up to one day at room temperature, then store any remaining in the refrigerator.

Notes

*Add a touch of orange zest for a zippy summer variation to this recipe

Nutrition

Calories: 349kcal | Carbohydrates: 37g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 21g | Saturated Fat: 13g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 6g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 84mg | Sodium: 51mg | Potassium: 116mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 21g | Vitamin A: 687IU | Vitamin C: 2mg | Calcium: 18mg | Iron: 1mg

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