High Altitude Almond Amaretto Bars
Layers of buttery shortbread, moist almond cake, and sweet amaretto icing topped with crunchy almonds.
All recipes on Curly Girl Kitchen are developed for high altitude at 5,280 feet. See FAQs for adjusting to higher or lower elevations.
Equipment
Ingredients
Crust
- 1 cup all-purpose flour, fluffed, spooned and leveled
- ⅓ cup granulated sugar
- ½ tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
- ¾ tsp vanilla extract
- ½ cup unsalted cold butter, cut into slices
Cake
- ½ cup unsalted butter
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 large egg yolk (save the extra white for another use)
- ¾ tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp almond extract
- ⅓ cup full fat sour cream
- 3 tbsp milk
- 2 tbsp amaretto liqueur
- 1 cup all purpose flour, fluffed, spooned and leveled
- ¼ tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
- ½ tsp baking powder
- ⅓ cup almond flour, or very finely chopped almonds
Icing
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1 tbsp meringue powder
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 ½ - 3 tbsp amaretto liqueur
- ¼ cup sliced almonds
Instructions
Getting Ready
- Preheat the oven to 350 F, and position a rack in the center of the oven.
- Line an 8-inch square baking pan with parchment paper, or lightly spray the pan with non-stick baking spray.
Crust
- In a bowl, combine the flour, sugar and salt. Add the vanilla and cold butter, and use a pastry cutter to cut the butter in until moist and crumbly.
- Press the crumbs into an even layer on the bottom of the pan. Set aside while you make the cake batter.
Cake
- In a saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Continue to cook the butter until nutty, golden brown milk solids form at the bottom of the pan. This process might take about 10 minutes. First the butter will hiss and splatter as the water evaporates, then as it quiets down, a layer of foam will form on top of the butter. This means the butter is done. Immediately remove from the heat, and scrape the butter, including the brown milk solids, into a large bowl. Let cool for 10 minutes.
- In a bowl, whisk together the cooled brown butter with the granulated sugar, egg, egg yolk, vanilla extract, almond extract, sour cream, milk and amaretto, until combined.
- In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, salt and baking powder. Add the almond flour, then whisk until everything is evenly distributed.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet, whisking just until moistened. Gently spread the cake batter over the crust.
Bake
- Bake the almond bars for about 35-40 minutes, until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Set the pan on a cooling rack to cool for 1 hour, before adding the icing. As the bars cool, the puffed center may settle back down and sink slightly, which is totally normal.
Icing
- In a bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar and meringue powder. Add the vanilla and amaretto, and whisk until smooth.
- Spread the icing over the bars, then sprinkle the icing with the sliced almonds.
- Let the icing set and the bars cool completely before cutting into squares.
Notes
To make this recipe without the alcohol, simply replace the amaretto with the same amount of milk in both the cake batter and the icing.
Store leftover bars in an airtight container for up to 3-5 days.
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