Hello! In the kitchen with Sharon this week I made applesauce raisin bars. This recipe is a keeper. I brought it into work and they ate the whole pan, so they must have been good.
I was on Facebook and my friend Patricia Nichols had this recipe out there. I got up out of my chair heading to the kitchen to make sure I had all the ingredients, and I did. Yay! I mixed it all up and in the oven it went. Just to let you know, I didn’t use the pumpkin spice because I couldn’t find it. I am glad I didn’t find it because I was thinking, umm, raisins and cinnamon. Yes, that’s perfect. So I substituted the pumpkin spice for cinnamon and when I told everyone what I did they said they liked the cinnamon best.
So there you have it. Your choice — pumpkin spice or cinnamon — and cinnamon won. My coworkers said it tasted like carrot cake. I hope you like this recipe as much as I did. Enjoy and have a great weekend..
Applesauce raisin bars
Ingredients
1/2 cup margarine, butter or shortening, softened
1 1/3 cups brown sugar, firmly packed
2 large eggs
2 cups applesauce
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
1 cup raisins
1 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar
3 tbs. margarine or butter, melted
1 tbs. milk
1 tsp, vanilla extract
Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 10-inch by 15-inch baking pan.
In a medium bowl, mix together the butter, brown sugar and eggs until smooth. Stir in applesauce.
In separate bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, salt, pumpkin pie spice and raisins; stir flour mixture into the applesauce mixture until well blended. Spread evenly into the prepared pan.
Bake for 25 minutes in the preheated oven, or until edges are golden. Cool completely on wire rack.
In a small bowl, mix together the confectioners’ sugar and margarine. Stir in vanilla and milk until smooth. Spread over cooled bars before cutting into squares.
If anyone has a recipe they would like to share I would love for you to email it to me and I will put you in the kitchen with Sharon. Send them to [email protected] or call me at 937-393-3456.
Sharon Hughes is the advertising manager at The Times-Gazette. She is also a mother, grandmother and chef.
