This is a truly rare event lately; I’m posting my TWD efforts for this week on time!

For today’s recipe Karen of Something Sweet by Karen picked Applesauce Spice Bars on pages 117 and118.  I know there isn’t a lick of chocolate anywhere in this recipe, but I loved the picture in the book and it was just such a comforting homey type of recipe. 

Actually, this is the second time I’ve made this recipe.  The first time was a little over a month ago as a little something sweet to keep morale up when my team had to put in a full weekend at work (literally, round the clock full weekend – they definitely deserved a little something sweet).  For my first go at the recipe I did stick pretty much to the way it was written.  I omitted the alcohol and I subbed walnuts for the pecans since that is what I had on hand and I used dark raisins, again because that is what I had on hand.

This time I made a few more changes to the recipe.  Instead of just omitting the alcohol I substituted about 2 teaspoons of butter pecan extract.  I substituted dried cranberries for the raisins (I did reconstitute the cranberries before adding them since they tend to be a bit tougher than raisins). I increased the diced apple by about 1/2 of an apple (golden delicious – about the only type of apple that wasn’t looking sad and sorry at the store this week).  I doubled the glaze recipe and replaced half the vanilla with butter pecan extract.

When all was said and done these were excellent.  They were extremely moist and tender; one of the first things “Prince Charming” commented on.  I personally loved the hint of tartness from the cranberries and the glaze was just perfect in both texture and flavor (although a bit messy when cutting – lots of sticking to the knife).  I think these are something that I will make again, although likely in the fall when the apple selection is a bit better.

Thank you to Karen for selecting this recipe!  I highly recommend stopping over on her site to grab this recipe and try it for yourself.