Cherry Bars! If you love cherry pie, then you’ll love these cherry pie bars made in a fraction of the time. With a simple oat crust and a jammy fresh cherry filling, these cherry bars are a must during the summer!
Where are my pie fans at? I love a good homemade pie, but rarely have the effort to put one together. Enter cherry pie bars! Just as delicious as cherry pie, but with a fraction of the work.
If you love pie bars, then you’ve gotta try these. Like my peach pie bars and apple pie bars, these cherry pie bars are a similar take on the classic. Make a simple oat crust, top with homemade cherry filling, then crumble more crust on top before baking until golden brown.
Enjoy as is, or top with a dollop of ice cream for a fantastic summer dessert.
For starters– they contain a yummy homemade crumble crust and fresh cherries. What’s not to love about these bars?
As a baker, I love that these bars come together in a fraction of the time it takes to roll out pie dough. You can make the dough in a food processor or in a large mixing bowl. Then you’ll press two-thirds of the dough into a prepared pan, top with homemade cherry jam and then the rest of the dough. That’s it.
These are great to take to summer BBQs, gatherings with friends or just a weeknight dessert. Enjoy them as is or warm with a dollop of ice cream.
Here’s what you need to make these cherry pie bars. See recipe card below for the full recipe.
Whisk together flour, oats, sugar, cinnamon, and salt in a bowl. 
Add the melted butter and stir until well combined and the mixture resembles wet sand.
Add the cherries, sugar, cornstarch, water and juice and zest to a medium saucepan. You will not need water if you are using thawed from frozen cherries. Cook over medium-low heat until the mixture is thick and jam-like.
Press 2/3 of the dough into a square pan. Bake for 10 minutes.
Top with the cherry jam and cover with the rest of the crust. Bake for 45 minutes until the top is golden brown and the filling is bubbly. 
I call for both whole wheat flour and regular flour in these cherry pie bars to make them a bit more wholesome. However, if you want to use all regular flour, then you can. I don’t recommend using all whole wheat flour as they will be too dense.
You can use frozen cherries if you’d like, thaw before using. If using frozen cherries, then you won’t need to add in additional water.
I think the jam is sweet enough as is, but if you want a sweeter filling, then you can add in more sugar. The orange or lemon juice and zest help to balance the cherry filling, but OK to omit if desired. I love the pairing of almond extract and cherries, but you can substitute vanilla extract in place of the almond extract if desired.
Lastly, these cherry bars can easily be vegan. These were tested with both Earth Balance and Miyokos vegan butter, and both work. If using Earth Balance, then reduce salt to 1/4 teaspoon as it’s already salted. You can always add in more salt to the batter if you’d like after tasting.
Yes, this same recipe can be used to make different kinds of bars. I have recipes for peach bars and for apple bars on my website.
You could sub in strawberries for the cherries. Blueberries and raspberries would also work. I have not tested them with canned cherry pie filling as I think it tends to be too cloying, but that will also work in these bars.
If you want a sweeter pie bar, then I recommend drizzling on a glaze after cooling or serving with ice cream. These cherry pie bars taste so good with vanilla ice cream!
These easy cherry pie bars will keep for 3-4 days in the fridge. I prefer to bring them to room temperature before eating.
You can freeze these bars as well. To freeze, place in an airtight container and place in the freezer for 2-3 months. Thaw before eating.
If you make these cherry bars, make sure to come back to leave a rating and a comment. Your feedback helps other readers, and seeing you make my recipes makes my day!
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Cherry Bars! If you love cherry pie, then you’ll love these cherry pie bars made in a fraction of the time. With a simple oat crust and a jammy fresh cherry filling, these cherry bars are a must during the summer!
*I like the wholesome taste of adding in some whole wheat flour, but more all-purpose or whole wheat pastry flour will work.
**These were tested with both Earth Balance and Miyokos vegan butter, and both work. If using Earth Balance, then reduce salt to 1/4 teaspoon as it’s already salted.
These cherry pie bars will keep for 3-4 days in the fridge. I prefer to bring to room temperature before eating.
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(2 comments) leave a comment
I’m confused about the last two ingredients the way it is written:
1 tablespoon orange or lemon zest
2 teaspoons “fresh” orange or lemon zest
Am I supposed to use a “total” of 1 tablespoon PLUS 2 teaspoons of lemon or orange zest?
(I thought all zest is “fresh”. I apologize for my confusion.
Ah! I wrote zest and meant to write juice– it’s 1 tablespoon juice, 2 teaspoons zest. You can technically use regular orange juice, but the zest really helps so I say grab a fresh lemon or orange and zest and juice. Sorry for the confusion!