There’s nothing not to love about these jammy, delicious Cherry Pie Bars! They’re filled with a luscious cherry orange filling and the buttery crust and crumble topping are made using the same easy mixture.
Cherry pie bars have the most delicious and jammy cherry pie filling and a sweet and buttery brown sugar crumble. The filling comes together in minutes and the crust and crumble topping are made from the same easy mixture.
These buttery, sweet bars are the perfect way to celebrate cherry season. I came up with this recipe based on my Cranberry Lemon Bars.
For more fruit bars recipes, try my Strawberry Crumble Bars and White Chocolate and Raspberry Blondies.
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Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- These flavorful bars are much easier than pie. The crust and topping are made with the same one bowl mixture!
- The jammy cherry filling is baked between layers of buttery brown sugar crust.
- They pack up well and are great for picnics.
Ingredient Notes
Here are some useful notes on some of the ingredients needed to make cherry pie bars.
- Cherries: You’ll need about 2 cup of pitted cherries. Use fresh or frozen dark sweet cherries or Rainier cherries. Thaw frozen cherries in a colander to drain excess liquid. Then use as instructed. If you love baking with cherries, try my chocolate cherry muffins!
- Orange juice and orange zest: Orange adds bright fresh flavor. We are using both the zest and juice in the cherry pie filling. If you love baking with orange, you’ll love these date and orange scones.
- Butter: Use unsalted, room temperature butter.
- Brown sugar: Use fresh, light brown sugar for the crust and topping. Make sure your brown sugar is fresh.
- Oats: Use old fashioned oats or quick-cooking oats. Do not use instant oats to make these cherry oatmeal bars. Be sure to also make these delicious chai bars made with oats.
- Granulated sugar: Granulated sugar sweetens up the cherry pie filling.
- Cornstarch: For thickening the pie filling.
See recipe card below for a full list of ingredients and measurements.
Substitutions
- Use lemon juice and zest in place of the orange.
- You can swap in arrowroot starch in place of the cornstarch.
- Dark brown sugar can be used instead of light brown sugar.
Variations
- Serve with a scoop of ice cream on top!
Step by Step Instructions
Here are the directions on how to make and bake this cherry bars recipe.
Step 1: (See photo 1 above). Bring the water, orange juice, cinnamon stick and sugar to a boil in a saucepan. Reduce heat. Stir until the sugar has dissolved. Add the cherries and cornstarch and simmer for 6-8. Remove from heat. Stir in the orange zest. Set aside.
Step 2: (See photo 2 above). In a large mixing bowl, stir to combine the flour, oats, brown sugar, baking powder, cinnamon and salt.
Step 3: (See photo 3 above). Add the room temperature butter.
Step 4: (See photo 4 above). Use your fingertips to rub the butter into the mixture.
Step 5: (See photo 5 above). Press half of the mixture into a buttered 8X8 inch square pan lined with parchment paper.
Step 6: (See photo 6 above). Use an offset spatula or rubber spatula to spread the cherry pie filling over the crust.
Step 7: (See photo 7 above). Sprinkle the rest of the crumble over the cherry layer. Press down very lightly just to make sure it’s in place.
Step 8: (See photo 8 above). Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes.
Expert Tips
Tip #1: Make sure your brown sugar is fresh. Check out this post called How to Keep Brown Sugar Fresh from Taste of Home for some useful tips.
Tip #2: Use an 8 inch pan. I don’t recommend making them in a 9 inch pan. The bars would be too thin if you use a 9-inch pan.
Tip #3: Pitting cherries can be messy. To save time, use a cherry pitter. I’m not super into kitchen gadgets, but this definitely comes in handy.
Recipe FAQs
Yes. You can use frozen cherries. Thaw the cherries in a colander to drain excess liquid. Then use as instructed.
These cherry squares look and smell amazing warm from the oven, but you should wait to cut them! They need to cool completely so the filling and crumb topping have time to set. You can put them in the refrigerator to speed up the cooling process.
Store cherry bars in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 3-4 days.
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Cherry Pie Bars
Ingredients
Cherry Pie Filling
- ⅔ cup granulated sugar
- ⅓ cup water
- 2 cups cherries pitted, quartered
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
- 2 tablespoons orange juice
- 2 teaspoons orange zest
- 1 cinnamon stick
Brown Sugar Crust and Crumble
- ¾ cups all purpose flour
- 1⅓ cups old fashioned oats or quick cooking oats, do not use instant oats
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ⅔ cup light brown sugar packed
- 10 tablespoons unsalted butter room temperature, cut into pieces, plus more for greasing the pan
Instructions
Cherry Pie Filling
- Place the water, orange juice, cinnamon stick, and sugar in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer. Stir until the sugar has dissolved.
- Add the cherries and cornstarch and simmer for 5-7 minutes. Stir constantly until thickened. Remove from heat.
- Remove the cinnamon stick. Stir in the orange zest. Set aside to cool slightly.
Brown Sugar Crust and Crumble
- Preheat oven to 350 Fahrenheit. Butter an 8-inch square pan. Line the pan with a large strip of parchment paper. Leave an overhang on both sides of the parchment paper.
- In a large mixing bowl, stir to combine the flour, oats, brown sugar, salt and baking powder. Add the cubed butter. Stir or mix together with your hands.
- Spoon half of the mixture into the pan. Press it firmly in the bottom of the pan.
- Spread the cherry filling over the crust layer. Sprinkle the remainder of the crumble topping over the cherry layer. Press lightly to make sure it's in place.
- Bake 30-35 minutes or until the top is golden brown.
- Place the pan on a wire rack. Allow to cool completely, for at least 4 hours or overnight.
- Cut into squares and enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
Please note that nutritional values are created by an online calculator and should only be used as an estimate.
Ellie
Printed the recipe. Plan to make them this coming week!
Juliana
Best cherry pie bars you can ever make! Made them yesterday for family and friends and they already disappeared.
Natalie
Hi Juliana, thank you for making these cherry pie bars! So happy they were a big hit! 🙂