Cherry Bars
This easy Cherry Bar recipe with cherry pie filling and a simple cookie dough is a classic fruity treat for any time of year.
This is a fantastic dessert recipe. It’s a not too sweet bar cookie that is incredibly easy to make. The cookie batter puffs up around the pie filling during baking for a beautiful almost stained glass look. I was inspired to share this recipe after seeing my friend Bonnie’s beautiful cookies.
Update: I’ve updated this classic cherry pie bar recipe with new tips and photos to help you make this crowd-pleasing dessert. Enjoy!
How to Make Easy Cherry Bars
This is a quick and easy dessert recipe. To make the bars, start by letting the butter and eggs come to room temperature. This ensures even baking.
Be sure to evenly coat your cake pan with butter, including in the corners and around the sides. The easiest way to do this is to open one end of a stick of butter and hold the stick to wipe it all around the pan.
The batter for this cookie is stiffer than other doughs, but it’s still easily spreadable. An offset spatula works really well to spread it evenly in the prepared pan. If you don’t have one, you can also use a rubber spatula or the back of a large spoon.
Make sure to spread the batter into the corners evenly so they don’t brown before the rest of the cookie is baked.
Filling Homemade Cherry Pie Bars
To ensure that you divide the cherry filling evenly among the bars, I recommend scoring the batter in the cake pan. Use a knife to make shallow lines in the cookie dough sketching out 24 equal squares. These lines will disappear during baking.
Then, spoon the cherry filling into each square. I find it helpful to make sure each square has 2-3 whole cherries as well as the filling. Then, do not push the cherries into the batter, they will sink on their own as the batter bakes.
To serve, let the bars cool to room temperature and sprinkle with powdered sugar before slicing.
Storing Cherry Bars
Store leftovers in an airtight container on the counter for up to four days. You can also freeze the bars for up to three months.
More Bar Recipes to Try
If you love easy cherry bars, give these other treats a try next:
- Key Lime Coconut Cashew Bars are zesty, bright and just sweet enough with a creamy, nutting filling.
- Fall Millionaire Magic Bars have a shortbread crust and decadence from toffee, coconut and M&Ms.
- White Chocolate Raspberry Bars from That Skinny Chick Can Bake have the perfect balance of fruity and sweet.
Cherry Pie Bars
Homemade Cherry Bars made with cherry pie filling and a simple six-ingredient batter are sweet, fruity and loved by kids and adults.
Ingredients
- 8 ounces butter, room temperature
- 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
- 4 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 can cherry pie filling (I used Lucky Leaf Premium Cherry)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350º F. Butter a 17"x12"x1" sheet cake pan.
- In an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time and mix just until blended. Add the vanilla.
- In a separate bowl, whisk the flour and salt together. Stir the dry ingredients into the creamed mixture just until blended. Spread the batter into the prepared pan.
- Mark the batter into 24 squares by pressing lightly with a sharp knife. Spoon 1 tablespoon of fruit filling into the center of each square. Do not press the filling into the batter (the batter will puff up around the filling as it bakes).
- Bake for 20-30 minutes or until golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack.
- Cut into bars and sprinkle with powdered sugar.
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Nutrition Information:
Yield:
24Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 197Total Fat: 9gSaturated Fat: 5gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 3gCholesterol: 51mgSodium: 166mgCarbohydrates: 28gFiber: 0gSugar: 13gProtein: 2g
Nutrition information is calculated by Nutritionix and may not always be accurate.
Like so many others, my mom made these in the 70s. I lost her recipe years ago. Tickled to finally find it. I never liked cherry so my mom would make mine with crushed pineapple. Can’t wait to make them again!!!
What a fun way to change it up. Thanks for sharing Ruth – enjoy!
Hi ! I don’t know why any of these people had a problem with the recipe ! As for the time I don’t know anyone here that doesn’t check recipes 3/4 of the way thru with a toothpick ! Maybe their ingredients weren’t fresh ?? It’s a wonderful recipe my mo made for every Ladies Home Ec meeting and for the church get together’s. New babies, birthdays and wakes all got a lovely freshly sugared plateful ! I’m taking some today to my 88 yr old cousin that just got back from the hospital ! Peach also works great !
Thanks Peg! I’ll have to give peach a try.
Just wondering why the recipe states to slightly beat the eggs, then later tells you to add them 1 at a time.
Hi Marcia – I’ve updated the recipe to omit slightly beaten in the ingredients list. Just add them one at a time. Enjoy!
These are delicious! Thanks for sharing.
Great – thanks Lindsay!
I love this recipe. We always make it with the apricot filling and use the vanilla extract though. That’s the best way. Brings back great memories.
I’ll have to try it with apricot filling. Thanks for sharing Jennifer!
This only needs to bake for 20 minutes in most ovens. And I only added 1/2 tsp. salt. Using an offset spatula helps spread
the batter evenly in the pan.
Thanks for the feedback Elizabeth.
Question why would filling sink and is completely covered. Did not press.
Hi Kathie – did you cream your butter together so it gave the cake volume?
Just made these with my own blueberry pie filling, they were good except the time to cook is way off. I did 30 minutes and they were way over cooked!!
That’s funny, because I made my own blueberry pie filling and I just put them in for 25 minutes.
I just tried these and followed the recipe to the “t” and the batter did not puff up at all. The pie filling just melted and spread all over the top of the batter ?. A little disappointing.
I just made these and they did not turn out. I didn’t think the dough seemed wet enough, it was incredibly difficult to spread to fill pan. After 30 minutes, the edges were dark and a toothpick came out clean so I took it out if the oven. They didn’t really rise. I’m no chemistry expert, but don’t these need baking powder or something to help with that? I didn’t miss any ingredients. Sad because I’ve been looking for this recipe.
Seems lots of our mothers made this delicious dessert, mine included. Recently lost my well worn recipe card and delighted to find your version here. We never used almond or lemon extract but I’m looking forward to trying those variations. Just a note, I made this once with blueberry pie filling and it just wasn’t the same. Something about the tart cherries in this dense, moist butter cake makes the perfect combination. We have also decorated the top with red and green sugars for the holidays.
Thanks for sharing Angela – I love the suggestion to dress it up with red and green sugars for the holidays.
Oh I’m so happy I found this recipe!! My mom used to make a similar recipe growing up but I couldn’t find it anywhere! I think she used to use almond extract and I have once made it with lemon extract, which was a delicious summer treat. She called it Cherry Open Window Cake. Thank you so much for bringing this recipe back for our family!!
Thank you!!!! I had a similar recipe that my son loved, lost copy a couple of years ago. I am so delighted to find it again. My son is in for a treat!
How fun – thanks for sharing Kathleen 🙂
My sister made these from a recipe she got from her sister-in-law. They are amazing . I was so happy to get the recipe myself from your site. I am going to make them tomorrow. I can’t wait. 🙂 I would recommend this recipe to everyone 🙂