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These Cherry Pie Bars are just like a classic cherry pie, but in bar form! The crust of these bars is like shortbread and they are topped with a crumble topping with almonds. PLUS the topping and the crust are the same recipe to make your life easier.
Why You’ll Love Cherry Pie Bars
Bring Cherry Pie to life in a new way – as pie bars! They have a buttery shortbread crust that is reminiscent of a traditional pie crust. The cherry pie filling on top is perfect filling – the sweet taste of the filling with the buttery crust and crumble is epic. I also added almonds to the topping for crunch because almonds and cherries are besties in the food combination world.
I have a similar recipe to this in my cookbook that uses apple butter – and everyone absolutely raves about them, so I know you’ll love this recipe.
Ingredients Needed
- Butter: I used unsalted butter but if you substitute salted, just reduce added salt. You don’t need to start with room temperature butter, but if you’re doing this by hand I recommend that.
- Sugar: Granulated Sugar for a bit of sweetness.
- Almonds: I recommend buying pre-sliced or slivered almonds.
- Cherry Pie Filling: Make my homemade cherry pie filling, or buy a can of cherry pie filling.
Variations
- If you want to add a glaze on top, just mix 1/2 cup powdered sugar (confectioners’ sugar) with about 1 tablespoon heavy cream or milk (start with 2 teaspoons and add more as needed for desired consistency). Drizzle over cooled bars.
- I don’t add any vanilla or almond extracts to the crust but you can add 1/2 teaspoon if you prefer for extra flavor.
- You can swap brown sugar for granulated sugar in the crust/topping.
How to make Cherry Pie Bars
- Place the butter, sugar, salt, and all purpose flour in a food processor and pulse until the mixture comes together. You can also do this in a large bowl with a hand mixer or a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment.
- Press 2/3 of the dough in the bottom of your baking dish.
- Mix the sliced almonds into the remaining batter with your fingers until crumbly.
- Spread cherry pie filling over crust.
- Sprinkle the topping over the pie filling and bake until cooked through.
Expert Tips
- I think the almonds are perfect in this recipe, but if you want to leave them out you can.
- You could also make blueberry pie bars, strawberry, or peach pie bars. You could also grab some apple pie filling and make these apple pie bars. Just keep the crust and add a different filling!
- I love the softness of the bottom crust when they’re all baked at once. However, if you like a crunchier bottom crust, you’ll want to partially bake the crust before adding the filling and topping. See recipe notes.
- Store bars in an airtight container in the refrigerator or freeze for up to 3 months.
Cherry Pie Bars Recipe
Almonds are the perfect addition to cherry pie bars. And they're easy to serve and perfect with some ice cream on the side.
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 40 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 10 minutes
Ingredients
- 1 cup (226g) unsalted butter cold
- ½ cup (110g) granulated sugar
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 ¼ cups (255g) flour
- ½ cup sliced almonds
- 1 20 ounce can cherry pie filling (or homemade)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a 9×9-inch pan with foil or parchment paper and spray with nonstick cooking spray.
- Place the butter, sugar, salt, and flour in a food processor and pulse until the mixture comes together. You can also do this in a large bowl with a hand mixer or a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment.
- Press 2/3 of the dough in the bottom of the prepared pan. Top with cherry pie filling.
- Mix the sliced almonds into the remaining dough with your fingers until crumbly. Sprinkle over pie filling.
- Bake until cooked through and light golden on top, about 30-40 minutes.
Recipe Video
Recipe Notes
- We like a soft crust for these bars, but if you prefer a crunchier crust, bake the crust for 15-20 minutes (or until it’s just loosing it’s opaqueness) then top with pie filling and topping and continue baking until the top is baked through and light golden, about 20 additional minutes.
- Feel free to omit the almonds. You can use oats or other chopped nuts, like pecans, in their place.
- To add a glaze: mix 1/2 cup powdered sugar with about 2 teaspoons milk or cream (adding more as needed for drizzle consistency). Drizzle over cooled bars.
Recipe Nutrition
Serving: 1serving | Calories: 212kcal | Carbohydrates: 29g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 9g | Saturated Fat: 5g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 3g | Trans Fat: 0.3g | Cholesterol: 21mg | Sodium: 54mg | Potassium: 69mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 5g | Vitamin A: 297IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 15mg | Iron: 1mg
Nutritional information not guaranteed to be accurate
Pie bars are one of my favorite treats to bake and eat. I love that there are so many ways to change them up, and these cherry-chocolate-almond ones look super yummy!
I love making pie bars! So munch easier to deal with than a regular pie!
The combination of chocolate and cherries makes my mouth water. I absolutely love them together! The “talk dirty to me” song gets me every time lol.
Dorothy, these are beautiful! And I totally agree about cutting pie. It causes me anxiety! Layer cakes too. This is probably why there are none on my blog, I don’t want the stress of the perfect cut weighing on my shoulders. Loved your story by the way 🙂 always good to be able to laugh at ourselves. Sounds like you had a great time out with the ladies!
Thank you Serene!
These are incredible, Dorothy! All of my favorites in one bar. Wow.
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