Cherry Crumb Bars

These homemade Cherry Crumb Bars are sweet, buttery, and tart. With 3 delicious layers, they have a crumbly pastry crust layer, a sweet cherry pie filling, topped with a crumbly topping.

The best part? This crumble bar recipe is so easy to make and is ready to serve in just over hour — but they taste like they came from a fancy bakery. They’re the perfect dessert to satisfy a last minute craving this summer.

Why You’ll Love Cherry Crumb Bars

• Loaded with fresh cherries. There’s nothing quite like a freshly baked summer dessert that is loaded with berries. When cherry season comes around, we end up baking all the treats. But you can actually enjoy these cherry pie bars any time of the year by using frozen cherries!
• The easiest way to make “pie”. These cherry crumb bars are basically cherry pie in bar form. They have a delicious cherry filling sandwiched between the easiest, buttery, homemade pie dough. But there is no rolling dough involved here. Just pack in the bottom layer and sprinkle on the top layer. So easy!
• They’re quick and easy to make. Cherrt crumble bars are ready from start to finish in just over one hour, and the prep time is just 15 minutes. Plus, it's baked in one baking dish, so clean-up is relatively easy. All you need to do is cut the bars into a size that suits you and wash the baking dish.
• Serve it whenever you want. These bakery-style cherry bars are perfect as a late-night treat, served on weekend brunch, or as a snack on your coffee break. However you enjoy them, you’re going to love them. They’re a tota crowd pleaser.

Ingredients and Notes

To make these delicious Cherry Crumb Bars, you will need the following ingredients (full measurements in recipe card below):

• all-purpose flour
• granulated sugar - we need sugar in both the pie crust, topping, and filling.
• baking powder
• salt
• cold butter - you will need to use cold butter for this recipe, cut into cubes. I recommend taking the butter out of the fridge and cutting it just before it's called for in the recipe. Or you can chop it up and put it back in the fridge until ready to use.
• egg
• cherries - we love making these crumb bars in season and used fresh cherries that we picked at our local cherry farm. However, you can use pitted frozen cherries in here too!
• cornstarch - helps to thicken the cherry filling. You can also substitute it with all-purpose flour.
• lemon juice 

You will also need measuring cups and spoons, mixing bowls, and a 9-inch square baking pan.

How to Make the Best Cherry Crumb Bars

1. Make the pastry mixture. In a large mixing bowl, add flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, butter, and egg. Stir well with a fork or pastry cutter until the flour mixture forms into small crumbs. You can also combine all ingredients in a food processor and pulse mix until it resembles coarse crumbs.

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2. Prepare the cherry filling. In a medium mixing bowl, mix together pitted cherries, sugar, cornstarch and lemon juice until evenly coated.

3. Layer the crumb bars. Line an 9-inch square baking pan with parchment paper, leaving an overhang on 2 opposite sides to make it really easy to remove when baked. Spread half of the crumb mixture evenly into the baking dish and press it to pack it and form an even bottom crust. Spread the cherry mixture over the crust and crumble the remaining half of the crumb mixture on top.

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4. Bake. Bake in a 375F preheated oven for 45-50 minutes until the crust turns golden brown. Let it cool at room temperature for about 30 minutes. You can serve it warm or let it cool completely to make it easier to cut. You can speed up on the process by storing in the refrigerator or freezer for 1 hour to help it set faster.
5. Serve. Slice the cherry crumb bars into 9 or 16 squares and serve warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on the side or or cold.

How to Serve

Cherry crumb bars are delicious on their own whether served warm, at room temperature, or cold. My favorite is warm with a scoop of Vanilla Ice Cream melting on top.

We love using up summer berries in baking recipes. Some of our other favorites are:

• Cherry Pie
• Fresh Strawberry Pie
• Blueberry Crisp
• Strawberry Bread
• Blueberry Cinnamon Rolls

More Bar Recipes

• Blueberry Oat Squares
• Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars
• Sugar Cookie Bars
• Pecan Pie Bars
• Strawberry Crumb Bars
• M&M Cookie Bars

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