GastroSenses

everyday gastronomy adventures

Cherry Pie Bars

These Cherry Pie Bars have a delicious shortbread base, a layer of juicy cherries, and a crunchy topping drizzled with sweet vanilla glaze.

Cherry Pie BarsBRING IT ON, winter, you are totally getting me excited to bake all the things! Are you guys ready to embrace sugar cravings and gather with family and friends over some seriously delicious food? I am kicking off my holiday recipe collection with these heavenly cherry pie bars.

They are sweet, fruity, sticky, and full of cherries. I know you’re going to love these! And they are perfect for holidays or an after dinner treat with a glass of milk.

Plus, can we talk about how easy these bars are to make? It’s just a soft shortbread dough, plus cherries on top drizzled with a quick and easy vanilla glaze, then popped in the oven for 30 minutes. It’s almost too easy, and I’m worried that instead of a holiday tradition, these are going to turn into a weekly occurrence in our house.

Cherry Pie Bars

Cherry Pie Bars

The cherries are just your basic cherry pie filling. See – we do use shortcuts in our house. I’m going to create a homemade version though, and go with sour instead of sweet cherries. I love sour cherries for their tart flavor and lower sugar content which lend them well to baking.

We are just going to pour cherry mixture over the buttery shortbread crust, top with more clouds of crust and watch with the oven light on as it bubbles into a cherry mess of pure bliss. Finally, we are going to take these bars to the next level by adding an indulgent drizzle of sweet vanilla glaze that’s made using only three ingredients: powdered sugar, vanilla and a touch of milk. These are just too good.

Cherry Pie Bars   Cherry Pie Bars

Recipe adapted from Better Homes & Gardens magazine. 
Cherry Pie Bars
Recipe Type: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Author: [url href=”http://www.gastrosenses.com/” target=”_blank”]Gastro Senses[/url]
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 12 bars
These Cherry Pie Bars have a delicious shortbread base, a layer of juicy cherries, and crunchy topping drizzled with sweet vanilla glaze.
Ingredients
  • Cherry Pie Bars:
  • 1/2 cup butter, softened
  • 1/2 cup shortening
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 3 cups all purpose flour
  • 2 cups cherry or sour cherry pie filling
  • Glaze:
  • 1 cup powdered sugar
  • 3 tbsp milk
  • 1 tsp vanilla
Instructions
Cherry Pie Bars:
  1. Preheat oven to 350 F.
  2. In a bowl of a standing mixer with whisk attachment, add butter and shortening.
  3. Whisk until fluffy and add sugar, baking powder and salt. Beat until combined.
  4. Add eggs, vanilla and beat until incorporated.
  5. Whisk in the flour and mix until combined.
  6. Remove 1 cups of dough, cover and set aside.
  7. Spread the remaining dough on the bottom of a non-greased 9×13-inch baking pan, and bake 15 minutes.
  8. Spread cherry filling over baked crust.
  9. Spoon the reserved 1 cup of dough into small (1 tsp) mounds on top of pie filling.
  10. Bake about 30 minutes or until light golden.
  11. Cool in the pan on wire rack for 20 min. Then drizzle with the glaze and let cool completely.
  12. To prepare the glaze, combine powdered sugar with milk 1 tbsp at a time in a medium bowl. Mix until combined and add vanilla.
  13. Cut the pie into bars and serve.
Notes
Store in airtight container for 3 days.

Cherry Pie Bars

Comments

  4. Bernice Hill says

    Bring on these bars!! wow, who would have thought they were so easy to make. I wonder if the kids will let me make these in place of our traditional mini cherry cheese cakes? And you could really use any kind of pie filling too. Great job Lily!

    Reply

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