The first recipe I ever baked on my livestream was an apple crisp. It was delicious, easy, and fun to make on stream. Well, I had an abundance of fresh cherries from a friend so I decided to make a homemade cherry crisp! My friend calls these cherry crumble bars. Whatever you want to call them, they are delicious!
Cherry crumble bars are sweet, buttery, and loaded with fresh tasty cherries! These are the perfect summer cherry dessert. Cherries usually are in season in July-August so why not include them in your favorite summer dessert recipe? Generally, I would throw apples into this recipe, but I wanted to use what I had on hand.
If you want a changeup from a typical cobbler or fruit salad for a summer treat, these cherry crumble bars are a delicious choice! They are perfect crumbly, tasty, and deliver a sweet bite with cherry and cinnamon.
These cherry crumble bars are easy because the crumble topping is also used to make the crust, so the prep for this easy cherry dessert is simple. You make the crust/topping by combining oats, flour, brown sugar, and butter. Mix together until a sand like texture is formed and press half into the bottom of the baking dish and use the other half to sprinkle the top. Simple!
The ingredient list for these easy cherry crumble bars is: all-purpose flour, old-fashioned oats, brown sugar, salt, butter, granulated sugar, cornstarch, lemon zest, lemon juice, and cherries! Most of the ingredients are pantry staples!
Can you use frozen cherries?
Yes! I used cherries that I had just frozen a few weeks prior. The recipe turned out perfect! This also makes the recipe doable during the winter months when cherries aren’t in season, but you may have some frozen cherries stocked away.
How do you store cherry bars?
Cover the bars and store in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Generally, they will all be gone within the first day because they are so delicious and crumbly. You can store them on the counter as well, but they will get a bit moist. The cold temperature of the fridge helps control the moisture.
To begin, mix the flour, oats, brown sugar, salt, and cold butter together. Combine with your hand until you reach a sand-like texture. Some butter chunks are okay. You can also use a food processor for this portion to speed up the process. Pat half of the crust into the bottom of a 9×9 baking dish.
In a separate bowl, combine the cherries, sugar, lemon zest, lemon juice, and cornstarch. Pour on top of the crust in the baking dish and then top with the remaining crust. Refrigerate for 30 minutes then bake for 45-50 minutes at 350F in the oven.
Let’s get baking!
Cherry Crumble Bars
Ingredients
Crumble:
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 cups old-fashioned oats
- 3/4 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 cup cold butter, cubed
Filling:
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 3 tbsp cornstarch
- 3 cups cherries
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tsp lemon zest
Instructions
- In a bowl, combine the flour, oats, brown sugar, salt, and butter to make the crumble. The texture should resemble wet sand and it is ok if some butter chunks remain. You can also use a food processor to speed up this process. Press half of the mixture into the bottom a greased 9×9 baking dish. Set aside.
- In a separate bowl, combine the sugar, cornstarch, cherries, lemon juice, and lemon zest to make the filling. Pour on top of the crust in the baking dish. Top the filling with the remainder of the crumble. Place in the fridge for 30 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 350F and bake for 45-50 minutes until the top is browned.
