From Scratch to Scrumptious

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These Cherry Pie Bars are the official end to “July Pie Month”. It’s a bit of a cheat since it isn’t technically pie, nor is it made fully from scratch. (It’s made with canned cherry pie filling.)

I think you’ll forgive me both once you taste them! They are amazing!

My friend’s mom once requested these a full year after first trying them. I had forgotten that I had even sent some over to her. But she hadn’t!

These cherry pie bars are perfect for a summertime potluck. Every time I serve them, people rave! Plus, it makes enough for everyone to enjoy at the party and then take a few home!

The recipe is overall very simple, but a bit finicky in the preparation. Is it difficult? Nope, not at all. You just have to be sure to properly cream the butter and beat the eggs. Don’t skimp on these steps. This is what makes your dessert soft and light.

Try them for yourself to see what all the fuss is about!

Butter, softened: Salted or unsalted is fine. I always use salted. Allow to sit at room temperature for 30 minutes before creaming.

Sugar: granulated

Salt

Eggs, room temperature: To get the most air incorporated into the batter, the eggs need to be at room temperature. Because it isn’t considered safe to leave eggs at room temperature for long periods of time, submerge cold eggs in a bowl of warm water for 5-10 minutes until they are no longer cold.

Vanilla & Almond Flavoring: Other recipes for Cherry Pie Bars call for less almond flavoring, but I find that they come out eggy-tasting. As a general rule, if you can taste eggs, there isn’t enough flavoring in the dessert. So I increased the almond flavoring, which pairs very nicely with cherries.

Flour: all-purpose flour. Measure by lightly spooning flour into measuring cup and leveling off top. Alternatively, measure by weight. Don’t go overboard on the flour or your batter will end up too dense.

Cherry Pie Filling: You’ll need 2 cans of 21 oz pie filling to cover a 15″x10″ baking pan. See below for a comparison on a few common brands of pie filling.

Glaze: Powdered sugar glaze enhanced with vanilla and almond extract to match the flavors of the main dessert.

Because cherry pie filling can be so expensive, I tried a few different brands to see which had the best bang for your buck. I compared flavor, quality and pricing. I’m not sponsored by any of these brands. This is my honest opinion.

Duncan Hines

The flavor is great, and there is plenty of cherries in the filling. This is my gold standard for comparison. It is, however, quite expensive when you need to buy two.

Duncan Hines would be the winner if it wasn’t so expensive.

Great Value (Walmart brand)

The flavor was good but there were noticeably less cherries. Most of the can was full of gooey filling. It worked, but I prefer more cherries in this dessert. Less expensive than Duncan Hines, but it’s fairly obvious why.

Baker’s Corner (Aldi brand)

The flavor is great with as many cherries as the Duncan Hines brand. This is also the cheapest option.

In my kitchen, Aldi wins this battle. I can buy 2 cans of the Baker’s Corner pie filling for slightly more than the cost of one can of the top brand, and it tastes just as good.

If I know I’m going to make this dessert, I’ll make a special trip to Aldi to pick up a couple of cans of cherry pie filling, and sometimes I bring all 5 kids. (Just so you know it’s worth it.)

Duncan Hines No Sugar Added

Bonus review! I bought this on accident once. It has no sugar or any artificial sweetener added. Still had a great amount of cherries. Unfortunately, without any sweetener, the flavor fell flat.

Because I wanted a full-flavor, sweet dessert, I added 1/4 cup sugar to each can and heated it on the stove until the sugar dissolved fully. After that, it tasted like regular cherry pie filling. Bland crisis averted!

While the flavor is all about the filling, the texture is all about the batter. You want the top and bottom layers to be light and soft. This batter needs to be beaten well to achieve the right texture. You’ll need an electric mixer and patience!

Start with softened butter that has been out at room temperature for about 30 minutes. At this temperature, butter is best able to incorporate air bubbles for a light and fluffy dessert.

Cream the butter, sugar and salt for a good, long time. Set your mixer and walk away. Don’t be tempted to stop creaming early! Do something else. Maybe read a book? Check back in a while. You want the mixture to be pale and fluffy-looking.

Next, you’ll need room-temperature eggs. Once again, eggs at this temperature help the mixture to incorporate more bubbles, leading to a light, fluffy batter.

Kitchen Egg Hack: There’s an easier (and safer) way to get your eggs to room temperature than leaving them on the counter. Simply drop your eggs into a bowl of warm water for 5-10 minutes.

Add your eggs to the creamed mixture one at a time and beat for about a minute after each addition. Scrape down the bowl between each egg.

Add the flavor. No extra beating required here.

Gradually add the flour. This is a gradual process not to incorporate more air, but only to avoid splashing flour all over your counter. Once the flour is completely mixed in, give it another quick beating to fluff it up.

I use this Wilton Nonstick 15″x10″x1″ baking pan (paid link) that I bought specifically for this recipe. It fits the dessert perfectly, and I’ve never had a problem with the bars sticking. I still grease the pan even though it’s non-stick.

Divide up the batter and spread the first layer into your greased pan. I like to use an offset spatula to smooth the batter.

Pour the cherry pie filling over the top of the batter. Spread that gooey goodness to the edges.

There’s my fancy Aldi cherry pie filling. Look at all those cherries!

My favorite way to finish the top layer is by piping the batter over the cherries. It allows for even coverage and looks pretty before it goes in the oven. Plus it’s easy!

Scoop all the remaining batter into a piping bag or gallon baggie with the corner cut off. Pipe a lattice.

Do not push the batter into the cherry pie filling. This dessert is full right to the top of the pan. Pushing the top batter towards the bottom can cause the filling to bubble over while baking.

Watch how this open lattice transforms to a nearly complete top layer after baking.

Bake in your preheated oven. Watch for a golden brown color. An undercooked dessert will taste eggy.

Even if your cherry pie bars get a little darker than you wanted, this dessert is so moist, it won’t dry out or become hard.

Remove the cherry pie bars from the oven and set the whole pan on a wire rack to cool. You want your dessert to be completely cooled before icing. It takes about 3 hours to cool completely, so the more air circulating around it, the faster it goes.

Mix up your glaze when the bars have cooled to room temperature (or very close). Add the vanilla and almond extract to the powdered sugar. Add the milk slowly, gauging the consistency.

To test the consistency, drizzle the glaze back into the bowl. The line of glaze should rest on top for a second or two before being absorbed back in.

Drizzle the glaze on top of the cherry pie bars. My favorite way to do this is by piping. Pour the glaze into a piping bag or a sandwich baggie with a corner cut off.

Drizzle the glaze over the top being sure to make it to the very edge.

Time to cut this massive dessert into a manageable size, but what size should it be? My husband and I disagree about this one.

These bars are very sweet, so a 2×2″ square can be plenty. However, if you live in a generous-portion dessert family, a 3×3″ square might be more your style.

Small bars: I like to cut the short side of the jelly roll pan into 5 sections (which ends up being about 2″ each) and then eyeball the cuts for the long side.

I’ll be honest: some of my bars end up square, and some end up as a rectangle. I don’t mind the variety of shapes. This gives people more options for how big of a piece they want.

Larger bars: Cut the short side into 3 or 4 rows.

Largest bar: Forgo the knife and just grab a fork!

Store tightly covered for 1-2 days at room temperature or in the fridge for up to 4-5 days.

I like to eat these bars at room temperature the same day they were baked. My husband thinks they taste better cold the second day. But we both agree that these are delicious!

What’s your favorite way to eat them: warm or cold? Comment below.

While a whole pan of pie bars is great to bring to a potluck or a party, it might be slightly too much for just your family. Cut the recipe in half and use a 9″x13″ baking dish.