I love to bake and love to make desserts. I often bake as gifts, since I’d bake every day if I could. I really enjoy giving homemade gifts, and there are certain people in my life I know appreciate a treat. 🙂 I made these cherry pie crumb bars as a birthday gift for my step dad.
These bars could not be easier, but they are sweet, tart, buttery and delicious. Like making a cherry pie, but easier, and they ship much better too. The bottom crust and crumb topping are made from the same dough, which makes these a snap to make. You can either make fresh cherry jam filling for these, or you can use premade cherry jam. I have a jar of fantastic sour cherry jam from Michigan I have mentioned before (you can buy on amazon here), so I used that. My mom and step dad gave it to me as a gift, and using it in return in a gift seemed like a good way to thank them.
This recipe makes a 8 inch square cake pan amount of bars, which is about 9. You could easily double this and use 2 pans or a 13×9 pan for more bars. My kids are usually disappointed if I give away all of something I bake, so I made a 13×9 pan so we’d have some extra. They loved them, and asked that I make another batch just for us.
Once these are fully cooled, you can store these in the freezer. I put them in a single layer in a gallon ziploc bag and lay flat until fully frozen. Then you can stack them in a container, or just leave them in the ziploc.
Cherry Pie Crumb Bars
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter melted and cooled
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 1/2 cups AP flour
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 2-3 cups cherry jam enough to cover the bottom dough
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375. Line an 8×8 pan with parchment. Spray with oil or baker's joy.
- Stir together the melted butter, vanilla and sugar. In another bowl whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
- Mix the flour mixture into the butter gently with a fork until crumbs form. Do not overmix into a big ball.
- Set aside 3/4 cup of the crumbs. Press the rest into the prepared pan. Top with the jam and spread evenly. Sprinkle the crumbs over the jam. Sprinkle a few tsps of sugar over the top of the crumbs if you like your desserts on the sweeter side. I left this off.
- Bake for about 20-25 minutes until the topping is golden brown.
- Cool and cut into squares.