These cherry bars are a soft cookie crust topped with cherry pie filling, more cookie dough and a drizzle of vanilla glaze . An easy and impressive dessert that’s perfect to feed a crowd!
I love a good pie, and these bar cookies are almost like a handheld pie, but with much less work. They are perfect holiday cookies to serve on a platter with molasses cookies , thumbprint cookies and snowball cookies .
I have to admit, I made these cherry bars because I found some cans of cherry pie filling in the pantry that I needed to use up. I wasn’t expecting a lot, but let me tell you, my expectations were absolutely wrong. These cherry bars are incredibly delicious and have found their way onto my regular dessert rotation. I may or may not have even had some of the leftovers for breakfast.
This recipe is one of my favorite holiday desserts. If you want more Christmas dessert recipes check out my eggnog cake , peppermint bark , cake truffles , rum balls and my favorite Christmas cookie recipes .
- Cherry Bars Ingredients
- How Do You Make Cherry Bars?
- Tips For The Perfect Cherry Bars
- Quick Tip
- Recipe FAQs
- Flavor Variations
- More Fabulous Dessert Recipes
- Love This Recipe?
- Cherry Bars Recipe
Cherry Bars Ingredients
To make cherry bars with vanilla glaze you will need butter, sugar, salt, eggs, flour, vanilla extract, almond extract and cherry pie filling. For the glaze you will want to have powdered sugar, vanilla extract, almond extract and milk.
How Do You Make Cherry Bars?
This cherry bars recipe starts with a making a cookie dough by beating together butter, sugar and salt in a stand mixer or with an electric mixer. Add the eggs and mix them together. Slowly add in flour, vanilla extract and almond extract at low speed until combined. Spread some of the dough on the bottom of a jelly roll pan. Spread two cans of cherry pie filling over the top of the dough. Dollops of dough go on top. Then the whole pan goes into the oven to bake until golden brown. After your bars have cooled, make a glaze by whisking together powdered sugar, almond extract, vanilla extract and milk. Drizzle the glaze over the tp. Cut your pan of cookies into squares and you’re ready to serve!
Tips For The Perfect Cherry Bars
- This cherry bars recipe calls for a 15″ x 10″ pan which is a somewhat unusual size. You can make the bars in a 9″ x 13″ pan instead. The bars will be thicker and therefore take longer to cook.
- You can also make your own homemade cherry pie filling for an extra special treat.
- This recipe calls for basic ingredients that you most likely already have in the house with the exception of one: almond extract . The almond extract really makes these bars special, so I urge you to make a special trip to the store to grab some for this recipe. You won’t regret it.
Quick Tip
Using an offset spatula makes spreading the dough and pie filling easy tasks.
Cherry bars last up to 5 days in an airtight container in a refrigerator.
You can also freeze cherry bars for 2 months. Simply cut them into individual bars and place them in an airtight container in a freezer. Thaw individual bars in a microwave by heating the bars for 20 second increments.
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Flavor Variations
This recipe makes fantastic cherry bars; however, you can modify the recipe to suit your own tastes.
- Filling: You can use different fillings to make different flavor bars like my apple pie filling or even blueberry or peach pie filling.
- Ice Cream: Cherry pie bars are perfect served as is, but a scoop of vanilla ice cream never hurts.
- Chocolate: For chocolate and cherry bars, mix 1 cup of chocolate chips into the dough.
- Crumble Topping: Add a crumble topping by mixing together in a small bowl with two forks 1/3 cup of granulated sugar, 1/4 cup of all purpose flour, 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon and 1/4 cup cold butter cut into small pieces. Sprinkle the crumble on top and bake the bars.
- Orange Glaze: For an orange glaze omit the almond extract and the milk and add 1 1/2 tablespoons of orange juice.
Cherry bars make a great potluck offering. They are perfect for a holiday cookie tray, or are great for when you need dessert to feed a lot of people. Everyone that has tried these bars has asked me for the recipe, they’re really that good! Think cherry pie meets almond sugar cookie. Cherry bars always get rave reviews and are super festive for a holiday gathering.
More Fabulous Dessert Recipes
Fried Apple Pies
30 mins
Peach Crumble Bars
45 mins
Earthquake Cake
50 mins
Pecan Pie Bars
1 hr
Cherry Cheesecake Dip
6 mins
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Ingredients1x2x3x
For the bars
- ▢ 1 cup butter softened
- ▢ 2 cups sugar
- ▢ 1 teaspoon salt
- ▢ 4 eggs
- ▢ 3 cups all purpose flour
- ▢ 3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ▢ 3/4 teaspoon almond extract
- ▢ 2 cans cherry pie filling
- ▢ cooking spray
For the glaze
- ▢ 1 cup powdered sugar
- ▢ 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ▢ 1/4 teaspoon almond extract
- ▢ 2 tablespoons milk
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Coat a 10″ x 15″ jelly roll pan with cooking spray.
- Place the butter, sugar and salt in the bowl of a mixer. Beat until fluffy, 2-3 minutes.
- Add the eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition.
- With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the flour. Stir in the vanilla and almond extracts.
- Spread 2/3 of the dough evenly over the bottom of the pan.
- Spread the pie filling over the dough.
- Place teaspoon sized dollops of dough all over the surface of the pie filling.
- Bake for 35-40 minutes or until golden brown. Cool completely in the pan.
- To make the glaze, whisk together the powdered sugar, extracts and milk. Add more milk, 1 teaspoon at a time, if you prefer a thinner glaze.
- Drizzle the glaze over the bars. Let the glaze harden, then cut into squares and serve.
Notes
- Using an offset spatula makes spreading the dough and pie filling easy tasks.
- This recipe calls for a 15″ x 10″ pan which is a somewhat unusual size. You can make the bars in a 9″ x 13″ pan instead, but the bars will be thicker and therefore take longer to cook.
Nutrition
These thumbprint cookies are soft vanilla cookies filled with fruit jam and baked until golden brown. An easy and classic cookie recipe that’s perfect for parties, after school snacks and special occasions.
When the holidays roll around, I find myself in the kitchen whipping up plenty of festive Christmas recipes including Italian cookies , Oreo stuffed cookies , eggnog cookies , Nutella cookies and these beautiful little thumbprint cookies.
Thumbprint cookies are a classic for good reason – they’re simple yet look so impressive, and they couldn’t be any easier to make! You can customize your cookies by adding any number of fillings and coatings for a sweet treat that’s delicious any time of the year.
- Thumbprint Cookies Ingredients
- How Do You Make Thumbprint Cookies?
- Tips For Perfect Cookies
- Quick Tip
- Recipe FAQs
- Flavor Variations
- More Great Cookie Recipes
- Love This Recipe?
- Thumbprint Cookies Recipe
Thumbprint Cookies Ingredients
To make this recipe, you will need butter, granulated sugar, light brown sugar, a large egg, vanilla extract, all purpose flour, baking soda, salt and jam.
How Do You Make Thumbprint Cookies?
Thumbprint cookies are all about the perfect dough that bakes up crisp on the outside, yet soft on the inside. Make this dough by beating sugar, brown sugar and butter together. Mix in an egg, some vanilla, flour and baking soda and the dough is ready to go. Chill the dough in the fridge and roll it into balls. Dip the dough balls in sugar, then place them on a baking sheet. Press wells into the cookies with a spoon. Fill the cookies with a little jam, you can use any flavor of your choice. Bake until light golden brown, then cool and enjoy.
Tips For Perfect Cookies
- Keep the dough cold when you roll it into balls. If the dough warms up, it can get sticky and the balls can become rough instead of smooth. You can place sticky dough in the fridge or freezer to chill if needed.
- After you put the jam in the cookies, place the sheet pan of cookies in the freezer for about 10 minutes before baking. Chilling the dough prevents the dough from spreading too much as it bakes.
- Some dark jams and jellies can “stain” the dough of the cookies. If you are worried about staining, avoid using blackberry or grape jams or jellies. I typically use raspberry, strawberry or apricot jam.
- Make sure you don’t overfill the cookies or the jam may bubble over and run down the sides of the cookies.
- If your balls of dough crack as you make the indentations in the middle, your dough may be overly cold and stiff. You can simply patch any cracks with your fingers .
Quick Tip
If you have trouble shaping the dough into balls, try putting a little cooking spray on your hands.
You can freeze baked thumbprint cookies. Just place them in an airtight container in a single layer. If you want to stack cookies, put a piece of waxed paper, plastic wrap or parchment paper between the layers. The frozen cookies stay fresh for about a month. When you are ready to eat the cookies remove them from the container and let them thaw on the counter.
There is no need to refrigerate thumbprint cookies, and they will stay fresh at room temperature in an airtight container for 5 days.
It’s very important to chill your cookie dough before you bake it. This will prevent the cookies from spreading too much in the oven.
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Flavor Variations
While this recipe is delicious as written, you can easily customize the flavors to suit your tastes.
- Coatings: Try rolling your balls of cookie dough in coatings such as sprinkles, coconut, finely minced almonds, pecans, walnuts or cinnamon sugar.
- Fillings: The filling possibilities are endless and include ingredients such as Nutella, lemon curd, chocolate ganache, marshmallow cream or caramel sauce.
This thumbprint cookie recipe is so fun to make because you can fill the cookies with all different kinds of flavors. This is a holiday classic that never goes out of style!
More Great Cookie Recipes
S’mores Cookies
27 mins
Monster Cookies
25 mins
Cake Mix Cookies
20 mins
Snowball Cookies
50 mins
Chocolate Spritz Cookies
20 mins
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Ingredients1x2x3x
- ▢ 1 cup unsalted butter softened
- ▢ 1/2 cup granulated sugar plus more for rolling the cookies
- ▢ 1/4 cup light brown sugar packed
- ▢ 1 egg
- ▢ 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- ▢ 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- ▢ 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- ▢ 1/4 teaspoon salt
- ▢ 1/2 cup jam
Instructions
- Place the butter, granulated sugar and brown sugar in the bowl of a mixer. Beat until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes.
- Add the egg and vanilla extract, then beat for 1-2 minutes or until well combined.
- Add the flour, baking soda and salt to the bowl. Beat until just blended.
- Place the dough on a large sheet of plastic wrap and form it into a disk. Cover the dough completely with the plastic wrap, then refrigerate for at least one hour, or up to 3 days.
- Remove the cookie dough from the refrigerator about 10 minutes before you plan to use it.
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
- Roll the dough into 1 inch balls, then coat each ball in granulated sugar.
- Place the balls of dough 3 inches apart on 2 sheets pan lined with parchment paper or silicon baking mats.
- Use your thumb, the back of a teaspoon, or the round end of a pestle to make an indentation in each cookie. Be gentle as you make each indentation so that the cookies don’t crack.
- Fill each cookie with 1/2 teaspoon of jam.
- Place the trays of cookies in the freezer. Chill for 10-15 minutes or until cookies are firm.
- Bake for 10-11 minutes or until light golden brown around the edges. Let sit for 5 minutes, then transfer to a rack and cool completely.
Notes
- Keep the dough cold when you roll it into balls. If the dough warms up, it can get sticky and the balls can become rough instead of smooth. You can place sticky dough in the fridge or freezer to chill if needed.
- If you have trouble shaping the dough into balls, try putting a little cooking spray on your hands.
Nutrition
Cherry Bars
Ingredients
For the bars
- 1 cup butter softened
- 2 cups sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 4 eggs
- 3 cups all purpose flour
- 3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3/4 teaspoon almond extract
- 2 cans cherry pie filling
- cooking spray
For the glaze
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon almond extract
- 2 tablespoons milk
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Coat a 10" x 15" jelly roll pan with cooking spray.
- Place the butter, sugar and salt in the bowl of a mixer. Beat until fluffy, 2-3 minutes.
- Add the eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition.
- With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the flour. Stir in the vanilla and almond extracts.
- Spread 2/3 of the dough evenly over the bottom of the pan.
- Spread the pie filling over the dough.
- Place teaspoon sized dollops of dough all over the surface of the pie filling.
- Bake for 35-40 minutes or until golden brown. Cool completely in the pan.
- To make the glaze, whisk together the powdered sugar, extracts and milk. Add more milk, 1 teaspoon at a time, if you prefer a thinner glaze.
- Drizzle the glaze over the bars. Let the glaze harden, then cut into squares and serve.
Notes
- Using an offset spatula makes spreading the dough and pie filling easy tasks.
- This recipe calls for a 15" x 10" pan which is a somewhat unusual size. You can make the bars in a 9" x 13" pan instead, but the bars will be thicker and therefore take longer to cook.
