These easy bars feature a buttery almond shortbread crust, homemade cherry filling, and a crunchy crumb topping. Use fresh or frozen cherries to make this recipe year round.
What sets this recipe apart
Ease: These bars feature the same mixture for the crust and topping and the filling comes together in minutes!
Almond + cherries: Almond paste, almond extract, and sliced almonds pair wonderfully with cherries.
Pie vibes: These bars are a cross between a cherry pie and a cherry cobbler that can be eaten with your hands. Bonus: no pie crust to roll out!
Visual recipe overview
Full written recipe below in recipe card.
Crust & topping
Make the mixture for the crust and topping. Press the crust into the pan and bake.
Filling
Cook the cherry filling on the stovetop.
Assemble
Add the cherry filling and the crumb topping to the pre-baked crust.
Bake
Bake, cool, slice, and enjoy!
My recipe testing tips and notes
Almond paste: Almond paste can be found in the baking aisle of well stocked grocery stores. You will likely have more than you need for this recipe, the leftover almond paste can be frozen. Or you can make an almond cake!
Cherries: You can use fresh or frozen cherries. I recommend sweet cherries, but if you want to swap some for sour cherries that would be fine. I do not recommend all sour cherries.
Chill time: These bars need to cool completely before cutting. If you refrigerate them they will cut nicely into clean slices.
Recipe
Cherry Almond Crumb Bars
Ingredients
Crust and topping:
- 1 ½ cups all purpose flour
- ½ cup plus 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup cold unsalted butter, cut into cubes
- ½ cup almond paste*, about 3oz
- ½ teaspoon almond extract
- ⅓ cup sliced almonds
Filling:
- ¼ cup water
- 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch, increase to 3 scant tablespoons if using frozen cherries
- 4 cups pitted sweet cherries, fresh or frozen (1-pound bag of frozen works well here)
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
- pinch salt
Icing:
- ⅓ cup powdered sugar
- 1-2 teaspoons milk
- ⅛ teaspoon almond extract
Instructions
Crust and topping;
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a 9×9 square pan with foil (leaving overhang on two sides) and grease the foil. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Add butter, almond paste, and almond extract. Blend on medium-low speed until the butter and almond paste pieces are the size of small pebbles, and the mixture resembles wet sand. Remove 1 heaping cup for the topping, set it aside.
- Pour the remaining mixture into the prepared pan and press it evenly over the bottom. Bake for 12-14 minutes, until the edges are just beginning to brown.
Meanwhile, prepare the filling:
- In a medium saucepan, whisk water, lemon juice and cornstarch. Add cherries, sugar, butter, and salt. Bring to a simmer, stirring frequently, and simmer until thickened, about 3-5 minutes. Spread filling over crust. Stir sliced almonds into the reserved topping mixture, then sprinkle the topping over the cherry filling, occasionally pinching the topping together to form small clumps.
- Bake until the filling is beginning to bubble and the topping is light brown, about 25-30 minutes. Place the pan on a wire rack to cool completely.
Icing:
- Whisk all icing ingredients, adding more milk or powdered sugar to reach your desired consistency. Drizzle over cooled bars (I place my icing in a ziptop bag, snip off the corner, and drizzle the icing straight from the bag). Store in the refrigerator. The bars cut more neatly if they are chilled.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional Information is an estimate based on third-party calculations and may vary based on products used and serving sizes.
Tried this recipe?Leave a comment and rating below!
Hina says
Can it be made a day ahead
Desley Pirie says
Hi, is there something else I could use in place of almond paste?
Allison says
You can try this recipe: berry crumble bars.