Easy and delicious almond crumble bars filled with a homemade cherry filling. Use fresh or frozen cherries, and make this recipe year round.
Four years ago I made Almond Cherry Streusel Bars. I shared them with you and told you that they were one of my favorite desserts ever. And then guess what happened? I completely forgot about them (gasp!). These fabulous bars deserve to be brought to our attention, so, here they are (again). As delicious as ever, with some new, prettier pics, and a simple plea to make and share them with everyone you know.
You might also like: Almond Cake – Almond Croissants – Almond Cranberry Cake – Cherry Cobbler – Almond Joy Cookies – Almond Bars
If you’ve never had a dessert with the flavor combo of almond and cherries, you are in for a treat! I absolutely love these flavors together. Buttery almond shortbread crust and homemade cherry pie filling topped with crunchy, buttery streusel. I mean, how could these not be good? Here’s how to make ‘em!
Almond Cherry Streusel Bars
Almond Crust & Topping: A mixture of sugar, almond paste, flour, butter, and almond extract makes up the crust and topping for this recipe. Press the mixture into the bottom of a 9×9 pan to form the crust, reserving about a cup for the topping. Stir some sliced almonds into the topping portion and set it aside.
Cherry Filling: This thick and sweet cherry filling is made with a mixture of cherries (fresh or frozen), cornstarch, lemon juice, sugar, and a touch of butter. Combine on the stovetop and simmer for a couple minutes, until bubby and thickened. Pour the cherry filling over the crust and add the reserved streusel topping.
After baking, allow the bars cool so that you can cut them into neat slices. If desired, you can drizzle over a simple icing made from powdered sugar, milk, and a drop of almond extract.
These bars are easy to serve, store and pack up (much easier than pie!). You can enjoy them straight from the fridge or at room temp. Can you freeze them? I would guess yes. But the truth is, these never last long enough to test that. We consume every crumbly, cherry-filled bite before they have a chance to visit the freezer.
NEVER MISS A RECIPE! SUBSCRIBE to our free EMAIL LIST – LIKE us on FACEBOOK – Follow on INSTAGRAM
Recipe
Almond Cherry Streusel 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 9x9 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!
Monette
How much longer would you need to bake a double batch in a 9×13 pan?
Celebrating Sweets
Hi, Monette. I don’t think you will need to double it. My recipe is written for a 9×9, so you will likely need closer 1-1/2 of the recipe. Bake time should be similar (give or take a couple minutes). Enjoy!
Varsha Rao
How do you make the Almond paste?
Allison
I use store bought.
Barb Cattie
Hi – these look delicious! Can they be made without almond paste and the almonds?
Thank you!
Barb Cattie
Anne Wallace
Hi,
You mention using fresh or frozen. All I can find locally is canned. Is this not a good option?
I love the sound of using almond paste in the crumble.
Do you have to refrigerate because the filling will be too soft at room temperature? Cherry pie can sit out so curious why?
Love your blog.
Cheers,
Anne
Allison
Hi, Anne. Are you thinking of using canned pie filling? I’m assuming that would work.
I store these in the refrigerator to keep the crust from getting too soft. If your kitchen is cool you should be able to store them at room temperature. Enjoy!
drl
Are the photos even of your own baking? or stock photos? Because your photos show bright red TART cherries but your recipe does NOT use them- it calls for DARK purple-ish BLACK SWEET cherries.
Allison
Hi! Yep, every photo on this site is OF MY OWN BAKING. The red cherries you see in the photos are fresh sweet cherries (purchased from Whole Foods). But, if you’d like to make this recipe with frozen cherries, which are often the dark purple color, you can do that, too. The video of this recipe uses the darker variety and the photos show the lighter variety. As long as you’re using sweet cherries it doesn’t matter how light or dark they are.
Cheryl Glas
Fabulous! I used a 9 x 13” pan. Doubled the recipe which worked well for the pastry dough. Having used frozen cherries, my filling cooked up a bit more abundantly, so held back on using the lady cup of the cherry filling sauce.
It was perfect with or without the icing! I iced most of them but left a quarter of them without. My husband preferred them with no icing. Definitely a new favorite either way! Thank you for perfecting and sharing the recipe with us!
Allison
You’re welcome! I’m glad you enjoyed it!
Laura Zitting
Amazing!
Sheun
My household loved this recipe. I used frozen cherries. It was a little loose so will add a little more thickener next time. Will go into my faves box.
Allison
I’m glad you enjoyed it!
Penny Pearson
Can I substitute almond flour in the recipe for amond cherry streusel bars?
Allison
No, I would not recommend that. The bars need all purpose flour for structure.
Kathy Perez
I have cans of black cherries in there own juice can I use them?
Allison
You’d have to play around with it. Would you be using the juice? It would need to be thickened. Or you could likely drain them and proceed with the recipe as written.
Tim
Can I use clear jel instead of cornstarch?
Do you know the volume of the filling in the recipe? Cups, pints or quart? I can my own pie fingers ing pints and quarts.
Allison
Hi, Tim. I’ve never used clear jel so I can’t say for sure. I don’t have a volume measurement for the filling. You can just eyeball it when adding it to the crust. Enjoy!
Andra
Will this work with gluten free flour?
Allison
I’ve only made the recipe as written. You’d have to play around with it. Usually a 1:1 gluten free flour is the best thing to try.
Cherill Gabrielson
Looks delish! Can’t wait to make it. Thank you so much.
Allison
You’re welcome! Enjoy!
Lesa
Thank you Allison. Hugs Xo. I’m going to try and I love Cherries. ❤️
Cathy
I have fresh picked cherries that I had to freeze . Do I thaw them so not so watery?
Allison
You don’t need to thaw them first, just be sure to add the extra cornstarch to the filling. Enjoy!