Whenever I go to a potluck, reunion, or get together centered around food (although I confess to not knowing of many get togethers that aren’t centered around food), I like to take a dessert that everyone is going to ooh and ahh over. Something uniquely decadent, extra special, that you can’t find anywhere else.
This recipe has been my special go to for two years now, ever since I took one of my favorite bar recipe and played around with it to produce my ultimate favorite bar recipe. Special doesn’t even begin to cover it. These Ooey Gooey Cherry bars are an experience – and one I hope you get to have soon.
The ingredients are simple and you probably already have most, if not all, of them on hand: all purpose flour, butter, confectioner’s sugar, sugar, eggs, salt, baking powder, vanilla, maraschino cherries (drained and cut in half), and pecans.
Begin by making the crust. I started with the same crust I use on my Lemon Bars. Place flour, butter, and confectioner’s sugar in a medium sized mixing bowl and cut them together with a pastry cutter or long tined fork until crumbly, as pictured on the right.
Press this evenly into a 9×13 baking dish that has been sprayed with cooking spray and bake until just lightly browned, about 20-25 minutes.
Once your crust is done, remove from oven and reduce oven temp to 325 and make your filling. Place sugar, eggs, flour, salt, baking powder, and vanilla in the same bowl you mixed the crust up in – no need to wash it.
Stir together with a large spoon until smooth and creamy – the batter will be very thick. Once it’s mixed, stir in cherries and pecans (Note, pecans are optional).
Spoon the filling over the crust and gently spread to the edges. Bake until set, about 30 minutes.
Isn’t this pretty? Not even cooked and it’s already pretty!
Allow to cool completely in the pan, then sprinkle with a light dusting of confectioner’s sugar and cut into bars.
Oooh my goodness! These stay all ooey and gooey in the filling but that wonderful buttery crust holds it all together.
Definitely a treat worthy of a special occasion – or one that can make an occasion special!
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, at room temp
- ½ cup confectioner's sugar
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 4 large eggs
- ½ cup all purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 6 ounce jar maraschino cherries, drained and cut in half
- 1.5 cups chopped pecans (optional)
- confectioner's sugar, for finishing
- Preheat oven to 350. Lightly spray a 9x13 baking dish with cooking spray and set aside.
- In medium mixing bowl, place crust ingredients. Cut butter into flour and confectioner's sugar with a pastry cutter or long tined fork, until well combined and crumbly. Press into 9x13 pan and bake for 20-25 minutes until just lightly browned on the edges. Remove from oven when done and reduce temp to 325.
- In same bowl (no need to wash it), place sugar, eggs, flour, salt, baking powder, and vanilla from filling ingredients. Stir together with a long spoon until smooth and creamy - batter will be thick. Stir in cherries and pecans until well incorporated. Spoon filling onto crust and spread to the edges. Bake until set, about 30 minutes.
- Remove from oven and allow to cool completely. Dust top with confectioner's sugar and cut into bars. Enjoy!
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Let us always meet each other with a smile for a smile is the beginning of love.
~Mother Theresa
Yum 
Please tell me I can have more than one. 🙂
Not a baker usually, but will certainly make these soon.. so a trip to the store, as I only have 4 of the ingredients-:).. these won’t last long-:)
Saving the recipe so I can make this over the weekend.
Love anything made with cherries and this sounds great. A keeper for sure.
Hmmm . . . this looks lovely, but my brain instantly went to a hybrid of the chocolate chip butter bars (a hit in my family, and even more popular with cream cheese in place of one of the sticks of butter) made with almond extract and maraschino cherries, or maybe those candied cherries you put in fruitcake.
To the kitchen! Oh, wait, I don’t have any cherries. To the grocery store after work tomorrow!
Thanks for giving me a project!
I’m planning on making this for a ladies brunch at church!
Glory! You had me at gooey Christy! I love anything with cherries and pecans, I think I wouldn’t mind it if a little coconut fell in the bowl too! Looks delish. Can’t wait to try these. I usually half recipes like these and bake in a 8 x 8 pan , unless I am taking it somewhere, because I would for sure eat the whole pan!
Wonder if you could use a can of Cheery pie filling ?
Has anyone tried this ?
We don’t care for the maraschino cherries….they are too sweet….
I am wondering the same thing. Or fresh or frozen cherries. Hmm.
I would be concerned using cherry pie filling because you’re adding all of that additional goo to the batter so it may not set up properly. You can use another type of cherries though, or fruit.
This recipe looks great but I don’t care for cherries. Is there another fruit you would recommend to use in place of cherries?
mandarin oranges, or even dried fruit such as cranberries, blueberries, etc. I think any would work.
Thank you.
Awww, geez, I’m not supposed to eat nuts. Guess that means I’m gonna hafta double up on the cherries! And I was thinking, how about mixing in some chocolate chips as a nut filler…
You can just leave the nuts out, they are optional, and it will be fine 🙂 Although I do like the idea of double cherries from a selfish standpoint 😉
Christy, glad you noted the nuts were optional, have Crohn’s…(I miss pecan pie) 🙁 and just knew doubling those cherries was right up my alley – you put me in my happy place. Thank you.
Awesome! I don’t know if this will help but have you seen my recipe for faux pecan pie? https://www.southernplate.com/faux-pecan-pie/
Thank you, Christy. I’m going to have to give that recipe a try once I’m back to normal again. And luckily, I like pretzels. Copied and saved. 🙂
This faux pecan pie is very good!
This looks like a keeper, will definitely try it tomorrow, as I have all the ingredients. My spring flowers are still under 3 ft of snow, so baking and baseball are a good pastime right now.
These look delicious!! I pinned to share. I love anything with maraschino cherries and pecans!! Thanks Christy for another great recipe! By the way, I just bought 7 of your cookbooks and was wondering if I could get name plates to put in them. I could message you my address. Let me know if you would like for me to send an envelope self addressed and postage paid.. I would be glad to do so.
Hey! Please email me at christy@southernplate.com with which books you have and your address 🙂
Just curious, have you ever used almond flavoring instead of vanilla?
I haven’t but I’m sure it would be good. You could replace it or do half of each.
Can’t wait to make this. For summertime, I would be tempted to add fresh blueberries and make this a 4th of July dessert!
BRILLIANT!
I don’t really care for Maraschino cherries. Would strawberries work? Peaches?
WOW! Another recipe to share with Ladies Sunday School class.
Oh Christy you are doing it to me again,I can hardly wait to make this , I love your recipes and web site.
Anything called ‘gooey’ has to be fantastic. I plan on making this and am adding pineapple chunks and flake coconut. Not sure what it will do to the gooey designation but I love this combination. Thanks for always coming up with something I’m not familiar with. With more than 700 cookbooks you would think I’d have any recipe from the past 50 years!!
This sounds very good.
Yum! Beautiful! I might just go out and bake up a special occasion here…!!!
How good this looks! My late husband would have loved this. He was a fool about maraschino cherries. Thinking maybe using red and green one at Christmas! Yum.
I hope you get the chance to try them soon. Can’t wait to hear how y’al like them!!
Christy, I followed the recipe exactly, but it turned out to be anything but gooey. It was much more cake-like (maybe the 4 eggs?). Also, you said the batter would be thick; mine was very much liquid. Any ideas as to what may have happened? Thanks!
Hey Lois!
First of all, I’m so sorry this didn’t turn out as expected! Thanks for letting me know. I went back and double checked the recipe to make sure I had typed it all in correctly and didn’t see any errors there. It’s the same recipe used for these photographs, which is a quandary to be sure! I’m not sure what may have happened to cause the difference. How did they taste?
The taste was just OK, sort of bland, but the disappointment was mainly in the lack of the ooey-gooey texture.
I’m so sorry! Something is definitely amiss in this case, then, since they are usually ooey, gooey, and full of flavor. I’m afraid it’s difficult to detect from this side of the screen but I do hate they didn’t turn out for you and I appreciate you being here and letting me know.
I do not care for maraschino cherries, but every other kind is awesome! Do you think canned cherries would work?