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 and these Ooey Gooey Cherry Bars are just the thing!
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 for Ooey Gooey Cherry Bars are simple
- All purpose flour
- Butter
- Confectioner’s sugar
- Sugar
- Eggs
- Salt
- Baking powder
- Vanilla
- Maraschino cherries (drained and cut in half)
- Pecans
And as usual the printable recipe card is below
How To Make Cherry Bars Step by Step
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! I can’t wait to get one of theseOoey Gooey Cherry Bars on my plate!
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.
Ooey Gooey Cherry Bars are definitely a treat worthy of a special occasion – or one that can make an occasion special!
Ingredients
Crust
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 cup 2 sticks butter, at room temp
- 1/2 cup confectioner's sugar
For filling
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 4 large eggs
- 1/2 cup all purpose flour
- 1/2 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
Instructions
- 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!
Nutrition
You may also enjoy these recipes:
Butter Bars From Scratch: Gooey Goodness Awaits!
Lela’s Fried Peach Pie Bars
Let us always meet each other with a smile for a smile is the beginning of love.
~Mother Theresa
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-:)
Thank you for this recipe. I took these to an Easter get together, they were a hit. These bars are very easy to make. They are sweet though. I will definitely make them again.
I am glad to hear they were a hit!!
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!
Can you please post your recipe for the choc chip bars with cream cheese? It sounds like something my kids would love!
My husband loves anything with cherries! These would be great for his birthday!
Alicia, did you ever get the choç. chip bar with cream cheese recipe? I would love to try it too!
I’m planning on making this for a ladies brunch at church!
My husband is afraid it will be too sweet and wondered if another cherry would work? I told him I would ask you. He was surprised I could ask you. Would self rising flour possiblly work?
Thanks for all you do and the positive reinforcement.
Molly Fox
Haha! Tell your husband I said Hi 🙂 Yes, I think another cherry would work. If you want to use fresh, just pit them and go. I would avoid self rising flour in these because you don’t really want them the crust to rise and self rising flour will kinda go off and do it’s own thing. But fresh cherries should work fine 🙂 Thank you for being here, Molly, and for your encouragement!
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!