My husband’s favorite fruit pie happens to be cherry. For the past two years, he’s begged me to make cherry pie for Thanksgiving, and each year I have. It’s buttery, sweet and topped with a delicious dutch crumble that no one can ever get enough of.
Over the past months, I’ve been in a fun partnership with Montmorency tart cherries, which gave me the perfect excuse to make cherry pie again — except this time I wanted to make it in bar form, and a little bit more nutritious than the version most of us are used to.
I love this recipe because not only is it easy to make, but the bars come out sweet and chewy. Tony loved them with coffee, while I preferred to drizzle them with a little melted dark chocolate for an indulgent twist.
The best part? These bars are gluten-free thanks to oat flour (which you can easily make yourself). They’re also easily dairy-free and vegan too!
Fun facts about Montmorency tart cherries
- Montmorency tart cherries pack a punch of bright, tangy and intense flavors that end on a sweet-tart note enticing you to come back for more. Montmorency tart cherries provide an adventurous flavor profile that offers something new and unique compared to other fruit.
- Research suggests Montmorency tart cherries may help you recover after intense exercise. Other studies have examined the impact of Montmorency tart cherries on heart health, sleep and inflammation.
- Choosing U.S.-grown Montmorency tart cherries can help support local agriculture and preserve generations-old family farms. This varietal is not imported like other types of tart or sour cherries. Even though you won’t find Montmorency tart cherries in the produce section but in dried, juice or canned forms instead, they are farm fresh since they are picked at the peak of ripeness and made available year round.
- About 75 percent of U.S. Montmorency tart cherry crop is grown in Michigan – the Cherry Capital of the World. Other prominent Montmorency tart cherry-producing states include Utah, Washington, New York, Wisconsin, Oregon and Pennsylvania.
Tart cherry pie bar ingredients
- Oat flour: you can easily make your own flour at home by simply adding oats to a blender and blending until they resemble a fine flour. Check out my tutorial with all of my best tips & tricks. So easy! You can also purchase oat flour at grocery stores or online.
- Oats: this cherry bar recipe calls for old-fashioned rolled oats. If you’d like you can use gluten- free oats!
- Coconut sugar: both coconut sugar and brown sugar will work in this recipe. I like to use coconut sugar because it’s an unrefined sweetener, but know that either will work!
- Butter or vegan butter: I opted to use butter in this recipe because I think it’s delicious, however vegan butter or even coconut oil will work.
- Vanilla and almond extract: for flavor, of course!
- Frozen Montmorency tart cherries: frozen tart cherries work well in this recipe because you can find them in most grocery stores, even when they aren’t seasonal. Typically I purchase mine at Whole Foods.
- Pure maple syrup: you’ll only need a few tablespoons to help sweeten the cherry pie filling.
- Cornstarch or arrowroot starch: this is used to help thicken the filling!
How to make cherry pie bars
Step 1: This recipe starts with an oatmeal cookie crumble base that’s used for the crust and the topping. You’ll mix oat flour, oats, coconut sugar, cinnamon, baking soda and salt in a bowl, then you’ll add in melted butter and both vanilla and almond extract. You’ll press a little more than half of the dough into the bottom of an 8×8 inch pan.
Step 2: Make your cherry filling by combining frozen tart cherries, maple syrup, starch and extracts in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Once the filling thickens, you can pour it over the crust.
Step 3: Top cherry filling with remaining oatmeal crumble, then bake for about 30 minutes or until filling is nice and bubbly and the topping is golden. Allow bars to cool before cutting and serving!
How to store cherry pie bars:
The bars are delicious served at room temperature or straight out of the fridge. After 1-2 days, transfer the bars to the fridge.
Make it Ambitious:
After your cherry pie bars are done baking, add ¼ cup white or dark chocolate chips to a microwave safe bowl, and microwave in 30 second intervals, stirring in between, until the chocolate is smooth and melted. Drizzle over your bars!
If you make these tart cherry pie bars, be sure to leave a comment below and rate the recipe below! You can also snap and picture and post it on Instagram using the hashtag #ambitiouskitchen. xo!
Tart Cherry Pie Bars with Oatmeal Crumble (vegan and gluten free)
Ingredients
- For the crust and crumble:
- 1 ½ cups gluten-free oat flour (or sub all-purpose or whole wheat pastry flour)
- 1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats, gluten free if desired
- ½ cup coconut sugar (or brown sugar)
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup butter or vegan buttery stick, melted
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon almond extract
- For the filling:
- 2 1/2 heaping cups frozen Montmorency tart cherries
- 3 tablespoons pure maple syrup
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch or arrowroot starch, plus 1-2 teaspoons more if necessary
- ⅛ teaspoon almond extract
- Pinch of salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line an 8x8 inch pan with parchment paper and generously spray with nonstick cooking spray. Set aside.
- Make the base + topping: In a large bowl, use a fork to mix together the oat flour, oats, coconut sugar, cinnamon, baking soda and salt.
- Add in melted butter, vanilla extract and almond extract and stir until a nice crumble forms and dough begins to clump together. Place 1 ½ cups of the mixture into the prepared pan and place the remaining mixture into the fridge (the remaining mixture will be used for the topping). Use your hands to evenly press the dough to the bottom of the pan.
- Next make your cherry pie filling: place a medium pot over medium heat. Add in tart cherries, maple syrup, almond extract, cornstarch (or arrowroot) and salt. Use a wooden spoon to press down and break down the cherries just a bit.
- Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and cook for 5 more minutes until mixture is thickened up and nicely coats the back of a spoon without being too drippy. If it’s too drippy stir in 1-2 teaspoons more cornstarch or arrowroot.
- Pour mixture over the crust and use a spoon to evenly spread.
- Take the remaining topping out of the fridge. By now there should be some nice crumbles that have clumped together. Sprinkle the topping over the tart cherry filling. Bake for 30 minutes or until filling is bubbly and topping is golden.
- Allow bars to cool completely on a wire rack before transferring to the fridge to chill. Bars are delicious served at room temperature or straight out of the fridge. Use a sharp knife to cut into 16 bars before serving.
Recipe Notes
Nutrition
This post is in partnership with Montmorency Tart Cherries. All recipes, text and opinions are my own. Thanks for supporting AK and the brands who help make this site possible!
42 comments
Cherries are abundant at the Farmers’ Market right now, but I’m guessing that frozen would be easier for this recipe. They do look like the perfect breakfast bar to enjoy with coffee.
Feel free to use fresh or frozen in this recipe 🙂
Wow! This is a great recipe bursting with flavor. I fortunately have access to fresh sour cherries straight from the tree. I was looking for a healthy recipe to use these beauties. Thank you for publishing this recipe!
Love that! Glad you enjoyed!
Hi, I’m dumb and I’m not sure what a montmorency cherry is! Is it brand? Type? I searched for them at my WF and couldn’t find them!
Hi Emily! Not dumb at all 🙂 it’s a type of tart cherry that’s grown around Michigan! They should be in the frozen section at Whole Foods (and are a ruby red color).
Thank you! I’m in Oklahoma and they didn’t carry them at my Whole Foods sadly 🙁 I might have to just try using regular cherries.
Shoot! If you try others, let me know how they come out 🙂
These look and sound amazing, and such a fun summer dessert! Cannot wait to try 🙂
They are!! Hope you love them 🙂
Can you use coconut oil in place of butter? I don’t keep butter on hand.
Yes that should work!
These turned out amazing! Living in Seattle, I used fresh Washington cherries. I brought these to a dinner party and received so many compliments! Thank you for the awesome recipe!
So happy to hear that! Perfect for summer 🙂
Can you substitute dried cherries in this mix to make it a shelf stable product? I’m thinking of jars for the holidays. If SO, what would you recommend reconstituting the cherries with? Our local USDA Commodities program gives out lots of dried fruit such as cherries, plums, etc.
Unfortunately I would not recommend that. You can add the mix and then just tell people to add filling and write out the instructions?
I’m excited to try this recipe as I I have some canned Michigan montmorency cherries in my pantry. Should I make any adjustments for canned cherries vs frozen? Thank you!
It’s hard to say because I’m not sure how much juice the cherries are in!
I liked this recipe. The only thing I will do differently is pressing the top layer a bit more so it is more hand held. It was a bit crumbly without doing this.
Glad you enjoyed! Great tip with that layer 🙂
Very tasty! My choices were oat flour, GF rolled oats, coconut sugar, butter, and arrowroot starch. The filling did take a bit more of the arrowroot before it was thickened to my satisfaction. Having no frozen cherries on hand, I used 2 cans of red tart cherries (drained) instead. Thanks for a great alternative to cherry pie!
Perfect! I’m glad those worked out well. Such a great treat!
I subbed applesauce for the melted butter to make a low fat version. Guilt free treat … even though I may have scattered a few dark chocolate chips over the top straight out of the oven.
I’m glad that worked out well!
this was really yummy!!! i especially love the clean ingredients. i experienced a really crumbly crust. any suggestions? i subbed butter with coconut oil and oat flour with bob’s red mill all purpose baking flour.
Glad you loved the taste! We haven’t tested it with an all purpose GF flour, but that could be the reason it’s so crumbly as sometimes it turns out a bit dry with gluten free flours.
Love these! I couldn’t find tart cherries, so I had to use sweet cherries, and they still turned out well! We ate a few, and then I froze the rest. We had them in the freezer for about 3 or 4 weeks, and they stayed well. I just had a problem with the crumble and base being a bit mushy after they defrosted, so I popped them in the oven for a few minutes, and they crisped up nicely! Thank you!
Perfect! Great idea to freeze them and love that tip for baking them a bit afterward. Glad you enjoyed!
We loved the smell of this baking! However, the top was loose and didn’t firm up so it was hard to pick up and eat as a bar. I used Myokos butter substitute and ghee and Sorghum flour in the topping and wonder if that caused it.
Hi, Heather! I haven’t had that issue, so my guess is that it was because of the substitutions. Glad it smelled great though!
My dad is a huge cherry fan, so I made these for his birthday and he loved them! Actually, everyone loved them! I used fresh cherries instead of frozen and the balance between the oat crumble and the cherries was perfect! The oat crumble was a little dry (not sure if it was because I used all-purpose flour) so I added in a little extra butter. Will definitely make again!
Aw I’m so happy you guys all loved them! Happy bday to your dad 🙂 I haven’t had issues with the crumble being dry so it might have been a result of using AP flour. Good call to add extra butter!
These bars were delicious and super easy to make. I could eat the cherry filling by itself or on yogurt/ice cream!
Yay!! I’m so happy you loved it. Agreed, I could eat the filling by the spoonful 😍
My son recently turned vegan and this is one of the regular treats in the fridge these days. Love the flavors yet today I am trying it with peaches and I bet that will be good. I use fresh fruit not frozen. I have used butter flavor coconut oil as well as vegan butter and there didn’t seem to be a noticeable difference. My only issue with this recipe is it is a little too crumbly and tends to fall apart. I tried last time adding in 2 tablespoons of ground flax seeds, that might have helped a little. I am gonna continue to tweak it and see if I can get the crust a little firmer. But overall, we love it!
Hi, Katie! So happy that you’re loving these! Thanks for the note about the crumbly-ness. You could try to add a bit more fat (vegan butter/coconut oil) to help it stay together a bit more. Let me know how the peach version goes!
Hi Monique–my crust/crumble mixture came out very dry as well even though I added lots of extra butter! Is it possible that I am using too much (1.5 cups oat flour plus 1 cup oats)? Yours almost looks like a dough and mine looked more like sand with no clumping. We will see how they come out of the oven! Fingers crossed they hold up.
So sorry you’re having an issue! You can try increasing the butter/oil next time. Also feel free to use the crust from my blueberry pie bars if you’d like: https://www.ambitiouskitchen.com/blueberry-pie-bars/
super yummy and easy to make!
I picked my own tart cherries, made a simple jam, and this recipe was the perfect vehicle. The most elevated nutrigrain bar I’ve ever had! Thank you!
Ohh I love that comparison! SO amazing that you picked your own cherries, too. Glad these came out great 🙂
We have 15#of Door County Montmorency cherries in our freezer so…..I made these for our Sunday Fun Day group. I used whole wheat pastry flour and old fashioned oats for the mixture and the amount of pastry flour seemed to much for some reason-the oats didn’t come through so going to change the proportions next time closer to my apple crisp. Everyone loved the bars – right amt of tart!