Cherry Cream Cheese Bars
This Post May Contain Affiliate Links. Please Read Our Disclosure PolicyThese Cherry Cream Cheese Bars are the perfect dessert for any occasion or celebration. With three different layers of deliciousness, everyone is going to love these tasty bars.
Cherry Cream Cheese Bars:
I’m a big fan of dessert bar recipes like these Cherry Cream Cheese Bars. Why?
Well, typically recipes like these are really simple to make and tend to feed crowd. That’s certainly the case with this recipe as well!
How to make Cherry Cream Cheese Bars:
What makes these bars particularly tasty is it’s layers. It starts off with a layer of cake (which is so simple to make) and then followed by a cream cheese layer.
After that, sweet cherry pie filling gets layered on, followed by big dollops of cake. Yum!
Once the whole thing is cooled, these Cherry Cream Cheese Bars get a drizzle of confectioners’ sugar glaze for a finished sweet touch. Perfection!
The resulting bars are amazingly delicious. They would be amazing without the layer of cream cheese, but it just takes them to a whole other level of awesomeness.
Let me show you how to make them.
How to Make Cherry Cream Cheese Bars:
Begin by preheating your oven to 350 degrees F.
With a stand mixer, cream together the butter, sugar, and salt until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at time. Beat well after each addition. Then, put in the vanilla and almond extract. Finally, gradually add in the flour and baking powder. For your convenience, there is a full ingredient list and detailed instructions in the printable recipe card below.
Spread about 2 1/2 cups of this batter into a greased 15x10x1-inch baking sheet. (I found it easiest to use an offset spatula greased with a little cooking oil to spread out the batter.)
In a medium-size bowl, beat together cream cheese, sugar, and egg. Add this on top of the first layer of batter. Then, spread out the cherry pie filling.
Drop the remaining batter by spoonfuls over the filling. Bake about 35-40 minutes or until golden brown. Cool in pan on a wire rack.
Once the bars are cool, in a small bowl mix together confectioners’ sugar, extracts, and enough milk to reach a drizzling consistency. Drizzle over the top.
Want More Easy and Tasty Bar Recipes? Try these:
- Peanut Butter and Jelly Cheesecake Bars
- Pumpkin Cookie Bars with Maple Frosting
- Emily’s Cheerio Treat Bars
- Pumpkin Bars
- Ombré Frosted Sugar Cookie Bars
It’s that easy. Mouth-wateringly fruity, creamy, and covered in a delicious glaze. It really doesn’t get much better than that.
Seriously people, please give this recipe a try. You’ll be so glad you did!
Cherry Cream Cheese Bars Recipe:
Cherry Cream Cheese Bars
Ingredients
- 1 cup butter softened
- 2 cups sugar
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 4 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 2 cans (21 ounce each) cherry pie filling
Cheesecake Layer:
- 1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese softened
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1 egg
Glaze:
- 1 cup confectioners' sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
- 2 - 3 tablespoons milk
Instructions
- Begin by preheating your oven to 350 degrees F.
- With a stand mixer, cream together the butter, sugar, and salt until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at time. Beat well after each addition. Then, put in the vanilla and almond extract. Finally, gradually add in the flour and baking powder.
- Spread about 2 1/2 cups of this batter into a greased 15x10x1-inch baking sheet. (I found it easiest to use an offset spatula greased with a little cooking oil to spread out the batter.)
- In a medium-size bowl, beat together cream cheese, sugar, and egg. Add this on top of the first layer of batter. Then, spread out the cherry pie filling.
- Drop the remaining batter by spoonfuls over the filling. Bake about 35-40 minutes or until golden brown. Cool in pan on a wire rack.
- Once the bars are cool, in a small bowl mix together confectioners' sugar, extracts, and enough milk to reach a drizzling consistency. Drizzle over the top.
Hello, these look great!!
Is there any way I can make these with fresh cherries instead?
Thanks!
Would it Be good with an apple pie filling?
Made these last night with my 3 year old Grandson. They are wonderful. Thanks.
Yay! Glad you enjoyed them!
xo Michael
Oh my, this looks yummy! Think I will make it for Christmas. Thank you for sharing!
Thank you for the recipe for these delicious looking cherry cream cheese bars. I love anything with cherries in the mix, so know these will be to my liking!!
Hi, these look amazing… any way to substitute fresh strawberries? maybe macerate them and use it? not a big fan of cherries.. thanks, cant wait to bake these beauties!
Cherry cream cheese bars are in the oven. At any point, do they need refrigeration?
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Just made these for 4th of July and they came out perfect. I did a half blueberry half cherry sheet and I changed a few minor things. For the dough I used strictly vanilla extract and I split the glaze in two and substituted lemon extract instead of almond for the blueberry side. It was a hit. Thank you for the recipe! Will definitely make this again. Btw I thought I should mention that anyone making this should use every last drop of the 2 cans of pie filling. The gooeyer the better! Oh and the few leftovers we had, we warmed and served with ice cream and it is Pure heaven.
These were a HUGE hit at work. I just made them again only I used one can of blueberry pie filling on one side and one can of cherry on the other. I’m sure it will be a big hit, too.
These look absolutely PERFECT, Michael! Going on next weekend’s brunch menu 🙂
Is there enough of the cream cheese mixture to cover, and how do you spread the cream cheese later.
Just made these for our work birthday luncheon tomorrow. I thought they screamed for chocolate so I made a dark chocolate glaze for half of the bars. Can’t wait to try them tomorrow! I might try them again but with some coconut.
Just made and they are AWESOME! Thanks for sharing the recipe.
I’m trying really hard not to lick my screen right now. I love cherry and my birthday is next month so I think I’ll give these a whirl for my b-day treat at the office. Oh, who the heck are we kidding, it really doesn’t need to be a birthday to make a treat for the office. Thanks for the great looking and soon to be tasty recipe.
ohh yum, these look delicious. I will have to try these soon.
omg these look amazing!
These bars look delicious! Great for a birthday but I also needed one more dessert/pastry for my Easter brunch and they will be perfect. Thanks for sharing. Perfect timing. I hope you have a wonderful Easter.
You got it! These will be perfect for Easter!
xo Michael
Yay, Birthday breakfast!!!! Perfect.
Oh, my! It’s my birthday also and I am all over this one. I just happen to have all the ingredients. What would we do without our offset spatulas? I love your blog and look forward to your postings. They are always among the very first things I read and you never disappoint.
Yummy!
What a delicious recipe, thank you for sharing! I made it this morning, and everyone loved it. I expected more of a cheesecake flavor because of the cream cheese, but it really only altered the texture of the bottom layer a bit to make it more moist and delicious. I loved the delicate flavor and aroma that the almond extract gave it. A sure pleaser, I will make it again.
Did you have leftovers? How did you store them. I want to make this for a potluck at church, but I need to make them the day before.
Thanks for any help!