My mom and I made these cherry kuchen bars last week (yes, it was a joint effort!) after finding the recipe in a holiday baking edition of Better Homes and Gardens. You may have seen this recipe referred to as cherry pie bars on other blogs or on Pinterest. Yep, it’s probably the same delicious recipe!
When I think of cherries, I’m transported to my childhood. My grandpa was a huge fan of cherry pies, in fact, I’m pretty sure he almost always had a half-eaten cherry pie in his kitchen!
I grew to develop my own taste for cherry desserts, and this cherry kuchen bars recipe is absolutely at the top of my cherry sweets must-have list. Not only do these cherry kuchen bars taste heavenly, they are also drop dead gorgeous. Just… look.
Cherry Kuchen Bars Recipe
You know, there are times when you try a recipe from a magazine and the end result looks NOTHING like the oh-so-perfect photo on the printed page, but this was not one of times.
Our version of the cherry kuchen bars looked every bit as beautiful as the magazine photos and that’s why I’m confident that yours will be picture-worthy, too.
Actually, I think that’s one of my favorite things about these delicious bars—they look as impressive as they taste. If you want to serve a delicious dessert that will make your guests say WOW, these cherry kuchen bars are for you.
The cherry kuchen (kuchen is the German word for cake, by the way) bars turned out moist and chewy with a little crisp around the edges. These cherry pie bars are sweet, but not too sweet. Honestly, I usually have to send these to work with my husband when I make them lest I eat half the pan while he’s at work and the kids are at school.
I did want to note that while the recipe states a 32 bar yield, we did not get that many out of the pan. We ended up cutting much larger pieces and had only 24 bars.
Of course, if you’re not a fan of cherries you could easily substitute your favorite pie filling.
RELATED: Check out my easy apple pie bites made with crescent rolls and apple pie filling!
I would also love to try this same recipe with blackberries.
How beautiful would that be?
Be sure to grab the recipe for these outrageously good cherry kuchen bars below.
We hope you enjoy them as much as we did!
Crazy About Dessert Bars? Try These!
Cherry Kuchen Bars Recipe
Ingredients
- ½ cup butter softened
- ½ cup shortening
- 1 ¾ cups sugar
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 3 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 3 cups all purpose flour
- 1 21- ounce can cherry pie filling or substitute your favorite
Powdered Sugar Icing:
- 1 ½ cups powdered sugar
- ¼ teaspoon vanilla or almond extract
- 2 to 3 tablespoons of milk make a drizzle consistency
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl beat butter and shortening with an electric mixer on medium speed for 30 seconds. Add sugar, baking powder and salt. Beat until combined, scraping side of bowl occasionally. Beat in eggs and vanilla until combined. Beat in as much of the flour as you can with the mixer. Using a wooden spoon, stir in any remaining flour. Reserve 1 ½ cups of the dough. Press the remaining dough on to the bottom of an ungreased 15x10x1-inch baking pan.
- Bake for 12 minutes. Remove, then spread pie filling over crust in pan. Spoon reserved dough into small mounds over pie filling.
- Bake an additional 30 minutes or until top is light brown. Cool in pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Drizzle with powdered sugar icing. Cut and serve.
Notes
Save This Recipe?
Enter your email and we’ll send it straight to you + get all our latest recipes.
Nutrition
Did you make this?
I would love to hear from you! Make sure to leave your review below and follow on Pinterest for more!
Can you freeze these???
Are you very certain that one DOES NOT grease the pan??? I am ready to put in my pan as
you designate and apprehensive, because the pan is not greased????????
Hoping you can answer right away now.
Thanks so much.
Marlene
I love these!! Thanks for sharing. I grease the pan, add almond to the mixture, cook for about 22 minutes after I put the filling on.
Just made this recipe with my ‘made from scratch’ apple pie filling. It is delish and not too sweet. Thanks for sharing this great recipe!
Is it one can of filling or two? I’m in the process of making these and it doesn’t seem like there’s enough cherry to cover the crust.
I only used one and it did just fine for me, but my biggest pan was a 13×9. They turned out divine!
I am from North Dakota where Kuchen is very common and along with fruit filling you can also fill with something that tastes a lot like cream cheese/custard mix. I love them them ! They will commonly add chocolate chips, nuts etc. I would assume that it would be pretty similar in a bar. You’d have to check the internet to see what the filling is as I buy them not make them . :)
I make those that you are talking about and it is an egg custard. Pretty simple and so yummy
I used to make a bar similar to this one that was one of my go to recipes but sadly I lost the recipe several years ago. I would also make them with apple pie filling in the fall and sometimes blueberry.
I can’t wait to give these a try.
Gorgeous bars. I would definitely say that these are magazine-quality. So pretty with the bright red cherries peeking out! I’ll bet they taste even better than they look!
I’m wondering how you got your glaze to be so white. My was clear. Did I add too much milk?
Hey Chelsea! I trick I’ve learned with glaze like this is to make it fairly thick, too thick to pour, and then heat it slightly in the microwave till it gets that runny consistency. Pour it on your bars (or scones,etc) and leave it for five minutes. When the glaze hardens it will be white and not as sticky. :)
I just made these…delish!! Unfortunately no pics, though!
Do you know what the cook time would be if I used a 13 x 9 cake pan? We can’t find a 15 x 10 x 1 anywhere and we want to make these for Thanksgiving.
I just made these in a 9×13″ pan, as I too did not have the 15×10″ pan. I baked them the first time as directed 12 minutes, then the last part 35 minutes. They do seem just slightly overdone and a bit dry, so next time I may just use the same time as written.
And, needless to say, they are spectacular! I added some almond extract to the cake batter too, simply because I adore almond. This is a keeper and oh so pretty!