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Cherry pie bar on a white plate

Cherry Pie Bars

A delicious recipe using cherry pie filling, sourdough discard, and freshly milled flour that can be brought to a potluck, any get together, or just a special treat for your family.
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Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 25 minutes
Servings: 36
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Ingredients Equipment Method Notes

Ingredients
  

  • 1 cup butter
  • 1/2 cup sourdough discard
  • 1 ¾ cup sugar
  • 4 eggs
  • 2 tsp vanilla
  • 1½ tsp baking powder
  • ½ tsp salt
  • 1½ cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 cups freshly milled flour if using 100% all-purpose flour, use 3 full cups; if using 100% freshly milled flour, use 375 grams freshly milled flour
  • 1 can cherry pie filling I use 1 quart of home canned cherry pie filling
Icing
  • ¼ cup butter
  • ¼ cup milk
  • ½ tsp vanilla
  • 1 pinch salt
  • 1½ cup powdered sugar possibly 2 cups

Equipment

  • 1 Mixing Bowl
  • 1 Jelly Roll Pan
  • 1 Medium Saucepan

Method
 

  1. Add butter and sugar to a bowl. Cream together until smooth.
  2. Add vanilla and mix together
  3. Add one egg at a time to the butter and sugar mixture, followed by 1/4 of the flour mixture. Continue adding one egg at a time followed by some of the flour mixture.
  4. At this point you can either move forward with assembling and baking, or you can let it ferment for 5-6 hours
    Finished Cherry Pie dough sitting in a stainless steel bowl, sitting on a wooden table.
  5. Spread ¾ of the batter on a well-greased cookie sheet.
    Assembling cherry pie bars. 3/4 of the batter in the pan, waiting for the cherry pie filling.
  6. Top with 1 can of cherry pie filling (dropped on top of the batter by the spoonful)
    Assembling cherry pie bars. Cherry pie filling placed on top of batter.
  7. Drop the rest of the batter by teaspoonful on top of the cherry pie filling.
  8. Bake 350℉ for 25-30 minutes.
    Cherry pie bars in a pan, fresh out of the oven.
The Icing
  1. Heat ¼ cup butter and ¼ cup of milk over medium heat
    Melted Butter with milk in a stainless-steel bowl.
  2. Once the butter is fully melted, remove the pan from heat and add ½ tsp. vanilla
  3. Next, add enough powdered sugar to make an icing (usually about 1½ - 2 cups, give or take)
  4. You will want the icing to be pourable, but not overly runny.
  5. Next, drizzle the icing over the pie bars. To give it a swirled effect, drag a knife vertically across the top of the bars, then horizontally, then diagonally.

Notes

When baking dishes like this, remember that the corners and edges can get dry.  To prevent this, be sure to put a spoonful of cherry pie filling in each corner and around the edges.  
Almond is a fabulous combination with cherries, and I will often use almond extract instead of vanilla. 
Other wonderful combinations are:
  • Apple pie filling with a cream cheese icing
  • Blueberry pie filling (try adding some lemon rind to the batter for a lemon-blueberry flavor)
  • Peach pie filling
  • Strawberry Rhubarb filling
  • Raspberry pie filling with a cream cheese icing
  • Triple berry pie filling
  • Strawberry pie filling
The possibilities are endless!
If the icing gets too thick, you can always add more milk.  
You can make the drizzled icing look pretty by lightly dragging a knife through the icing once it is on the cherry pie bars.