Hamdi Saidani These Pioneer Woman cherry cookie bars are made with fresh sweet cherries, a soft buttery cookie dough with orange zest, and a tangy lemon glaze on top. Baked at 350 degrees for about 35 minutes, they come out golden with bubbly fruit filling. The recipe makes 2 dozen bars and takes just over 2 hours.
Ree uses two-thirds of the dough as the base and crumbles the rest on top, which gives you a solid bottom layer and a rustic, streusel-like finish. The cherry filling sits right on the raw dough and bakes into it, so the fruit juices soak into the cookie base without making it soggy. The cornstarch in the filling thickens everything up as it bakes.
Ree tosses the cherries with sugar and cornstarch while she makes the dough, which pulls out the juices and gives the filling more flavor before it even hits the oven. She uses orange zest in the dough and lemon zest in the glaze, so you get two different citrus notes working together. The bars need a full hour to cool or the filling won’t hold its shape when you cut them.
Pioneer Woman Cherry Cookie Bars
Description
These Pioneer Woman cherry cookie bars are filled with fresh sweet cherries and topped with crumbled cookie dough and a tangy lemon glaze.
Ingredients
For the Filling:
For the Dough:
For the Glaze:
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Combine the cherries, sugar, cornstarch, and almond extract in a bowl. Let it sit while you make the dough.
- Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt into a medium bowl and set aside.
- In a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, cream the butter, sugar, and orange zest on medium-high speed until combined, about 2 minutes.
- Add the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla. Mix until fully incorporated, about 1 minute.
- Add the dry ingredients in three batches, alternating with the milk. Beat on low speed until the dough comes together. It will be soft.
- Press two-thirds of the dough into the bottom of a 9×13-inch baking dish.
- Pour the cherry filling and all its juices over the dough and spread it out evenly.
- Crumble the remaining dough over the cherry filling.
- Bake until the cherries are bubbly and the dough is golden, about 35 minutes.
- Transfer to a wire rack and cool completely, about 1 hour.
- Whisk together the powdered sugar, lemon zest, and milk until smooth. Thin with more milk if needed. Drizzle over the cooled bars and cut into pieces.
What should I serve with cherry cookie bars?
They go really well with a scoop ofBlackberry Lemon Ice Creamor a No Churn Spumoni Ice Cream For something lighter, just serve them on their own with coffee or iced tea. They’re rich enough to stand alone but the cold ice cream makes them feel more like a real dessert.
Can I use frozen or canned cherries instead of fresh?
Frozen works fine. Thaw them first and drain off the extra liquid so the filling doesn’t get watery. Canned pie cherries are a different story though. They’re already sweetened and much softer, so you’d need to cut the sugar in the filling and expect a mushier texture.
The dough is really sticky and hard to crumble on top. What am I doing wrong?
Nothing. The dough is supposed to be soft. If it’s too sticky to work with, pop it in the fridge for 15 to 20 minutes. After that you can pinch off small pieces and scatter them over the filling without it turning into a mess.
How do I know when they’re actually done?
Look for two things: the cherry filling should be actively bubbling around the edges, and the crumbled dough on top should be golden brown. If the top is browning but the middle still looks wet, tent it loosely with foil and give it another 5 minutes.
Can I make these the day before I need them?
Yes, and they actually taste better the next day once the filling firms up overnight. Skip the glaze until you’re ready to serve them. Store the unglazed bars covered at room temperature, then drizzle the lemon glaze on right before you put them out.
