Gluten-Free Cherry Pie Crumble Bars

These delicious cherry pie crumble bars have a wholesome base made with almond flour and oat flour that doubles as a crumble topping. Sweetened with fresh or frozen cherries, these cherry crumble bars are a perfect treat for any time of the year.

❤️ Why you'll love this recipe

• Delicious bars with sweet cherry filling with a buttery crumble oat topping
• Quick to make, as the one-bowl crust mixture doubles as the topping.
• Use fresh or frozen cherries. No pitting is required if you use frozen cherries!
• Naturally gluten-free. No special flour is necessary.
• Easy. If you've made my Peach Crumble Bars or Apple Cheesecake Crumble Bars, Apple Pomegranate Crumble Bars or Cranberry Lemon Oatmeal Bars you'll know how easy this bar recipe is!

🛒 Ingredients and substitutions

You'll find a complete list of ingredients with quantities in the recipe card below. But before we get to the full recipe, here are a few notes about the ingredients.

For the base and crumble topping:

• almond flour: finely ground
• oat flour: Easily make your own by grinding rolled oats in a blender.
• rolled oats: You can use old-fashioned oats or quick oats.
• butter or coconut oil
• maple syrup
• almond or vanilla extract

Cherry pie filling:

• cherries: fresh or frozen. Frozen cherries come already pitted, making this a quick and easy bar recipe.
• sweetener: sugar, coconut sugar, honey or maple syrup
• thickener: cornstarch or tapioca flour
• lemon juice

For the optional almond glaze:

• confectioner's sugar
• milk or plant-based milk
• pure almond extract

🔪 Instructions

Here's an overview of what you'll do to make this recipe perfectly. You'll find complete instructions in the recipe card at the end of this post.

1. Preheat the oven: Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C). Grease and line a square baking pan with parchment paper, leaving some overhang for easy removal.
2. Make the Base: In a bowl, combine almond flour, oat flour, melted coconut oil, maple syrup or honey, vanilla extract, and salt. Mix until well combined. Press ⅔ of the mixture evenly into the bottom of the prepared baking pan, remembering to reserve ⅓ for the topping. Bake this crust for 10-12 minutes, or until the edges are lightly golden. Allow it to cool slightly.
3. Prepare the Cherry Filling: In a saucepan, combine cherries, granulated sugar, cornstarch, and lemon juice. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until the mixture thickens and the cherries release their juices. This will take about 5-7 minutes. Remove from the heat and let it cool for a few minutes.
4. Spread the Cherry Filling: Spread the cherry filling evenly over the baked base, leaving a margin of ½ inch around the edges so the filling doesn't leak and stick to the pan.
5. Add the Topping: Sprinkle the reserved almond flour and oat crumble mixture over the top of the cherry filling.
6. Bake: Bake in the preheated oven for 20-25 minutes or until the topping is golden brown.
7. Cool and Slice: Allow the bars to cool completely in the pan. Once cooled, use the parchment paper overhang to lift the bars out of the pan. Place on a cutting board and slice into squares or smaller bars.
8. Serve: Drizzle with the optional frosting or serve these cherry crumble bars as they are or with a scoop of vanilla ice cream for an extra treat.

🔁 Possible Variations

If you'd like you can add ¼ teaspoon pure almond extract or pure vanilla extract to the crust mixture.

👍🏼 Helpful Tips

• Lining your baking dish with parchment paper makes it easy to remove the bars once they have cooled.
• Remember to reserve one-third of the crust mixture to sprinkle on top of the cherry filling.
• When you're spreading the cherry filling, leave a margin of ½ inch around the edges.

🍽 How to serve cherry crumble bars

These bars are delicious when served as small bars. To make a fancier dessert, cut into 9 squares, then add a scoop of vanilla ice cream or a dollop of whipped cream or whipped coconut milk.

⏰ Storage Instructions

Once these cherry crumble bars have cooled, they can be wrapped tightly and stored in the fridge for 3-4 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months.

🗒 More cherry recipes

📖 Recipe

Gluten-Free Cherry Pie Crumble Bars

These delicious cherry crumble bars have a shortbread base and a crumble topping made with almond flour and oat flour to keep them gluten-free. Sweetened with fresh or frozen cherries, these cherry pie bars are a perfect treat for any time of the year.

Print Pin Rate

Course: Bars and Cookies

Cuisine: American

Diet: Gluten Free

Prep Time: 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 35 minutes minutes

Total Time: 55 minutes minutes

Servings: 16

Calories: 221kcal

Author: Elaine

Cook ModePrevent your screen from going dark

Equipment

8-inch square baking pan

mixing bowls

Ingredients

Crust and Crumble Topping

• ▢ 1 ½ cups almond flour, finely ground
• ▢ 1 ½ cups oat flour
• ▢ ¾ cup rolled oats, or quick oats
• ▢ ½ teaspoon sea salt
• ▢ ½ cup butter or coconut oil, melted and cooled
• ▢ ⅓ cup pure maple syrup
• ▢ ¼ teaspoon almond extract

Filling

• ▢ 3 tablespoons granulated sugar, or Monkfruit sweetener
• ▢ 1 tablespoon cornstarch, or tapioca flour
• ▢ 4 cups pitted cherries, fresh or frozen
• ▢ 1 tablespoon lemon juice

Almond Glaze (or Vanilla Glaze) - optional

• ▢ ½ cup powdered sugar
• ▢ ⅛ teaspoon almond extract or vanilla extract
• ▢ ½ tablespoon milk or plant-based milk added a dribble at a time

Instructions

• Line an 8-inch square pan with parchment paper, leaving an overhang on two sides for easy removal. Grease the other two sides of the pan with a small amount of butter or coconut oil.
• In a medium bowl, combine the ingredients for the crust, stirring until well mixed.
• Reserve 1 cup of the crust mixture and set it aside to use for the crumble topping.
• Press the remaining mixture firmly and evenly into the prepared baking pan, using your fingers or the base of a drinking glass.
• Bake for 10 - 12 minutes, and then remove from the oven to slightly cool.
• In a medium saucepan, combine the pitted cherries with sweetener, cornstarch, and lemon juice. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until the mixture thickens and the cherries release their juices. This will take about 5-7 minutes. If you haven't halved the cherries, you can mash them a little using a potato masher. Remove the saucepan from the heat and let the mixture cool for a few minutes.
• Spread the cherry filling over the baked crust in the baking pan leaving a margin of ½ inch so the filling doesn't stick to the pan.
• Sprinkle the remaining 1 cup of the crust mixture over top of the cherry filling.
• Bake for 30 - 35 minutes at 350°F. or until the filling bubbles around the edges of the pan and the top is golden brown.
• Remove from the oven. Cool completely, Once cooled, use the parchment paper overhang to lift the bars out of the pan. Refrigerate before drizzling with optional frosting and slicing into bars.
• Serve the cherry crumble bars as they are or with a scoop of vanilla ice cream for an extra treat.

Notes

Lining your baking pan with parchment paper makes the bars easy to remove. Leave a slight overhang on either side so you can gently lift out the whole batch, then transfer to a cutting board to slice after refrigerating.

Use the base of a drinking glass to press the base firmly into the pan before baking.

Remember to save one cup of the crust mixture to use for the crumble topping.

 

Nutrition

Calories: 221kcal | Carbohydrates: 25g | Protein: 5g | Fat: 12g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 2g | Trans Fat: 0.2g | Cholesterol: 15mg | Sodium: 121mg | Potassium: 150mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 11g | Vitamin A: 199IU | Vitamin C: 3mg | Calcium: 44mg | Iron: 1mg

Tried this Recipe? Pin it for Later!Mention @enessman or tag #flavourandsavour!