Cherry Oatmeal Bars

A super quick and easy oatmeal crumble bar with fresh cherry filling.

Today’s recipe is a very simple and easy cherry dessert. This makes a perfect breakfast or a dessert recipe. When oats are involved, it makes a full breakfast. Right?

You can easily grab one with a hot steaming cup of coffee. Remember the crumble has oats which should make you feel less guilty.

This is my first time making desserts with fresh cherries. It was always easier to just pop one in my mouth. But now it was time I tried some yummy cherry desserts. And I am glad that this tasty cherry oatmeal bar was totally worth pitting the cherries!

How to make the cherry filling for these delicious oatmeal bars?

To make the cherry filling, first things first. Pit the cherries. This is the hardest part of this recipe but trust me, you will not regret it. Now roughly chop them and mix them with sugar and a tablespoon of cornflour. Let the filling rest until the crumble is ready.

The first time I made this delicious cherry recipe, I was apprehensive of how the crumble would taste with bits of cherry pieces in them. So I blend the cherries before making the filling. But this was a huge mistake. The cherries made the filling very watery which in turn soaked the oatmeal bars at the bottom. So with my lesson learnt, the next time I left the cherries roughly chopped and it turned out I was worried for no reason. The fresh cherry pieces added a beautiful sweetness and texture to the crumble bars.

In a nutshell

Tips to make the cherry oatmeal bars recipe perfect:

• When lining the tin with parchments paper, make sure to leave the paper hanging on the sides. This makes it easy to remove the crumble bars from the baking tin.
• When spreading the cherry filling to the base, leaving behind the liquid in the bowl if any.
• The crumble doubles as top and bottom layer. While the bottom layer is being baked, keep the remaining crumble chilled. This helps the butter to not melt and makes the top layer crispy.
• To cut the crumble into bars, wait for the crumble to cool completely in the baking tin itself. At this point, patience is what makes beautiful oatmeal squares.
• These delicious crumble bars can be stored on the counter for a day. Later wrap them in plastic wrap and chill them for up to a week.

Cherries not in season? You can also try different fillings like my quick strawberry jam. And if you feel more adventurous try my mango jam recipe as a filling and let me know how it goes.

A truly delicious dessert which also happens to be eggless. I hope you give them a try!

Print Recipe

Cherry Oatmeal Bars

(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)

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Serves: 10” X 5” Loaf pan/ 8” square pan

Prep Time: 25 minutes – Cooking Time: 55 minutes

A super quick and easy oatmeal crumble bar with fresh cherry filling.

Ingredients

• For the crumble:
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1 cup oats
• ¾ cup brown sugar
• 150 grams butter, chilled and cubed
• ¼ teaspoon cinnamon powder
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• For the filling
• 370 grams cherries, pitted and chopped
• 55 grams granulated sugar
• 1 tablespoon cornflour

Instructions

For the filling

1

Roughly chop the cherries. Mix them with sugar and cornflour. Keep aside until the base is crisp and ready.

For the crumble

2

Preheat the oven at 170°C (350°F). Layer the bottom of the baking pan with parchment paper making sure the paper extends all the way to the sides.

3

Add all the ingredients in the crumble into a food processor.

4

Blitz until the mixture is coarsely crumbled.

5

Add 1/3 of the oatmeal mixture to the baking pan and press it to the bottom of the pan using the back of a cup.

6

Keep the remaining crumble chilled until needed for the topping.

7

Bake the crumble base for 15 minutes. Remove from oven and let it cool.

8

When the base is cooled spread the filling on top.

9

Now spread the remaining crumble on the cherry filling making sure to cover the cherries completely with the crumble.

10

Bake for 40 minutes or until the top layer turns golden brown.

11

Let the crumble cool down in the tin before cutting them into bars.

Notes

These crumble bars can be covered with plastic wrap and chilled for upto a week.