My Favorite Lemon-Cherry Bars

I have cherry fever! It started when we took a trip to Traverse City, Michigan last month, and cherries were everywhere. It’s known as “The Cherry Capital of the World” because the climate and soil are ideal for growing the fruit. The orchards in and around Traverse City produce millions of pounds of cherries each year and supply 75% of the world with cherries!

Lucky for me, cherries have been on sale at my grocery store, so for the last several weeks I have been buying bag after bag of dark, red cherries and lighter, partially yellow rainier cherries. Because they are so sweet and delicious as is, I have just been eating them right from the bag (after washing them, of course).

After I had my fill of raw cherries, I was ready to use them in a dessert; the only problem I had was deciding on what to make. There are so many delicious options from cherry pie to cherry soup to cherry tart to cherry jam, so you can understand my conundrum. The answer came to me while I was teaching our Teen Baking and Pastry Camp a couple weeks ago.

The teens make lemon-blueberry oat crumble bars in class, which is one of my favorite desserts of all time. It’s the perfect balance of sweet, tangy and tart with a crispy, crunchy streusel topping. The great thing about the recipe is that the blueberries can be swapped out for any other fruit. Because I now had a craving for this dessert (the teens of course devoured every last morsel… as they should!) and had many cherries on hand, I had my answer.

The first step in making the bars is to prepare the crust and streusel topping, which are one in the same. Brown sugar and butter are creamed together until light and fluffy, and then a mixture of flour, old fashioned oats, baking powder and salt are added. The ingredients get mixed until they are just combined, but you’ll notice they remain a bit crumbly, which is ideal. It’s ideal because we save 1/3 of this mixture as the streusel topping, and the slightly irregular and crumbly topping produces not only a crispy texture but also gives us the desired look. The other 2/3 gets pressed into the pan to form the crust.

The next step is to prepare the filling which consists of sweetened condensed milk, lots of lemon juice to balance the sweetness, lemon zest and egg yolks. Sweetened condensed milk (also knows as just condensed milk) is milk that has the water removed and then sweetened with sugar. It’s used in many different desserts, confections and beverages such as Thai iced tea. It’s easy to confuse condensed milk with evaporated milk (milk that has the water removed but is not sweetened) in the store because the cans look almost identical and are right next to each other in the store, so make sure you read the label carefully.

Next come the cherries. I don’t mean to be dramatic, but you must prepare yourself and your work area for the imminent splatter of cherry juice. Grab your apron and clear the area! I used a cherry pitter to remove the pits, which is an amazing tool because it’s efficient at removing them, but it definitely creates some splattering. If you don’t have a cherry pitter, use a paring knife to cut each cherry in half from pole to pole (not through the equator) and remove the pit manually.

To assemble the bars, press the crust portion of the streusel mixture into the bottom of the pan, pour in the filling, sprinkle the halved cherries on top of the lemony filling, and then top with the reserved streusel topping. Bake until the topping is golden brown (this will make it crispy) and the filling is set. Allow to cool and then cut into bars.

Lemon-Cherry Oat Crumble Bars

Scroll down for a printable version of this recipe

Yield: 1/4 sheet tray; 12 bars

Active time: 30 minutes

Start to finish: 1 hour, 10 minutes

1 cup old-fashioned oats

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature

1 cup dark brown sugar

One 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk

2 egg yolks

1 teaspoon lemon zest

1/2 cup lemon juice

2 cups pitted and halved sweet cherries

1. Preheat the oven to 350°.
2. Brush or spray a quarter sheet tray or 9-inch by 13-inch pan, and line the bottom with parchment paper. Brush or spray the parchment paper and set aside.
3. Mix together the oats, baking powder, salt and flour and set aside.
4. Place the butter and brown sugar in a large bowl and cream with a handheld mixer until light and fluffy, 3 to 5 minutes.
5. Add the oat-flour mixture and mix with the handheld mixer until the ingredients are combined but the mixture is a bit crumbly.
6. Press two thirds of this mixture firmly onto the prepared sheet tray, completely covering the bottom. Reserve the remaining third for the top. Set aside.
7. To make the filling, whisk together the condensed milk, egg yolks, lemon zest and lemon juice.
8. Pour this mixture over the crust and top with the cherries.
9. Crumble the remaining oat-brown sugar mixture on top.
10. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, or until the filling is set and the top is golden brown. Allow to cool.
11. Cut into squares and enjoy.

This dessert is not only pretty simple to prepare, but has that perfect balance of sweet and tart. You can leave the fruit out of the equation and make them just lemon-oat bars, or add in a sprinkling of any berries you like or a dice of other stone fruit such as ripe peaches or nectarines. It’s very customizable. I do like to enjoy one of these bars after dinner, but it goes pretty darn well with a cup of coffee in the morning as well!

A version of this dessert and countless others are included in our 5-day Teen Baking and Pastry Camp curriculum this summer. If you have a teen at home that’s looking for one more fun activity this summer before they go back to school, enroll them in our very last session of Teen Baking and Pastry Camp the week of August 12 from 9am-12pm or 1:30-4:30pm sessions.