This cherry cheesecake bar recipe has a double layer crust with a silky cheesecake filling. The cherry cheesecake bars are baked in a 9 x 13 inch pan, making them perfect to cut and serve for a crowd.
If you are looking for some additional One Sweet Mama baking recipes, check out these caramel stuffed cookies or the Godiva copycat chocolate chip cookies.
Ingredients
Although no bake cherry cheesecake bars are very popular, I promise once you try these you'll be hooked. They are well worth the time and ingredients needed. I made these over the course of an afternoon and refrigerated them the night before we needed them.
- all purpose flour
- old fashioned oats
- light brown sugar
- salt
- baking soda
- cinnamon
- cream cheese
- granulate sugar
- heavy cream
- eggs
- corn starch
- lemon (for juice)
- almond extract
- cherry pie filling
- coarse sea salt
See recipe card for quantities.
Tips for making cheesecake bars
- You don’t have to use a cherry pie filling for the topping! Any 14 ounce can of pie filling like strawberry, blueberry, blackberry, etc. will do. Alternatively, you can serve them plain!
- The parchment paper step will make these much easier to remove from the pan. You can use a nonstick spray but because the crust is so thick on these, it will still be a little difficult to remove from the pan without the parchment paper.
- Make sure your cream cheese is properly softened to room temperature. The batter will be lumpy if the cream cheese is still cold.
- This recipe does involve cooling time, so it's best to make these the day before you need them.
Storage
Cover and refrigerate bars for up to 1 week.
Cherry Cheesecake Bars
Equipment
- mixer
Ingredients
Brown Sugar Cinnamon Crust
- 3.5 cups all purpose flour
- 1 ⅔ cup old fashion oats
- 1 ⅔ cup firmly packed light brown sugar
- 1 ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 2 cups unsalted butter, cubed
- 2 tablespoon lemon juice (juice from 1 lemon fresh squeezed)
- 1 teaspoon coarse sea salt, for topping after baking
Cheesecake Filling
- 2 8 ounce packs cream cheese, softened
- 1 tablespoon corn starch
- ⅔ cup white sugar
- 2 eggs, large
- 2 tablespoons heavy cream
- 1 tablespoon vanilla
- ½ teaspoon almond extract
- 1 14.5 ounce can cherry pie filling
Instructions
Make the crust
- Preheat oven to 350F. Line a 13 x 9 baking pan with parchment paper, letting excess extend over the sides of the pan.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat 3.5 cups of flour, oats, brown sugar, salt, baking soda, and cinnamon on low speed until combined.
- Add cubed butter, beat until mixture is crumbly and no large pieces of butter remain, about 2 minutes. Add in lemon juice and mix just to combine.
- Press 3 cups of mix into the parchment lined baking sheet and take the remaining 3 cups of mix and place it covered in the refrigerator.
- Bake crust until lightly browned, about 20 minutes. Let it cool completely in the pan on a wire rack. No heat should be left in the crust when you put the cheesecake filling on top (so about 2 hours to cool!)
Make cheesecake filling
- Preheat oven to 350F.
- In a clean stand mixer bowl, using clean paddle attachment, beat 1 pack of softened cream cheese until smooth, about 1 minute.
- Add in corn starch and beat for 1 minute.
- Add in white sugar, beat until smooth, about 1 minute.
- Add in cream, almond extract, vanilla, and eggs, beating until combined and smooth.
- Pour cheesecake filling over cooled crust. Dollop cherry pie filling by tablespoons onto cheesecake mix. Swirl with a knife. Set aside while you prepare the crumble topping.
Crumb Topping
- Take reserved topping out of the fridge. Pour it on a large cutting board or workspace. Using a pastry cutter, cut this until it is a fine crumb.
- Top cheesecake with crumb topping.
- Bake for 35-40 minutes in a 350F oven.
- Top with coarse sea salt immediately after taking it out of the oven.
- Cool completely on a wire rack. Loosely cover and refrigerate until firm, 1-2 hours, but overnight is better.
Cut and Storage
- Cut into bars. Cover and refrigerate for up to 1 week.
Did you make this recipe? Let me know!