Cherry Squares (or Circles) Recipe

I think this recipe has been in about every church cookbook that ever was printed. Growing up, we called it “Cherry Squares” though I think it's more often called “Cherry Pie Bars”. In my opinion, these things taste a whole lot better than cherry pie, and one recipe serves more people than any pie I ever saw.

Ingredients:

2 sticks softened butter

4 eggs

1 t. almond extract

2 C white sugar

1 t. vanilla extract

3 C flour

1 can cherry pie filling*

sliced almonds

Glaze:

powdered sugar (around 2 cups)

1/8 t. almond extract (or to taste)

dash of salt

just enough water or milk to dissolve the powdered sugar

Instructions:

In a stand mixer or with a hand mixer, cream the butter and sugar.

• With the mixer set on medium, add the eggs 1x1.

  
  

• Add in the flavorings and mix to incorporate.

  
  

• With either a wooden spoon, or with the stand mixer set to low, add the flour and mix until the flour is incorporated. Don't try to stir in the flour with a hand mixer, the batter becomes too stiff with the flour added and can burn out the motor.

• Reserve ¼ of the dough for the top, and spread the rest onto a greased jelly roll pan.

  
  

• Drop the pie filling by spoonfuls evenly over the dough. Drop spoonfuls of the remaining dough on top of the pie filling.

  
  

• Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes.

While the bars are baking, mix up the glaze. I like to use a liquid measuring cup and a fork to do this. Add a drop or two of almond extract and a dash of salt to the powdered sugar. It takes less water than you'd expect to make the glaze, but the correct amount can vary a little due to humidity. Only add a teaspoon or two at a time until you get the powdered sugar dissolved, but still have a thick glaze.

After the bars have cooled, drizzle the glaze on top, and sprinkle with sliced almonds before the glaze dries.

Cut into bars. I usually get about 24 bars out of this recipe, but you can cut them smaller or larger to suit your needs.

Notes:

Originally, the recipe called for margarine, but since margarine isn't food, I use butter, and it turns out with a bit more of a soft cookie-like crust instead of the softer, pastry-like crust that I remember. I consider that an improvement, as it holds together a little better when you're eating it without a fork handy.

Stop multi-tasking and watch closely during the last 5 or so minutes of baking.  You want the dough set, but you don't want it to get hard and burnt on the bottom.

This recipe may or may not be suitable for Passover, depending on how you interpret “leaven”.  Please don't bring that debate here.

If your kitchen isn't too hot, you could try substituting the butter with solid coconut oil. If you use the kind that still tastes like coconut, you'll probably want to reduce the vanilla and almond by about half.

I don't know any reason why you couldn't use blackberry, blueberry, or any other kind of berry pie filling instead of cherry. In fact, I have made this recipe with a mixed berry filling and didn't have any leftovers (I didn't even get to try it). For a different twist, you might want to use lemon extract instead of almond extract with different pie fillings such as blueberry or strawberry.

I’ve also made this recipe as individual-servings using mini foil pie pans. The cooking time will be reduced, but I cannot remember by how much.

Cherry Squares recipe.pdf

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