Best Cherry Bars with Brown Butter (2024)

You’re going to love these sweet and tart cherry bars with a crispy butter crust! Made with fresh cherries drizzled in a savory custard, these delicious bars are as glorious as the summer sun. Enjoy them while the fresh cherries are in season!

I love it when summer arrives; besides the warmer weather, it’s the cherry season! For the past several years, my family has been going cherry-picking with our friends and their children (five families!). With the fresh cherries we picked, I’ve made Cherry Clafoutis and Cherry Ice Cream in the past, and this year, I made these delicious Cherry Bars.

Best Cherry Bars Recipe with a Secret Ingredient

What makes these cherry bars extra delicious? Brown butter.

Brown butter is butter taken to the next level, and the magic is real. It adds a deep, caramelized, and nutty richness to sweet and savory recipes that you’ll instantly notice.

Ever since I made the Nutella Stuffed Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies with Sea Salt, my family has been hooked on brown butter. Cooking brown butter makes my house smell like a cookie factory, and the kids just want to hang around the kitchen waiting to see what delicious dessert I am making.

The result of the cherry bars was absolutely stunning, and my family is already asking me to make these bars again! They were also a big hit with my neighbor and my husband’s coworkers. And yes, you can enjoy these bars with a big scoop of vanilla ice cream, too.

How to Make The Best Cherry Bars

Here’s a quick overview, but you can see the Recipe Card below for the full recipe.

1. Preheat the oven to 375ºF (190ºC).Line a baking dish with parchment paper.
2. Make the crust by mixing melted butter, vanilla, and sugar in an electric stand mixer. Blend in flour and salt, and stir until incorporated.
3. Press the dough into the baking dish and bake until golden. When the crust is done, transfer it to a wire rack and cool in the pan.
4. Make the brown butter. Set aside to cool slightly.
5. Make the filling by whisking eggs, sugar, and salt in an electric mixer. Add vanilla extract and blend in flour and whisk until smooth.
6. Gradually blend in the brown butter and whisk until completely blended.
7. Arrange pitted cherries over the cooled crust. Carefully pour the filling evenly over the cherries.
8. Bake in the oven for about 30 minutes, until the filling is puffed and golden. Cool the bars completely and they’re ready to enjoy!

Brown Butter for The Best Dessert

Brown butter, or beurre noisette (hazelnut butter in French), is an insanely delicious ingredient that started out in savory French dishes but is now used in anything that calls for butter. It’s got this deep golden color, flecked with brown bits, and has an amazing nutty aroma.

To make brown butter, you just slowly melt the butter, letting the fat and milk solids separate. The milk solids sink to the bottom, toast, caramelize, and brown, giving off that incredible nutty smell. It’s easy and takes just 10 minutes. The result? A dream dessert that cannot be beat!

How to Store Cherry Bars

Store the bars in an airtight container at room temperature for up to one day. You can keep any remaining bars in the refrigerator for up to three days or freeze them for up to a month.

More Summer Desserts You’ll Love

• Chocolate Covered Strawberries
• Summer Fruit Sandwich

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Editor’s Note: This post was originally published on June 9, 2013. It was updated with more helpful content on May 30, 2024.