Cherry Cheesecake Bars

These Cherry Cheesecake Bars are the perfect make-ahead dessert for any occasion! Creamy cheesecake sits atop a homemade graham cracker crust, and is finished off with a generous helping of cherries.

Cherry Cheesecake Bars

I happen to love homemade cheesecake. Sometimes I don’t want to go through the effort of making a big giant cheesecake and worrying about water baths, cracking, and all those considerations that come along with traditional cheesecake. These cherry cheesecake bars are super simple to make and are always a crowd pleaser! The first step in this recipe is to make the crust. You’ll need graham cracker crumbs, butter and sugar which get pressed into the bottom of a square pan, then baked until crisp. While the crust is baking, I prepare the filling.

The filling is a simple combination of cream cheese, vanilla extract, eggs, sugar and heavy cream. If you don’t have heavy cream on hand, sour cream will also work. The bars will need to chill for at least 2 hours, so plan accordingly! You can actually prepare the bars up to 3 days before you plan to serve them, then simply slice and top with cherries right before serving.

I actually think the trickiest part about this recipe is cutting the bars into neat squares! The bars are easiest to cut straight from the fridge. I coat a knife in cooking spray, make a cut, wipe down the knife, coat it in cooking spray, and make another cut. I repeat this process until all of the bars are sliced. This recipe makes 9 larger square or 12 smaller squares. The finishing touch is a spoonful of cherry pie filling. What I love about this recipe is that you really can change it up by using a different flavor of pie filling, like apple or blueberry, or even using sliced fresh fruit instead of pie filling. These cherry cheesecake bars are perfect for bake sales, parties, or for days when you just have a hankering for some cheesecake! All nutritional information is based on third party calculations and is only an estimate. Each recipe and nutritional value will vary depending on the brands you use, measuring methods and portion sizes per household.