Chocolate Chip Cherry Bars Easy Cherry Blondies
Chocolate Chip Cherry Bars are buttery blondies filled with cherries and chocolate.Mix melted butter, brown sugar, egg, vanilla, and flour, then fold in the fillings.Bake at 350°F until the edges are golden and the center is set.
Ingredients
- ½ cup unsalted butter melted
- 1 cup light brown sugar packed
- 1 large egg
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- ¼ teaspoon salt optional
- ¾ –1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 1 cup cherries pitted
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
- Line an 8×8-inch baking pan with parchment paper, leaving a little overhang for easy removal. Lightly coat with cooking spray if necessary.
- Place the butter in a medium microwave-safe mixing bowl and melt it. Allow it to cool slightly if very hot.
- Add the packed brown sugar to the melted butter and stir until thoroughly combined.
- Add the egg and vanilla extract. Stir until the mixture is smooth and evenly blended.
- Add the flour and optional salt. Stir gently just until no obvious streaks of dry flour remain. Avoid overmixing.
- Fold the chocolate chips and pitted cherries gently into the batter.
- Transfer the batter to the prepared pan. Spread it into an even layer with a spatula.
- Bake the Chocolate Chip Cherry Bars for 27–32 minutes, or until the edges are lightly golden and beginning to pull away from the pan and the center appears set.
- Place the pan on a wire rack and let the bars cool for at least 1 hour.
- Once completely cooled, lift the blondies from the pan using the parchment paper and slice them into squares.
Notes
Semi-sweet chocolate provides a balanced flavor that pairs particularly well with cherries, but milk chocolate or white chocolate chips can be substituted.
You can also use a combination of chocolate varieties. Keep the total amount of baking chips at 1 cup or less to maintain the proper batter-to-chocolate ratio.
For a richer chocolate cherry bars variation, replace a small portion of the chocolate chips with chopped dark chocolate.
These bars are delicious on their own, but they can also be served slightly warm with vanilla ice cream, whipped cream, or additional fresh cherries.