Cherry Oat Bars with homemade Instant Pot cherry pie filling are a delightful treat of buttery oatmeal crispy topping and tart cherry pie filling. These taste perfect with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top.
Each week in 2020 I’m sharing a recipe inspired by one of the 50 states. So far I’ve covered…
- Alabama
- Alaska
- Arkansas
- California
- Colorado
- Florida
- Georgia
- Hawaii
- Idaho
- Illinois
- Indiana
- Iowa
- Kentucky
- Louisiana
- Minnesota
- Missouri
- Nebraska
- New Mexico
- New York
- North Carolina
- North Dakota
- Ohio
- Oklahoma
- Pennsylvania
- South Carolina
- South Dakota
- Tennessee
- Texas
- Utah
- Vermont
- West Virginia
See all the state recipes in one place.
If you have an idea for a state I haven’t covered yet please email me [email protected] –remember it’s a recipe that has to be made (at least in part) in the Instant Pot.
Today’s recipe is inspired by The Great Lakes State, Michigan. Michigan is the only state in the United Sates that touches four of the five Great Lakes (Huron, Michigan, Erie, and Superior).
When I think of Michigan I think of The Great Lakes, Henry Ford and the automobile industry, Mackinac Island, University of Michigan and Michigan State, beautiful summers and long, cold winters.
Michigan foods include coney dogs, pasties, Mackinac Island fudge, apples, lake fish and tart cherries. According to Wikipedia, “cherry production in Michigan is a major part of the agriculture industry in the state. Harvesting over 90,000 tons of cherries each year, Michigan is the nation’s leading producer of tart cherries. The Montmorency cherry is the variety of tart, or sour, cherry most commonly grown in the state.”
The Montmorency Tart Cherry is the most popular type of sour cherry used for baking and cooking. When compared to the sweet cherries, the Montmorency, Michigan cherry is smaller in size, contains less sugar and bright red in color.
These aren’t the cherries that are dark red/purple. They are the kind of cherries that are “cherry” red. If you’re not lucky enough to have them fresh at your grocery store you can find them in the frozen fruit section or you can find them canned next to the cherry pie filling. Specifically look for the words “tart cherries” or “sour cherries.”
Instant Pot cherry pie filling
If you’re a fan of the crisp part of apple crisp you will love these cherry oat bars! I love the crispy sweet oatmeal topping paired with the tart cherry pie filling. And to put this dessert over the top add a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Amazing!
Where can I find the tart cherries? Tart cherries are not the same as the dark red/purple sweet cherries. Check the produce section of your grocery store in summer months. If you’re not lucky enough to have them fresh at your grocery store you can find them in the frozen fruit section or you can find them canned next to the cherry pie filling. Specifically look for the words “tart cherries” or “sour cherries.”
How can this come to pressure? There is enough liquid that comes off of the cherries to bring the pot to pressure. This is similar to my strawberry jam recipe.
Can I just make the cherry pie filling? Sure! If you want to make a heaping cherry pie or two I would double the cherry pie filling part of this recipe. The cherries shrink down and even though you start with 4 cups of cherries you will only end up with 1 ½ to 2 cups of cherry pie filling.
Cherry Oat Bars with homemade Instant Pot cherry pie filling
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: 12–15 servings 1x
Description
Cherry Oat Bars with homemade Instant Pot cherry pie filling are a delightful treat of buttery oatmeal crispy topping and tart cherry pie filling. These taste perfect with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top.
Ingredients
For the cherry pie filling:
- 4 cups fresh/frozen tart cherries stems and pits removed or 2 (14.5 oz) cans red tart cherries, drained (not cherry pie filling)
- 2/3 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
- 3 Tbsp cornstarch + 1/4 cup water
For the oat bars:
- 1 1/4 cups flour
- 1 1/2 cups quick oats
- 1/2 cup rolled oats
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 3/4 cup butter, room temperature
Instructions
Make the cherry pie filling
- Add the cherries, sugar and lemon juice into your Instant Pot and stir.
- Cover the pot and secure the lid. Make sure valve is set to sealing. Set the manual/pressure cook button to 1 minutes. When time is up let the pot sit for 10 minutes and then move valve to venting.
- In a small bowl stir together the cornstarch and water. Turn Instant Pot to saute. Add in the cornstarch slurry and stir until cherry pie filling is thickened. Turn off Instant Pot.
- Refrigerate the filling in an airtight container until it is chilled.
Make the oat bars
- Preheat oven to 350° F. Line a 9×9 inch pan with parchment paper or spray with non stick cooking spray.
- Add flour, oatmeals, brown sugar, baking powder, salt to a mixing bowl. Stir. Add in the butter and use a pastry blender* to work the mixture into crumbs/pea size pieces.
- Press ⅔ of the mixture firmly into the bottom of the pan. Then top with the cooled cherry pie filling. Add the remaining ⅓ of mixture on top of the cherry pie filling.
- Bake for 30-35 minutes or until it is a light golden brown.
- Serve hot with vanilla ice cream on top or cool completely and cut into bars and serve.
- Category: Dessert
*Karen Petersen is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.
Hi Karen – OMG! this is fantastic. Long story….. I am always trying to find lower calorie/lower sugar dessert recipes. The store-bought ‘diabetic-friendly’ items are filled with unpronounceable chemicals and are so expensive. One store bought item I DID buy occasionally was Less Sugar Pie filling used for a recipe very similar to your bars – mostly oat based and as desserts go, it wasnt a calorie disaster. I think they may have discontinued the low sugar variety of pie filling because I havent seen it for years on the market shelves. And then I see your recipe – DUH!! I’m wondering if you have ever tried using Truvia or another natural no-calorie-sweetener option?? My only concern would be wondering if it would ‘set’ properly if no REAL sugar was used. BUT maybe the cornstarch is what really makes the filling ‘gel’. And then why stop at Cherries?; maybe you could use frozen Strawberries or other unsweetened frozen fruits to make other less sugar pie fillings. what do you think? Love your website & use it constantly for my IP research/recipes.
I think that’s a great idea and as long as you can use cornstarch you should be fine!
I made this for dessert at a bbq cook off. Cooking it in the pit added a little smoke flavor that everybody loved. Obviously I had to add more time for the lower heat but it set great. Made it in a 10 qt Dutch oven. Will definitely make it again.
I want to come next time!! Sounds fabulous.
Yum, yum, yum, yum!!! I’ve been waiting for Michigan’s recipe, and I just knew it would be cherries!! <3
Can't wait to try this one!
★★★★★
Thanks Valerie! The cherry pie filling was so good I could eat it plain!
I grew up in Michigan and never heard of this recipe.
Since Michigan is the nation’s leading producer of tart cherries I wanted to make something with tart cherries. I suppose I could have made a cherry pie but wanted to try these bars instead.
Hi I love All your recipes. Have u thought making a section of low cal recipes? WW has several no calories foods we Can eat and it would be great to have a place where we could look for recipes.
That’s a good idea. I’d like to see the list of no calories foods!
I have taken what I learned from your wonderful recipes and used them on my Noom diet, where they offer, at a cost, low calorie (150-325) recipes for soups, goulash, stew, oatmeal, wine braised kale & lentils, etc. that they got from cookbooks & magazines (and gave credit to them). Otherwise, I would never be out of the kitchen! I really appreciate your nutrition details so that I can decide if your recipe fits into my plan. I have lost 28 lbs. deliciously since May and on several occasions, I promoted your website to Noom subscribers. Thank you for all your hard and appreciated work!
Congrats! That’s something to be so proud of.
Karen, you nailed this Michigan recipe! I can’t wait to try it. I’m seriously drooling just thinking about it! Love Michigan tart cherries.
Thanks for the idea Kathy!!! I loved the homemade cherry pie filling sooooo much.
Could I use 2 cups of rolled oats and omit the quick oats and will it alter the bake time? Thank you Karen!
I bet you could! I’d keep the time the same.