Cherry Shortbread Bars
Hello, friends. To my “Can’t Stay Out of the Kitchen” family, I present to you my final blog post: Cherry Shortbread Bars. These lovely bars include a shortbread-type crust, cherry preserve filling and sort of a coconut-macaroon topping. The irresistible combination is the only new recipe I made for our annual Christmas Cookie Extravaganza this year.
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When I started food blogging 13 1/2 years ago, I had no idea what it would be like–or how difficult and time-consuming it would be. I thought I could make a recipe, snap a quick picture of the results and that would be it! Ha, ha. One simple recipe can take hours to shop for, prepare, take pictures, edit pictures, and then get ready to post up. 🙁
My first blog post was Coconut Chocolate Chip Cookies, a Taste of Home recipe. I used to bake cookies almost weekly when I started my food blog so my husband could give them away to donors and recipients he worked with. My second post was my Mom’s Coconut Oatmeal Cookies a family favorite that we’ve enjoyed for decades. All through the years I’ve posted up hundreds of delicious recipes (about 1,700-1,800) that our family, friends, relatives, co-workers and neighbors have enjoyed.
My original intention was to try to post up a lot of our family recipes for posterity (for my children and grandchildren). Through the years, I started adding new recipes from other blogs and creating “from scratch” recipes on my own. I tried to take step-by-step pictures for those who had no idea how to cook (and weren’t fortunate enough to have someone teach them).
It was a labor of love, but that time has now come to an end. I will keep the blog open for a few months for anyone to download recipes. Because after the New Year, I’m going to close it down for good. All my social media accounts will also be closed down. It’s time for retirement and for me to move on to new things.
For those of you who have followed this blog from the very beginning, thank you! To others who have followed off and on or only recently, thank you also. For those who have actually tried making some of the recipes, I’m grateful that you gave them a try. To those of you who have made my recipes and contacted me about how much you enjoyed them, you’ve made my day many times over. And most of all, a special shout out to my younger son who spent a lot of time, money and energy keeping this blog up and going all these years. So grateful for all of you.
Cherry Shortbread Bars are terrific for Christmas holiday giving. I hope you will enjoy eating them as much as I enjoyed making them for our Christmas Cookie Extravaganza recipients this year. Good bye and happy cooking!
Cherry Shortbread Bars are wonderful treats for the Christmas holidays.
These bars have a shortbread crust, cherry preserves for filling and a coconut topping.
These festive and beautiful cookies are fabulous for a Christmas Cookie Exchange.
If you enjoy cherries, you’ll love these sweet treats.
Here’s what I did.
I used these ingredients for the shortbread crust and filling layers. (Most of the pictures below show a double batch of this recipe).
Place unbleached flour and baking powder in a mixing bowl.
Stir very well to combine.
Cut in cold butter with a pastry blender.
Keep cutting in butter until mixture forms coarse crumbs.
Place eggs in a small mixing bowl.
Whisk eggs until well beaten.
Add beaten eggs to flour mixture.
Add half-and-half.
Stir shortbread ingredients to combine.
Pat mixture into a well-greased 9×13″ glass baking dish. (I doubled the recipe and put it into an 18×26″ cookie sheet pan).
Spread cherry preserves evenly over top.
I used these ingredients for the coconut topping.
Beat egg, add granulated sugar and vanilla.
Add melted butter.
Add coconut.
Stir really well to combine.
Crumble the coconut topping over top of the cherry layer. (I just used my fingers to do this).
Bake at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes, or until set.
Cool completely; refrigerate about an hour before cutting into bars (for easier cutting).
These drool-worthy cookies are irresistible.
Cherry Shortbread Bars are great treats for tailgating parties and potlucks, too.
The coconut topping makes these cookies extra special!
Here’s the recipe.
CHERRY SHORTBREAD BARS
(My own concoction)
Cherry Shortbread Bars
Equipment
- one 9×13" glass baking dish
- 1 large mixing bowl
- 1 medium mixing bowl
- 1 pastry blender
- 2 wooden spoons
- 1 table knife or spreader (for the preserves)
- measuring cups
- measuring spoons
Ingredients
SHORTBREAD AND FILLING:
- 1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (bleached flour toughens baked goods)
- 1 to 3 tbsp. half-and-half (see note below)
- 1 tsp. baking powder
- 1 large egg slightly beaten
- 1/2 cup salted butter cold
- 12 oz. jar cherry preserves
TOPPING:
- 1 large egg beaten
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
- 2 tbsp. salted butter melted
- 2 cups sweetened coconut
Instructions
SHORTBREAD AND FILLING:
- Heat oven to 350°.
- Spray a 9×13” baking pan or dish with cooking spray.
- To make crust: mix flour, baking powder in a medium mixing bowl.
- Cut in butter with a pastry cutter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
- Add egg and half-and-half and stir to combine.
- Press mixture firmly into bottom of prepared pan with fork or hands.
- Spread cherry preserves on top of crust layer to within ¼ to ½ inch of border.
TOPPING:
- To make topping: Beat egg with fork or whisk.
- Stir in sugar, vanilla, butter and coconut.
- This is kind of like a macaroon layer.
- Dollop topping over top of preserves covering surface entirely.
- Bake at 350° for 45 minutes or until lightly browned and preserves are set.
- Cool completely before cutting into bars.
Notes
© Can’t Stay Out of the Kitchen
Nutrition
I made four large, 18×26″ pans of these cookies for our Christmas Cookie Extravaganza this year. I cut them 8×8 or 64 cookies per sheet pan.
Take a batch of Cherry Shortbread Bars to your next Christmas Cookie Exchange!
These sweet treats are rich, decadent and heavenly!
We’ve always enjoyed cherry desserts, and this one is marvelous!
You may also enjoy these delicious recipes!
4 Comments
curve rush 2
December 4, 2025 at 1:26 am
What motivated your decision to retire and close down the blog and social media accounts after all these years?
Teresa Ambra
December 9, 2025 at 1:44 pm
Pinterest, Google, and other social media sites do a LOT of censorship with algorithms. Also the hacking is unbelievable. Having to deal with hacks every single month that take down my blog or redirect people to other crazy sites is a real pain in the neck.
Meredith Allen
November 28, 2025 at 10:02 am
I have loved reading your blog over the years!! You will most certainly be missed but I wish you all the joys that retirement has in store for you!
Teresa Ambra
November 28, 2025 at 12:53 pm
Thanks, Meredith. It was a hard decision, but needed to be made.