I’ve spoken of my Starbucks addiction before, most recently, I barred my Starbucks soul to you all in a confessional while I was describing my Starbucks Iced Lemon Pound Cake to you all. The addiction continues.
When I posted that recipe on my Facebook page, a friend of mine commented and said now she just needed a recipe for their Michigan Cherry Oat Bars. That sounded good to me, so I set myself on a mission to find a recipe.
My searching yielded no results, so I had to improvise. I took a recipe I found online for their blueberry oat bars, looked up the ingredients for Michigan Cherry Oat Bars on their website (cornflakes? who knew) and put them together.
The result? Amazing. I think I’ll put cornflakes in all my streusel desserts from now on.
If you are thinking of saving time, and making this with a can of cherry pie filling, stop right now and re-think. You need to make this with tart cherries, either fresh or from a can. I mean, I can’t stop you, but don’t make these with that bright red fake cherry pie filling and then come on here and leave me comments about how it doesn’t taste the same. 😉 I promise, making the filling yourself only takes 5 minutes of effort, and it’s so much better.
Oh my gosh, y’all. (whenever I make something really good, I want to say y’all. It must be a Paula Deen thing.)
The tartness of the cherries with the buttery sweetness of the streusel and the crunch of the cornflakes- you can’t beat it.
Enjoy!
If you are as addicted to Starbucks as me, you might enjoy:
Starbucks Iced Lemon Pound Cake
Starbucks Pumpkin Pound Cake
Starbucks Chocolate Cinnamon Bread
Petite Vanilla Bean Scones (like Starbucks)
Starbucks Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins
Starbucks Double Glazed Pumpkin Scones
A Rumbly in my Tumbly original recipe
Ingredients:
Cherry Pie Filling:
1 15oz can of tart pie cherries (in juice)
1/3 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons corn starch
Bars:
1 1/2 cups rolled oats (not quick oats)
1 1/2 cups flour
1 cup of cornflakes, measured and then crushed
1 cup brown sugar, packed
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup room temperature butter
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350° and grease and line a 9×9 inch square pan with parchment paper. (you can use an 8×8 pan too, but bars will be a little thicker)
Make your cherry pie filling by placing cherries (with the juice) sugar, and corn starch into a saucepan over medium heat. Stir frequently for about 10 minutes until it has thickened to a cherry pie filling consistency.
Place all bar ingredients into a bowl, and using your clean hands, work them together into a soft, crumbly mixture. Take 2/3 of the mixture and pat it firmly into the bottom of your pan.
Spread your cherries over top of that using a slotted spoon. Some of the “liquid” from the cherry pie filling is okay, but don’t use all of it. Just use what comes up with the cherries using the slotted spoon and discard the rest, or you will have a bubbly mess.
Crumble the remaining mixture evenly over the top of the cherries. Bake for 30 minutes or until lightly golden. Cool completely before cutting into them and serve at room temperature or cold.
Enjoy!
Rumbly in my Tumbly 
I don’t know much about Starbucks desserts but I am sure your version knocks the socks off the original – it looks so crunchy but still moist too!
Thanks so much!
I am here because I had my very first Michigan Cherry Bar at Starbucks yesterday! I exclaimed, “I have to find a recipe and bake these delicious treats!” Glad I found you here. Thanks for sharing! xo
Hope that you like these, Donna! Thanks for the comment and for visiting.
Like Donna, I searched for a recipe like this and found you. So glad I did! I can’t wait to make these this weekend!
Yay! Hope you like them!
I made them yesterday, and they turned out wonderfully delicious. Thanks for posting this recipe.
These look great! You mention something above about using fresh cherries – how would you sub those for the canned ones?
Hi Nicole, just put the pitted fresh cherries in a bowl with the sugar and 3 tablespoons of water and let them sit for about 15 minutes. Then just cook following the rest of the recipe! Thanks for visiting.
I just made these this morning…spot on! The only thing I did different was I used dehydrated Michigan tart cherries. I didn’t have to add sugar to the filling. Wow! And of course Kelloggs Corn Flakes from Battle Creek Mi. This Michigan gal and her family are very, very happy. Thanks so much for the recipe !
This recipe produces bars that are very high in fat. Fat comprises 25% of calories in the starbucks bars while it is 40% of calories for this recipe.
That’s likely because we are using real food. Real butter, etc. instead of the synthetic, low fat, high sugar foods that are made in commercial bakeries.
Ok if I could hug you I would! These bars are AWESOME!!! The only thing I did differently was I put the oats and Corn
flakes in a mini food processor to grind them up a bit They are better than Starbucks. You are a great baker!
SO glad you loved these! Thanks for the comment!
Same as many others. I love these bars at Starbucks and when they didn’t have one the other day, decided to take matters into my own hands. In the oven as I type. Mmmmm
Like others, I love these bars at Starbucks. When they were out the other day, I decided to take matters into my own hands. These are in my oven as I type. Mmmm.
Hope you loved them! Thanks for the comment!
I love Starbucks cherry oat bars and had to try these. They are wonderful! The only thing I will change next time is crush the cornflakes more. There will be a next time soon.
Second batch is in the oven! My family loved them! The first time I made them in an 8×8 pan and they were a little too thick. This time I used a 9×13 and they look and smell great! Like others, I was desperate for the recipe and am grateful I found your site. 😄. This recipe is excellent!!
I used fresh tart cherries and added a handful of fresh raspberries.
The person in front of me in the Starbucks line– got the last Michigan Cherry Oat Bar. And that lit a fire in me. I made your bars today– and they are absolutely delicious! I’m going to go as far as to say– Better!
I’ve almost cried over somebody taking the last pastry,so I understand! so glad you liked these, Stephanie!
Could you make these with wheat flour or another flour or half white and half wheat? Do you think I could add walnuts, chopped, to increase the protein? Thanks, they sound delicious!
Hi Heather, thanks for stopping by. I think a half and half mixture of white and wheat flour would be fine. Walnuts would be great in these.
Followed recipe and loved it. Hubby finished off most of it in ONE sitting …OMG good
These did not work for me. There was a lake of butter in the bottom of the pan and the cherry filling kind of sunk to the bottom. Wonder what went wrong. I used 2 sticks; so that’s a cup, right?
I thought I posted earlier, but at any rate this recipe didn’t work for me. There seemed to be way too much butter and there was a large pool of it in the bottom of the pan. The filling was great; made with Trader Joe’s Morello cherries.
I wonder what I did wrong. Two sticks = 1 cup, right?
Hi Luc- you are correct, two sticks of butter equals one cup and that should not have happened. Without having been there I can’t say what went wrong for you. Are you sure you measured your flour, oats, sugar, and cornflakes correctly? Did you work it into a crumble and then press half of it firmly into the bottom of your pan? I used room temperature butter, did you by chance melt yours? That could be the difference. Any of those factors could have come into play, but if you did all of those things exactly, I am baffled as to how the butter could coagulate at the bottom of the pan or how the cherry filling could sink. I’ve made this a few times now and haven’t run into that problem. Let me know if you did those things. So sorry this didn’t work out for you, I absolutely HATE it when a recipe doesn’t turn out!
Someone else also commented on the fat compared to Starbucks’ version: maybe both this and the pool of excess butter could be addressed by using only one stick of butter. I’m also wondering if an egg in the mix would help it bind together better (egg is an emulsifier).
Thanks, Shannon. I’ll give it another try. I think I may try the Cook’s Illustrated method of mixing the streusel.
Joanne Beatty
I have made these and they are wonderful. Love to grab at Starbucks too. Our stove is broke do you think I could make them in the microwave.
Hi Joanne, unfortunately I doubt these would work in the microwave. 😦
A number of things will bake OK in the microwave, however it might take a longer time at a lower power (really low, like 20%). Normal power would overcook this quickly.
These look yummy! Can I freeze these? Want them for Christmas and I like to do a lot of baking AHEAD of time because the time closest to the holiday has to be used for items that can’t freeze
This was a welcome find – I have been greatly missing S/B cherry oat bars; which shadow my now passed MiL’s delicious recipe for Cherry Blossom.
However, she used cherry pie filling and white flour. I have yet to get it right as I keep trying for GF to gift a few friends. Her recipe also includes Baking Soda which gives an almost ‘snap & pop’ sensation when eating. It’s an amazing addition to an already awesome dessert!
TY TY for your R&D!