High altitude makes cookies spread in the pan, cakes fall, and few baked goods turn out as they do at sea level. This twice-monthly column presents recipes and tips to make baking in the mountains successful. 

One of the best gifts of summer, that’s what just-picked cherries are. We got a bag of them from friends who have a tree in their yard. They were mouth-watering — sweet, juicy and gorgeous to behold. I tucked some between two layers of buttery cookie dough, scattered sliced almonds on top, popped them in the oven and made these bars. What a treat.

Fresh cherry bars

Make in an 8-inch square shiny metal baking pan. Recipe works at any elevation.

Active time: 30 minutes Total time: 90 minutes

Cherry filling

2 cups fresh cherries, pitted and halved, quartered if large

1 tablespoon cornstarch

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1-2 teaspoons granulated sugar, preferably superfine

Base and topping

8 tablespoons unsalted butter melted, cooled to room temperature

1/2 cup granulated sugar, preferable superfine, plus more to sprinkle on top

1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour, spoon and level

Scant 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract or paste

Sliced almonds, optional 

Get ready: Preheat oven to 375℉, with a rack in the center position. Line your pan with non-stick or regular aluminum foil, extending it several inches on opposing sides of the pan to use as handles when lifting the baked pastry out of the pan. Grease the regular foil and any exposed parts of the pan with a baking spray that contains flour.

Make the cherry filling: Taste a cherry or two and decide if they need sweetening. Add the cornstarch and lemon juice and as much sugar as needed to sweeten the cherries (1-2 teaspoons is usually sufficient) to a medium bowl and whisk/stir until the cornstarch and sugar (if using) dissolves and a pasty mixture forms. Add the halved cherries and stir/toss until they’re coated with the pasty mixture. Set the bowl aside. 

Make the base/topping: Place the melted butter and sugar in a mixing bowl and stir to combine. Add flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and vanilla and work with your clean hands or a fork until the mixture forms small clumps. Set aside a generous ½ cup of the mixture to use as a topping and press the rest of it into the bottom of the prepared pan, smoothing and leveling it. Bake it until it’s set and puffs up a little (it won’t change color), about 10 minutes, then remove it from the oven but leave the oven on.

Add the filling: Spread the cherry filling over the base, covering it completely. Sprinkle on the reserved base/topping, pinching it into small crumbles as you do so. Scatter sliced almonds over the top, (optional) and sprinkle on 1-2 teaspoons granulated sugar. 

Bake, cool, and cut: Bake the slab of bars until the cherries look cooked, their juices have thickened and the crumbles on top are crisp and lightly colored, 22-27 minutes. Cool completely on a rack. The slab cuts most easily when chilled. So, if you have time, refrigerate it, covered, in the pan, for 2 hours or more, then use the foil handles to remove the slab from the pan and cut it into bars with a thin bladed, sharp knife, cleaning it between cuts. 

Vera Dawson’s column “High Country Baking” publishes biweekly in the Summit Daily News. Dawson is a high-elevation baking instructor and author of three high-altitude cookbooks. Her recipes have been tested in her kitchen in Frisco, where she’s lived since 1991, and altered until they work at elevation. Contact her at veradawson1@gmail.com.