Peach Crumb Bars
Baked in an 8×8 pan, these Peach Crumb Bars are melt-in-your-mouth peach cheesecake bars with a rich cream cheese layer, buttery cookie crust, and a cinnamon crumb topping.
Halfway through August means we’re halfway through peach season in western PA.
As much as I love eating a basket of fresh peaches for breakfast with juice running down my arm, I do enjoy making peach desserts as well.
I had the idea for these peach bars but didn’t know where to start.
Cobbler bars? That would mean a biscuit like topping as seen with my peach cobbler for two.
Then it hit me – Peach Crumb Bars!
They’re melt-in-your-mouth peach bars with juicy peach pie filling, a rich cream cheese layer, buttery cookie crust, and a cinnamon crumb topping
Of course I had to take it one step further and make them similar to my raspberry cheesecake bars with a cream cheese layer.
One of my tricks to making my peach cream cheese bars a little easier to make is the cookie base and crumb topping are made from the same dough.
That means you make the dough only once then reserve some for the top. Now that’s what I call easy!
Ingredients For Peach Crumb Bars
To make these easy peach bars, you’ll need the following ingredients:
- Flour: Binds the dough together
- Sugar: Sweetens the bars as well as helps with making sure they are golden brown
- Cinnamon: Spices up the dough
- Baking powder: Used for leavening in the dough
- Salt: Flavors the dough
- Butter: Gives the dough a melt-in-your-mouth texture and flavor
- Eggs: Used to bind the dough as well as make a rich cheesecake layer
- Peach pie filling: Use homemade or canned. You do need to peel the peaches if making homemade, but I provide easy step by step photos on how to peel peaches.
- Cream cheese: Use blocks of full-fat cream cheese for best results. Using low fat or fat free will cause the cheesecake layer to be too watery
- Vanilla: Enhances the flavors of all the layers
Can you substitute peach jam for the filling?
If you don’t have fresh peaches on hand, you can use peach jam or even peach curd as a substitute for the peach pie filling.
It’ll be similar to making my raspberry jam bars.
Not in the mood for peach? Substitute strawberry pie filling, blueberry pie filling, cherry pie filling, or apple pie filling.
How To Make Peach Crumb Bars
Here’s how to make your peach cheesecake bars:
- Whisk together flour, sugar, flour, cinnamon, baking powder, and salt.
- Cut in butter and egg using a pastry blender until a dough forms then reserve some for the crumb topping.
- Pat dough into the bottom of your 8×8 pan.
- Beat together cream cheese and sugar until smooth.
- Add egg and vanilla.
- Transfer to the pan then top with peach pie filling and crumb topping.
- Bake at 375F for 35-40 minutes or until golden brown and edges pull away from the pan sides.
Refrigerate leftover cheesecake bars in an airtight container for up to 5 days.
Can you make peach cheesecake bars ahead of time?
Yes! Because your peach crumb bars have multiple layers, you can make them up to 2 days ahead of time.
You can also make the peach filling up to 2 days before then refrigerate until ready to use.
Bring to room temperature before using because cold filling will increase the baking time, resulting in overbaking your bars.
More Peach Dessert Recipes
If you enjoyed your peach bars, check out these other dessert recipes using peaches:
Peach Crumb Bars
Baked in an 8×8 pan, these Peach Crumb Bars are melt-in-your-mouth peach cheesecake bars with a rich cream cheese layer, buttery cookie crust, and a cinnamon crumb topping.
Ingredients
- 1 + 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/8 teaspoon table salt
- 1/2 cup (4 ounces or 8 tablespoons) cold unsalted butter, cut into 8 tablespoons
- 1 large egg, room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups peach pie filling (get the recipe here)
Cheesecake
- 8 ounces (1 block) full-fat cream cheese, room temperature and not cold to the touch (do not sub low fat or fat free)
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg, room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375F degrees. Line an 8x8 pan with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, cinnamon, baking powder, and salt.
- With a pastry cutter, cut in the butter until the pieces look like pebbles then cut in the egg and vanilla. Dough will be crumbly but should stick together when pressed.
- Reserve 1/2 cup for the topping and pat the rest into the bottom of the pan. Set aside.
- Make the cheesecake: In a large mixing bowl on medium-high speed (with paddle attachment if using a stand mixer), beat together the cream cheese and sugar until smooth, about 1 minute.
- Scrape down the bowl then beat in the egg and vanilla.
- Spread cheesecake layer over the base layer. Top with the pie filling then top with the reserved 1/2 cup of topping, scattering it over the top like a streusel.
- Bake 35-40 minutes or until the top is golden brown, the edges pull away from the pan sides, and the center slightly wiggles when given a gentle shake. Cool completely before cutting.
Refrigerate leftovers in an airtight container for up to 5 days.
Notes
Recommended Products
As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programs, I earn from qualifying purchases.
This post may contain affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programs, I earn from qualifying purchase.
I am staring at 12 peaches on my counter…and no longer what to do with them. :) These cheesecake bars look FABULOUS!
There’s always room for another peach bar. I find cheesecake and crumble irresistible. These are stunning Carla!
I love your “moosey” twists! I can’t believe it’s september either… crazy!
Love peaches, they look fantastic!
I wish these shipped well. Because…well, you know why.
Finger licking good for sure! Great choice with the crumb topping. I’ll pick it over any of the other toppings.
I am so, so, SO glad to have found your blog through Sunday Supper today. And I’m also SO glad that you’re still in the moment of summer and fresh peaches on your mind with these wonderful crumb bars. I live in the heart of South Carolina peach country, and peach season is certainly not over yet! Thank you for sharing your recipe!
Roz
I’m not the biggest sweets person, but man, these have me drooling!!! Your treats always look delicious, and these are no exception. Pinning now!!! Thanks :-)
I just bought 10 more pounds of peaches to freeze for the winter. I may have to set a few aside for these incredible bars!
I have a bunch of leftover peaches from some peach butter I have bubbling away…I’m going to run out and get the stuff I need to make these right now!
Hi Carla,
Yum, everything’s better with cheesecake. Thanks for this awesome recipe. I’m off to join you on twitter:) Di
Love your flavors. These look amazing!
I never made bars before, i will try your recipe soon, before all peaches are gone.
You are making me sad that I did not do enough baking with peaches this summer. These bars sound amazing!
I’m all for squeezing a few more summer recipes in! I’m not quite ready to let it go yet. I make something really similar to this and I love the combo of peaches and cream. Can’t wait to try this version! (Love that green background by the way)
I seriously CANNOT believe that it’s September already. What happened to the summer? Sigh. Oh well, I love fall and this also means that Christmas is just around the corner (wahoo!). Girl, these bars are incredible. Cheesecake, peaches and shortbread? Hell yeah!
These are gorgeous! I loooove cheesecake bars!
Awww this is so awesome! Peach and cheesecake – definitely make it the best peach recipe. Yum!
You’re killing me with all these peach recipes! We need to be next door neighbors so I can help you eat all these gorgeous peachy desserts. ;)
This stuff is dangerous around me. I would eat all of this in one sitting with maybe some ice cream. I don’t know… the ice cream might get in the way… these bars look soooo good! :)
Don’t ever stop with the peach recipes, Carla. Don’t ever stop
Messy equals good though doesn’t it? Summer isn’t technically over until September 22nd, so let’s keep on going with our summer fruit recipes!
These look SO yummy! I love peaches and cheesecake. These are the perfect crumb bars, if you ask me!
Love peach bars and this recipe. Thank you.
This was an amazing dessert. When I made them I used an 8×8 pan, they were less like bars and more like a cake with a hard crust. I had to add about 15 min to the time to get it to cook through and had to run to the store and grab some vanilla ice cream! I called it “Peach Cobbler Cheascake” just because of its hight. It was a big hit with my friends! Amazing flavor. I’ll make it again just the way I did. I think you’d have to use a much bigger pan to really get them to be a “bar”, but serving it hot with ice cream was on point! Simply amazing. Thanks for sharing!
Tomorrow I am going to make another cake using blueberry filling that I picked up from Walmart to take to work with me (gotta get rid of the ice cream somehow).
Interesting. I have measured my pan to be 8×8, but I’ve learned that not all pans are created equal as it turns out my 9-inch pie plate was really 10 inches! Regardless of pan size, I’m glad you still had great success with it! Blueberry bars like these sound pretty good too.
I’m doing weight watchers and I was wondering if I can sub stevia and fat free cream cheese and egg beaters! I so want to eat this!
I don’t work with those ingredients, so I’m not sure. I do know if you use fat free cream cheese in regular cheesecake, it won’t work because the cheesecake won’t set up, almost as if the cheesecake is underbaked no matter how long you bake it. I’m afraid that may happen here as well. You’ll have to do some more research on whether you can use stevia and egg beaters. I also have a recipe for cheesecake stuffed peaches that might be more forgiving with substitutes https://www.chocolatemoosey.com/2012/08/07/cheesecake-stuffed-peaches/
I was looking for a pie recipe : )
This recipe is great help.
Because my favorite store is closed.
The chef went to Frence.
So I decided to make it myself!!! ^^;;
I’ll tell you when it’s successful : )
Let me know how they turn out! Enjoy!
Made these yesterday to take to a dinner party. I doubled the recipe and baked it in a 13X9 inch glass baking dish. I also made my own peach filling using fresh white peaches. For the topping I added extra cinnamon, and some chopped pecans. For my money, the bottom crust was thicker than I might have liked, and the cheesecake/peach filling wasn’t thick enough. Next time I would definitely ramp up the filling!
Thank you for your feedback! An 8×8 pan doesn’t double nicely into a 13×9 pan, so that’s why your proportions were off.
Lol, yeah, I never was very good at math!
I tried this recipe using fresh peaches tossed with 1/4 cup sugar instead of peach pie filling. It was fantastic! We ate it warm with vanilla ice cream. My family absolutely loved it.
Oh good to know fresh peaches work just as well. Glad you enjoyed them!
I’m wondering can you use canned peach pie filling? Last time for fresh peaches.
Yes, canned will be fine!
Definitely a keeper, easy to make, so pretty and delicious! Your peach pie filling recipe was a snap. I added a cup of blueberries for color and flavor. Two things I’ll do the next time I make these: Add ginger in somehow, I love that flavor combination, and make them in my 7 x 10” pan since the crust was a little thicker than I prefer.
Love the addition of blueberries! I bet you can add ground ginger to the crust.
Tasty! I love the cream cheese with it.
I do wonder about the reserved 1/2 cup of topping though. Your picture looks like the 1/2 cup was used on just those three pieces! I’ve made a note to reserve at least 1 full cup, if not more.
I also found that I needed almost 20 extra minutes of bake time for the fruit/filling to set, but I’m also at 7500′ so my altitude adjustments may have been out of whack.
If you use 1 cup for the topping, then you won’t have enough for the crust. The 1/2 cup won’t fully cover everything but should cover most of it. My guess is maybe your pieces were too thick? And I’m in Pittsburgh with regular altitude so I can’t help you with the bake time.