Canned cherries are so convenient to use and have enough sauce to make a fabulous dish. If you cannot get canned cherries then you could use frozen or fresh cherries instead.  When using fresh or frozen cherries, be mindful of the additional preparation required such as defrosting and draining.  A downside to not using canned cherries is the fact that you won’t have the sauce that comes with the canned cherries to add to these cherry pie bars. Without that sauce, this treat can come out somewhat dry. To prevent this from happening, you may need to add in some watered-down cherry jam or make a cherry pie sauce by combining lemon juice, cornstarch, and baking soda with the cherry juice you will have from defrosting frozen cherries. Without a sauce, you won’t have a moist gooey filling!