Cranberry Bars

Cranberry Bars: Fresh Cranberries in between a shortbread cookie crust and a cinnamon crumble topping.

This time of year I am all about cranberries! I have been testing all kinds of cranberry recipes for you and this was hands down one of my favorites! I love the shortbread crust with the crumble topping. It’s a sweet dessert but not overpowering due to the nice tart zip of the cranberries. These fresh cranberry bars would be a perfect treat to have with a cup of tea or coffee and great to bring out as a dessert for any holiday gatherings you have coming up.

Craving more cranberry recipes? Check out our turkey cranberry sliders, fresh orange cranberry sauce, cranberry brie bites and our cranberry mimosa’s.

Cranberry Bars Ingredients

To make fresh cranberry bars crust, you will need

• 3 cups flour
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 cup cold butter
• 1 egg
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

To make the filling, you will need

• 1 16 ounce bag of fresh or frozen cranberries
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 Tablespoon cornstarch

After you have gathered all the ingredients, preheat your oven to 375 and lightly coat a 9×13 inch baking pan with cooking spray.

To make the crust

Start by whisking together the dry ingredients. Then cut the butter in with a pastry blender. Add the egg and work into the mixture until fully combined. Press about 3 cups into the bottom of the prepared pan firmly. Set the remaining part of the mixture aside to use as the base of the crumble topping.

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Preparing the filling

In a large bowl, combine the cranberries, sugar and cornstarch. Pour the mixture over the crust. It’s going to seem like you have alot of sugar, and you do…but go ahead and scrape every last bit of it onto the cranberries.

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Preparing the Crumble Topping

Take the remaining crust mixture and sprinkle it evenly on top of the cranberries. Sometimes I add just a pinch of extra cinnamon to the topping- it is up to you.

Baking the cranberry bars

Bake the bars in the preheated oven for about 50 minutes. The crust really needs that full time. However, if you feel the top is getting too browned you can cover it with aluminum foil.

Making a smaller batch

Don’t want a full 9×13 pan? You can cut the recipe in half and make an 8×8. It’s a very simplistic and forgiving recipe and won’t make a difference!

Serving Cranberry Bars

Once they are removed from the oven you will want to let them cool a bit. Another reason I love these fresh cranberry bars is that they are good warm, room temperature or chilled.

I love these warm with a scoop of icecream! Room temperature if I am having it with coffee or tea and when its on its own, I am not sure why I like it chilled! Just to warn you thought, the crust gets a little tough to cut through when its chilled!

Can I bake with fresh cranberries?

Many people think you have to soak or pre-cook the cranberries before you bake with them! Good news- you don’t! If you are making these bars, cranberry cookies or cranberry muffins you can just throw them right in the batter and they cook down really nicely.

Storing Cranberry Bars

You can leave these out at room temperature the first day, but after that I reccomend covering them and putting them in the fridge. If you want to soften or warm them before serving you can pull them out and let them warm up on their own, for heat them in 15 second intervals in the microwave.

Have you tried this recipe yet? Let me know what you thought in the comments!

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