Luscious, buttery, sweet and tart, cranberry bars are made with a sweet crumble dough that doubles as a topping. A gorgeous and delicious holiday dessert. If you are in need of some cranberry recipes then I have just the one for you. Save your leftover Christmas cranberry sauce for this recipe and my other one linked below! You won’t be able to eat just one!
I love coming up with cranberry recipes. These cranberry bars are great to make during the holiday. So if you love cranberries or just have too much leftover, try this one out.
Quick and easy desserts are my favorite. Like these cranberry bars or my other or cranberry cream cheese bread pudding/french toast. Both of my cranberry recipes are simple and ridiculously good. Golden tops with soft crumble topping and sweet but tart cranberry filling. Yum! One thing I really loved about these cranberry bars is the easy dough. There’s need to make a separate dough for the crumb topping. How perfect is that?
EASY DOUGH FOR CRUMBLE BARS
This cranberry bar recipe actually uses the same dough for the top AND the bottom crust! Yup. The dough takes only 10 minutes to make (or less).
- In a medium bowl add all of the dough ingredients except for the eggs. Whisk the ingredients well.
- With a pastry cutter, your fingers, fork or food processor, cut the butter into the flour until pea-sized crumbs form.
- Add the eggs and combine it into the dough using your hands.
Quick tip:
If you are using your hands to cut the butter into the flour, cut the butter as if you are snapping your fingers. It works perfectly plus it’s fun.
Now let’s get to the cranberry sauce. Use your own homemade cranberry sauce to make this cranberry recipe or my homemade cranberry sauce recipe.
HOW TO MAKE CRANBERRY BARS
The cranberry sauce is pretty basic. Add sugar, water, vanilla extract and fresh cranberries into a medium saucepan. Let the cranberries boil for about 7 minutes until the sauce is dark and thick then cool completely.
Once the dough is ready, divide it then press half of the dough evenly into a lightly greased baking pan. Add the cooled cranberry sauce and spread it evenly all over the top of the dough. Lastly, crumble the rest of the dough over the top of the cranberries. Lightly press the crumble down with a spoon or spatula. Pop the pan into the oven and that’s pretty much it!
These cranberry bars need to cool for a couple of hours. If you want to cut perfect slices chill them for a couple hours. See notes in the recipe!
WANT USE BLUEBERRIES OR A DIFFERENT FRUIT?
- Mix blueberries or your choice of fruit with 1/3 cup of sugar to 1/2 cup of sugar (depending on the type of berry you use). Some berries tend to be more tart than others.
- two teaspoons of cornstarch
- 2.5 tablespoons of lemon juice.
Proceed with the cranberry recipe below.
Don’t forget to save/pin this cranberry recipe and let me know if you try it. I’d love to know!
If you love this recipe, try my cranberry cream cheese bread pudding/french toast. You can also use your leftover cranberry sauce for this recipe too. It’s Super good!
What’s your favorite cranberry recipe?
Share to save this recipe to your Facebook wall or you can save it to your dip board on Pinterest and let’s be friends I’m always pinning delicious recipes!
Tart and sweet cranberries are made into a sauce then sandwiched between sweet crumble dough and baked until pale golden.
- 1 cup plus 2 tbsp unsalted very cold butter cut into cubes
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 egg lightly beaten
- 3/4 cups cranberry sauce
- 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
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Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Lightly grease an 8x8 inch baking pan. In a medium bowl add all of the dough ingredients except for the eggs. Whisk the ingredients well. With a pastry cutter or fork cut the butter into the flour until pea-sized crumbs form. Add the eggs and combine it into the dough using your hands. Alternatively, you could use your food processor.
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Place all of the cranberry ingredients into a small saucepan over high heat and boil for 6-7 minutes or until the sauce is thick and dark stirring frequently. Place the sauce in a bowl then add the vanilla extract. Stir and set to the side to cool completely.
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Pour the cooled cranberry mixture or your leftover cranberry sauce evenly over the bottom crust and spread it evenly. Crumble remaining dough over the cranberry sauce.
Bake in preheated oven for 25-30 minutes, or until top is a golden pale color. Cool completely before cutting into squares.
- To remove bars easily from the pan, line the pan with two crisscrossed pieces of parchment. Have enough parchment paper so the it overhangs on all side.
- The bars cut better when they are chilled I usually let mine cool for about 30 minutes then refrigerate for 2-4 hours. If you are in a hurry to eat them then cool completely (30-60 minutes) before cutting.
- Cover tightly and store for up to 5 days.
- Bars can be frozen up to 3 months.
Make in advance: Prepare the bars up to 4 days in advance. Cover tightly and refrigerate until you need them.
- Read the blog post for instructions on how to make these using your favorite fresh raw berries.
I can see how I could get addicted to those cranberry jam bars, they look so soft and moist! I have blueberry jam at home and lingonberries jam so I think I would try it with both to see how it comes. Lingonberries after all resemble cranberries.
These look delightful, a good way to get my kids interested in cranberry. thanks for sharing!
This is one of best dessert I have seen lately, Cranberries and crumble go well. Perfect bars, I can eat few at a stretch. Great for holiday parties.
These are my most favorite bars ever to eat. So perfect for the holidays!
Wow! I love the holidays and these look amazing! Thanks!
These look amazing! I love a good crumble bar 🙂 And your photos here are gorgeous!!
I know this is supposed to be a dessert, but I can’t help thinking I wish I had this for breakfast right now! Looks amazing.
These look so pretty and delicious! Will definitely give these a try!
I love how you make your recipes look so easy! I like the idea of using fresh cranberries, but then again, the sauce is so super simple!
Yum! I love seeing all the cranberry recipes out there right now (and sharing a few of my own) – these bars look quite tasty and the perfect partner for a tall glass of cold milk.
I am all about that crumble! These look delish!
My goodness these look fantastic! I love crumble desserts like this one, that fall apart when you eat them.
Gosh, those colors are really gorgeous! Another excellent use of cranberry sauce too. I like the option of using other berries too. I bet the blueberry ones are equally beautiful!
These look so nice and crumbly. Perfect way to use up leftover cranberry sauce. I always make my own. Might just have to make a double batch so I can make these too.
These look so tasty and easy to make. I love the dessert recipes you have been posting with cranberries, yum yum!
These look heavenly girl!!! My goodness I want to go make a batch like right now. 🙂 I like the fact that it doesn’t seem too complicated!
Just in time for Christmas leftovers!
I love anything cranberry. These bars look absolutely delicious. Pinning for later.