Get the Recipe: Cranberry Crumb Bars
A cranberry lover's dream, these cranberry squares are delightfully tart/sweet. They freeze beautifully, so you can bake them ahead, too!
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, spooned and levelled
- 1 cup white granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup ground almonds, *see Note 1 below
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup butter, cold and cut into pieces
- 1 large egg
Added to remaining crumb mixture:
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Cranberry filling:
- 4 cups fresh or frozen cranberries
- 1 cup white granulated sugar, *see Note 2 below
- Juice of 1/2 orange, about 4 teaspoons
- 1 Tablespoon cornstarch
- 1 teasoon vanilla extract
Equipment
- 9x13-inch baking pan
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375F (non-convection/not fan-assisted). Reduce the oven temperature to 350F if using a glass pan. Grease a 9x13-inch baking pan well with butter or cooking spray or preferably, line the pan with parchment paper for easy removal after baking. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, ground almonds, baking powder and salt. Add the cold butter pieces to the bowl and use a pastry cutter or two knives to cut the butter into the flour mixture until you have an evenly coarse crumb mixture with butter pieces no larger than pea-sized. Add the egg to the bowl and stir in well.
- Lightly press 2 1/2 cups of the crumb mixture into the bottom of the prepared baking pan. Add the cinnamon to the remaining crumb mixture in the bowl and stir well. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl, stir together all the cranberry filling ingredients. Spoon evenly over the pressed crust in the baking pan. Pour the remaining crumb mixture over the cranberries and spread out into an even layer.
- Place into the preheated oven and bake for 30-35 minutes or until the top is light golden brown. Cool completely, then refrigerate until chilled before cutting into squares. I like to cut into 6 rows of 4.
- Store squares in an airtight container in the refrigerator, where they will keep for at least a week or wrap tightly and freeze for up to 3 months.
Notes
Note 1: Ground almonds are not the same as almond flour. Ground almonds have the consistency of cornmeal and can be found with the other nuts in the baking aisle. You could also process blanched almonds in a food processor if you like.
Note 2: I find these bars hit the perfect mark of bringing the tartness that you'd expect from cranberries, without being too tart. If you find them too tart for your taste, you can certainly add a few more Tablespoons of white sugar to the cranberry filling if you like.
Tips!
I highly recommend lining the baking pan with parchment paper, if possible. While these bars will come out of the pan, it is just a pain to cut squares in the pan. I find it easiest to line just the bottom and long sides with parchment, allowing the parchment to overhang the sides of the pan by a couple of inches. The overhanging parchment is then used as handles to lift the squares out of the pan for cutting. Be sure to run a knife along the unlined short ends before lifting.
Be sure to read the notes above this recipe card for more tips on making this recipe. You'll find substitution suggestions and step-by-step photos that you might find helpful.
Serving: 1bar, Calories: 205kcal, Carbohydrates: 29g, Protein: 2g, Fat: 9g, Saturated Fat: 5g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.4g, Monounsaturated Fat: 2g, Trans Fat: 0.3g, Cholesterol: 28mg, Sodium: 89mg, Potassium: 50mg, Fiber: 1g, Sugar: 17g, Vitamin A: 258IU, Vitamin C: 2mg, Calcium: 19mg, Iron: 1mg
Tried this recipe?Leaving a review is always appreciated and so helpful for our fellow cooks!
