Cranberry Crumb Bars

Get into the vacation spirit with these scrumptious cranberry crumb bars. It’s my favourite manner to make use of up leftover cranberry sauce. Comply with our step-by-step directions and video to create a festive and engaging dessert that’s excellent for any vacation gathering.

I bought fed up final yr with leftover cranberry sauce so for months after Thanksgiving I used to be testing it in all types of recipes to seek out methods to make use of it. That is how our cranberry sauce muffins got here to be! And it’s the identical story for this cranberry crumble bars recipe. I’ve been experimenting with this one and that is lastly the profitable recipe. They’re to die for!

They’re probably the most great mixture of creamy cranberry sauce and a chewy sugar cookie, tart shortbread crust!

Components for Cranberry Sauce Bars

We’ll truly make one crust recipe and we are going to use it for each the bottom of the bars and the crumble on high! Then we are going to make a filling to go within the center. I’ll embrace the components for an elective glaze too. Right here is the whole lot you will want for every element:

Crust and Topping

• Moist Components: Butter (softened), Cream Cheese (softened), Brown Sugar, White Sugar, Egg, Vanilla and Almond Extract
• Dry Components: All Objective Flour, Cornstarch, Baking Powder, Baking Soda and Salt

Filling

• Bitter Cream: full fats cream cheese
• Eggs: binds the filling collectively
• Cornstarch: helps thicken the filling
• Vanilla and Floor Cinnamon: add taste
• Cranberry Sauce: home made is most popular, however store-bought would work high-quality too, simply don’t use the canned cranberry jelly
• Entire Contemporary Cranberries: provides extra taste and texture

Glaze

• Powdered Sugar: acts as the bottom of the glaze and provides all of the sweetness
• Milk: provides richness and creates the glaze
• Vanilla: provides taste

The measurements for every ingredient will be discovered down under within the recipe card. That is meant to only be an summary of the components you will want.

Tips on how to Make Cranberry Crumb Bars

Let me stroll you thru every step of this recipe! It’d seem to be quite a lot of steps, however it’s tremendous straightforward.

Crust

1. Prep: Preheat the oven to 350 levels and line a 9×13 inch baking dish with a bit of parchment. Spray the whole lot with cooking spray.
2. Beat: Place the butter, cream cheese and each sugar within the bowl of stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and beat till fluffy.
3. Add: Place the remainder of the moist components into the bowl and blend till mixed.
4. Mix: Change the pace to low, and add all of the dry ingredient. Combine till mixed. Set 2 cups of the crust apart to make use of later because the crumb topping.
5. Press: Take the remaining crumb combination and press it evenly into the baking pan.
6. Bake: Stick the pan into the preheated oven and bake it for 10 minutes and take away it to chill barely.

Filling

1. Whisk: In a big bowl, whisk collectively the bitter cream, eggs, cornstarch, vanilla, almond extract, cinnamon, till clean and effectively mixed.
2. Fold: Seize a rubber spatula and fold within the cranberry sauce.
3. Pour: Unfold the cranberry filling combination over the crust and sprinkle the cranberries excessive.
4. Dollop: Use the remaining crust combination and place chunks of it everywhere in the high of the berries.
5. Bake: Place the pan again into the oven and bake for 40-45 minutes.
6. Cool: Take away the bars from the oven and allow them to cool for at the least an hour on a wire cooling rack. Drizzle the glaze over in case you are utilizing it.
7. Slice: Utilizing the parchment paper, take away the bars from the pan after which slice into squares and serve with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.

Glaze

1. Whisk: Add the whole lot to a small bowl and whisk collectively. Drizzle excessive of the cooled bars.

All of those directions will also be discovered within the recipe card on the finish of the submit. It can save you or print the recipe from there as effectively.

Non-obligatory Glaze

The glaze on high is completely elective, however I really like the little little bit of moisture that it provides and it appears so fairly! Do you need to have it? No, however I’d make the little additional effort to make it each single time.

Recipe Variations

I haven’t tried any of those variations, however they’re all on my listing of issues to attempt with these bars. I truly lose sleep at evening desirous about all of the totally different twists and turns I can take with my recipes. It’s not wholesome…haha! Anyway…

Including some toasted pecans or walnuts to the bottom can be fabulous. After all, orange at all times goes will with cranberry, so including some orange zest to the filling is extremely really useful! Ooh and a few orange juice to the glaze! Now we’re talkin’! My different thought is so as to add toasted sliced almonds to the topping. Yummy!

Storage Ideas

These cranberry bars will retailer at room temperature in an hermetic container for 2-3 days. If you would like them to final just a little longer, you may retailer them within the fridge for as much as per week.

Cranberry sauce bars additionally freeze very well. Wrap the person slices with plastic wrap after which retailer them in an hermetic container. They may hold for as much as 3 months.

These cranberry crumb bars are the proper mixture of candy and tart, with a buttery crumb topping that may have you ever coming again for seconds. Whether or not it’s Thanksgiving or Christmas, you might need some leftover cranberry sauce to make use of up and these cranberry crumb bars are your reply!

Extra Festive Dessert Recipes to Strive:

Watch How These Cranberry Sauce Crumb Bars are Made…