Cranberry Crumble Bars

It’s the 12 Days of Holiday Recipes! Over the next few weeks I will be posting 12 cookie and fudge recipes that I have discovered this year.

As I mentioned recently, the area where I live was hit hard with heavy winds, knocking out the power at home for four days. Our cats were so confused as to why we were sitting in the dark and the cold, and I am sure they were thinking that we just needed to turn on the heat!. We are glad that the power has been restored, but we had to throw away nearly everything in the refrigerator and freezer. I had just stocked up for holiday baking, but thankfully only a few things are refrigerated. I do feel like it has put me horribly behind schedule, but what can you do?

I had planned to make these Cranberry Crumble Bars last week, but that didn’t happen! I thought that they are a nice transition between Thanksgiving and the holiday season. With the fresh cranberries, they are nice and tart, but have the balance of the cookie dough to keep them sweet. I did have to restock a few things before I could make these, but that was minimal.

This recipe called for an 8” pan, but it has a lot of ingredients so I used my 9” pan. I still had plenty of dough! Adjusting the pan size, I knew I needed to watch the baking time but I didn’t have any issue. I had reserved two cups of dough for the topping and didn’t need all of it, I used a little over a cup, so you could adjust the ratio of base and topping if you’d like. Your house will smell magical when you bake these, the cranberries are tart but pair so well with the other flavors.

Cranberry Crumble Bars
1 cup butter, room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
2 teaspoons vanilla
3 1/4 cups flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt

2 1/2 cups fresh or frozen cranberries
2/3 cup sugar
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 tablespoon orange zest
1 tablespoon orange juice
1 teaspoon vanilla

3/4 cup powdered sugar
4 tablespoons heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9” square baking pan with foil and spray the foil with nonstick cooking spray.

In a large mixer bowl, add the butter, sugar, and brown sugar. Beat on medium until light. Add the egg and vanilla and beat again until the ingredients are combined. With the mixer running on low, gradually add the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. Stir on low until a dough forms.

Set aside about 2 cups of dough for the topping. Press the remaining dough evenly into the prepared pan. Use a measuring cup to help flatten the dough.

Bake for 15 minutes, until the center is set. Remove the pan from the oven but keep the oven on.

In a large bowl combine the cranberries, sugar, cornstarch, orange zest and juice, and vanilla. Stir with a spatula, then pour the mixture over the partially baked crust.

Break up the reserved 2 cups of dough with your hands and randomly place on top of the cranberry filling, making a crumble. This should not be a solid layer, you want to be able to see the cranberry filling in different places.

Bake for an additional 45 minutes. You may need to cover the bars after 30 minutes or the bars will brown too much. Cool the bars completely before adding the glaze.

Make the glaze: in a medium bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar, heavy cream, and vanilla. Add additional heavy cream if the glaze is too thick. Drizzle over the cooled bars.

Recipe from Browned Butter Blondie