Oh my gosh, how gorgeous are these?
I’ll be honest. I don’t bake with fresh cranberries that often. I often use dried cranberries – see these white chocolate almond cookies and this cranberry orange bread.
I love snacking on dried cranberries and using them in salads…like all the time. I love a burst of a sweet in a salad, but they are lacking something…the looks. They’re just not as beautiful as fresh cranberries. I am SO glad I decided to bake these cranberry bars up because they’re SO festive, SO pretty and SO delicious.
They’re a bit unusual…In a good way though. They’re tart yet sweet and you can jazz them up in all kinds of ways. You can add almond extract to them, nuts (pecans, almonds or walnuts would be awesome), you could also add some orange zest to give them a zip or you could make an icing/glaze to drizzle on top. I didn’t do any of this. I kept them simple and to the point, but those options are always nice to have.
They’re not a cookie and they’re not a cake…they’re something in between and they’re glorious.
I loved baking with cranberries so much that I have an apple cranberry crisp in the oven this very moment. My house smells amazing…they need to make an apple cranberry crisp candle!!!! Wouldn’t that be insane? I’d buy 10.
Give me all the cranberries.
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- 2 eggs, room temperature
- ½ cup butter, room temperature (salted or unsalted is fine)
- 1½ cups granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- Zest from one medium orange (optional)
- 1½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ cup chopped pecans or walnuts (optional)
- 2 cups cranberries (fresh or frozen. I used frozen)
- Powdered sugar (for dusting. also optional)
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9x13 inch pan. You can also line the pan with parchment paper or tinfoil. if you use tinfoil, grease it well. This will make it easier to pull the bars out of the pan and cut.
- Using a mixer, beat together the granulated sugar, butter and orange zest (if using), until light and fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla and beat until mixed nicely, scraping down sides of bowl as necessary.
- Add the dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Fold in the nuts and cranberries.
- Pour into prepared pan - the dough is sticky so grease your hands and press it down as best as you can so it covers the entire pan. If it's not perfect, don't worry, it will bake together nicely.
- Bake for 40-50 minutes. Mine baked for 45 minutes. The edges will be light brown and the top will have spots of light brown. Cool completely before dusting with powdered sugar and cutting.
Recipe from Food.com
I made these with the orange zest and I absolutely love them. Great with coffee and tea for sure. I am also going to try and freeze them
awesome!
I brought these to work today for a cookie exchange. I brought these and gingersnaps. When a coworker asked me what I brought and I told him, he exclaimed “I love gingersnaps!”. The day progresses and he instant messages me “your cranberry bars are amazing!”…..and not a word about the gingersnaps! So at the end of the day I quietly tiptoed over to his desk and gave him a few more to take home. This guy can bake, too so this was high praise! I personally thought they were a tiny bit sweet but then again they have to offset the cranberries so it’s all good! They don’t need the powdered sugar or a glaze – they are tasty just as they are! I used pecans and I did use orange zest. And they were better today (I baked them yesterday). Oh and I baked them 40 minutes and they looked just like your picture! Hope this helps! Thanks for the recipe!
you’re welcome!
I have some leftover home made cranberry sauce. Could I use this instead of fresh cranberries?
Yes! I would put half the batter down then gently swirl it in, then top with the other half of the batter and gently swirl.
hello! do should I leave the cranberries out to thaw before hand, or can I simply fold them in frozen?
Fold them in frozen!
Thank you 🙂
Sounds delish! You may want to check the spelling on the word “bowl”. 😉
thank you!
Do you chop the cranberries or use them whole? Do you need to refrigerate them? I was think8ng of shipping a batch as a Christmas gift.
leave them whole! No they do not need to be chilled.
Thank you so very much – my mother-in-law will be thrilled when she receives the package!
Wondering if you could add oatmeal. I love Cranberry and oatmeal bars but don’t have a recipe.
Yes that should be fine! They might be a little more dry. Start with 1/2 cup and see if that works. It it doesn’t, reduce the amount of flour by 1/4 cup.
If I wanted to try adding almond extract, should I substitute it for the vanilla or just add a bit in? Sorry, I get nervous going off-recipe. 😊
Add it in addition to the vanilla!
Thank you! I added a big splash, they smell delicious!! They literally just came out of the oven!
Absolutely wonderful!!! Am definitely making it again and again!
Insanely delicious!
Thank you!
These were so EASY and DELICIOUS. I have already made them twice, I didn’t have an orange on hand the first time so I used 1/4 cup of OJ and the second time I used about 2 tbsp of orange marmalade. So delicious.
Yum!! love your simple changes!
Made them for Thanksgiving too! The orange zest definitely made the dish.
I don’t want to scrape my bowel. Is there an alternative?
ooops! The alternative would be bowl. 😉
Made it with 1c chopped fresh soaked in 1/4c sugar and 3tbsp Triple Sec, and 1c frozen. No nuts! Not allergic, just feel nuts have no place in these or chocolate chip cookies for that matter. 🙂
Baked about 40 +/- minutes.
Next time I will use vanilla bean paste for the flecks, and maybe add 1/2tsp baking soda for a slight rise. Also I would use Cake and Pastry flour. Flour by weight…
But, really good recipe, Kudos!!
Would dried cranberries work in this recipe?
Yes!
Do these freeze well?
I haven’t tried freezing them but I don’t see why they wouldn’t!
Hi–wondering if you did end up freezing and how they turned out.
They should be fine frozen!
I tried these and followed the ingredients word-for-word, except I used vegan butter/egg replacements, no nuts, and half the amount of cranberries. The orange zest definitely put them over the top for me. They tasted amazing and I can’t believe how easy they were to make! Thanks, Jessica!
I found your blog the night before Thanksgiving and made a batch of these cookie bars as a last minute additional dessert. They were a huge hit with everyone!!! Thanks so much for the great recipe. I’m going to be making them again for Christmas.
Wonderful! Glad you liked them – I love hoe festive they look for the holidays!