Cranberry Almond Crumb Bars

Let’s be honest. I know for most of us, when we think of fresh cranberries, we think of Thanksgiving and cranberry sauce. And yes, they are so delicious with turkey. But there is so much more potential to be unlocked here! Especially with baking! They make excellent fillings for pies, tarts, cakes and more. Their signature tartness is a perfect match for sweet pastry.

These cranberry and almond crumble bars would make a great addition to any holiday table! They are just sweet enough with a nice pop of acidity from the berries and citrus. They’ve got a beautiful golden brown crust and ruby red filling! They are a festive and casual handheld treat that is perfect for a potluck!

Here’s what you need for the crust:

Here’s what you need for the filling:

Make the filling and set it aside.

Just dump all of the ingredients in a bowl and give it a good mix to coat all of the fruit with the sugar. As it sits, the sugar and cornstarch will dissolve in the orange juice. If you would like to have a more bracing acidity in your bars, swap half of the orange juice with lemon juice.

Make the sweet crumbly crust.

Oats give the crust a nice nutty, earthy flavor that I love! Just add them to a food processor with the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt and pulse several times to evenly distribute.

Cube the butter and place it in the freezer as before you begin. By the time you get to this next step in the recipe, the butter will be perfectly cold.

Add the very cold butter to the food processor and pulse about 7 times to cut it into the dry ingredients. There will be some large chunks of butter throughout, but you still have more ingredients to add, so by the time those are incorporated, the butter will be sufficiently minced. It’s better to have your dough under mixed than over. The last thing you want is for the dough to become one homogeneous mixture, because at that point, you can’t go back and your crust will be dense and tough.

Finally add the egg yolks and vanilla and pulse a few times to just combine.

Remove 1 cup of the dough.

Mix it with the sliced almonds and set this aside. You can see in the photo that the dough is still very loose. This is what you want. There is a clear division between the butter and the flour.

Dump the dough into a prepared pan.

Lay 2 sheets of parchment in a “+” over a 9 by 9 baking pan, with enough excess to hang over the edges. This excess will serve as handles to help you lift the whole thing out of the pan later. Tuck the parchment snugly into the corners and up the sides.

Dump the remaining dough into the pan and use buttered hands to press it firmly in place, evenly all the way to the edges and corners.

You can see that after pressing it into the pan, it is looking more “crust like.” It has come together but you still see the bits of butter throughout.

Add the filling.

Give the cranberry filling another good toss before pouring in, because a lot of the syrupy sugar will have settled to the bottom of the bowl.

Pour the cranberries over the bottom crust. Spread it around evenly with a rubber spatula or your hands.

Top with the remaining dough.

Sprinkle over the almond crust topping. Add a little to each area at a time so you don’t run out before the entire thing is covered and you wind up with one side having a lot of topping and another side having hardly any.

Use your buttered hands to press the almond crust into the filling layer. You want to do this firmly enough so it becomes an even layer, but not so firm that you press the cranberries down through the bottom layer of dough.

Bake the bars.

Have your oven preheated to 375 degrees. Bake the bars for 35 minutes. They will be golden on top with a golden-brown tinge around the edge. Let them cool completely in the pan before cutting! Very important. If you dare to take them out while still hot, they will completely fall apart. As they cool, the filling and the crust will set, allowing them to hold their shape.

Once cool, use the parchment handles to lift the whole thing out of the pan and onto a cutting board. Use a sharp knife to cut them into equal squares, then they are ready to enjoy!

Keep leftovers in an airtight container for 3 days at room temperature. Beyond that, I would recommend refrigerating, (though I’ve never actually made it that far myself.) I will mention that once stored, they do begin to lose some crispness, so before enjoying them again, I always pop them on a sheet pan and heat them in a 350 degree oven for about 10 minutes just to give them that nice crisp, crumbly texture once more!

Other recipes to try:

• Blackberry Cheesecake Blondies
• Mixed Berry Compote
• Strawberry Crispy Rice Squares
• Peach and Raspberry Crumble