Fresh Cranberry Bars with Oat Crumble Topping
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our disclosure policy.
Disclosure: I created this blog content in partnership with The Cranberry Institute. I was compensated for my work, and all opinions are solely my own. Find additional information on The Cranberry Institute!
In general, most people think of fresh cranberries for one thing and one thing only: cranberry sauce.
That’s not a “bad” thing! Cranberry sauce brings me back to my mother’s kitchen.
To this day she makes the best cranberry sauce for Thanksgiving. I don’t even need the turkey to eat it…just hand me a spoon!
However, there are so many other uses for this versatile fruit besides cranberry sauce and I am excited to share one of those ways with you – a fresh cranberry bar!
First off, let’s talk health benefits:
The fresh cranberries in these bars not only add a unique flavor and beautiful color, but also heaping amount of Vitamin C and fiber. Plus, cranberries are naturally low in sugar!
Additionally, cranberries offer whole body health benefits. Scientists are actually exploring how the bioactive compounds found in cranberries may positively affect glycemic response, prevent recurrent UTIs, support gut health, improve heart health and reduce inflammation.
Did I lose you yet?
I hope not!
To simplify: Cranberries may improve your glucose response if you have type 2 diabetes, the compounds found in cranberries may feed good bacteria to support your gut health, and cranberry consumption can help prevent reoccurring Urinary Tract Infections (UTIs). Woo!
Now that we know cranberries are beneficial to our health…how are cranberries grown?
Cranberries are grown on vines. (Yes – cranberries grow on vines, not in water! The cranberry bogs are only flooded to harvest the cranberries!)
Most cranberries are grown in Wisconsin, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Washington and Oregon!
Let’s chat about this recipe…
Fresh Cranberry Bars with Oat Crumble Topping…
- Easy-to-make
- Tart and sweet at the same time!
- Rich in fiber and vitamin C
- A easy fall dessert…or breakfast! No judgement here!
- Takes less than 45 minutes to make
- You probably have most of the ingredients in your pantry already
- It’s a new Holiday favorite in my house!
What if I don’t have coconut sugar?
You can use granulated sugar – I just really love the flavor coconut sugar gives this dish!
Can I use oranges instead of lemon in the cranberry layer?
Yes! If you don’t have lemons, oranges are a fantastic substitute for both the juice and zest!
Can I use dried cranberries?
While dried cranberries are absolutely wonderful, this recipe works best with fresh cranberries.
I love that the crumble topping and crust to this cranberry bar recipe is the same recipe!
Makes life just that much easier! You enjoy as is, or with a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream. Perfect for Thanksgiving or Friendsgiving and a fun way to enjoy this Fall fruit!
Before You Begin! If you make this, please leave a review and rating letting us know how you liked this recipe! This helps our business thrive & continue providing free recipes.
Fresh Cranberry Bars with Oat Crumble Topping
Ingredients
For the crumble:
- 1 1/2 cup All-Purpose Flour
- 1 1/2 cup rolled oats (not quick oats)
- 2/3 cup coconut sugar
- 1 1/2 sticks (12 Tbsp.) unsalted butter, melted
- 1/2 cup walnuts, chopped
- 1 Tbsp. flaxseed, ground
- 1/2 tsp. baking soda
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1/2 tsp. cinnamon, ground
For the Fresh Cranberry filling:
- 1 12 oz. bag Fresh Cranberry
- 4 Tbsp. lemon juice, fresh
- 1 Tbsp. lemon zest
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
Last step! If you make this, please leave a review and rating letting us know how you liked this recipe! This helps our business thrive & continue providing free recipes.
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F.In a large bowl, mix all of the crumble topping ingredients together. The melted butter will combine the dry ingredients into a crumble.Press half of this mixture into an oven safe 8×8 baking dish and bake for 15 minutes.
- Meanwhile, in a saucepan over medium heat – make the cranberry mixture! Add the cranberries, juice, zest and sugar to the sauce pan. The cranberries will begin to pop and cook down. You may need to add a little bit of water. Add a tablespoon at a time! Let this cook down until it looks like, well…cranberry sauce!
- Pour this on top of the crust layer, and then top with the remaining oat crumble. Bake again for 20 minutes. Let rest for 30 minutes before cutting into it. (Trust me, I know it’s hard!)
Nutritional information is provided as a courtesy and is automatically calculated. It should only be construed as an estimate rather than a guarantee. Ingredients can vary and Kroll’s Korner can’t make any guarantees to the accuracy of this information.
You’ll want to be sure to snag your fresh cranberries soon to make this dish! They are available now (Fall) until early January so you don’t want to miss out on making this dessert!
These bars were such a hit with my coworkers. They loved the tart cranberry filling and said how healthy they tasted! I took the previous advice in the comments and DOUBLED the cranberry sauce while making 1.5x the filling amount to fill a 9×13 baking pan. I also put about 75% of the dough in the bottom and sprinkled the rest on top of the filling; that way you could easily see the bright red sauce through the top, and it was more sturdy cutting them up.
Used coconut sugar throughout and swapped all-purpose flour with almond meal. Didn’t come out as crunchy as I thought they’d be but they taste delicious. Might do a little less on the top layer next time though.
Can these be frozen?
Yes! I’d say up to 2-3 months.
These were very tasty! I made mine with orange instead of lemon, chia seeds instead of flax seeds (which I don’t care for; I find them fishy tasting). I used 1/3 c white + 1/3 c brown sugar instead of coconut sugar for the crumble and added a splash of vanilla to the cranberry filling and used 8 tbsp unsalted butter + 4 tbsp coconut oil instead of all butter. My one reco would be to press at least 2/3 of the crumb topping in the pan first, with fewer crumbs on top, the bars are delicious but difficult to get out of the pan and hard to eat without falling apart. I used a 9×9 brownie pan and wish I would have cut them into 16 squares instead of 9, the servings were too big.
I made these more compatible with a low histamine diet for those of us with MCAS or HIT. It was easy to modify! For the high histamine ingredients, I eliminated the lemon juice and lemon zest and replaced the walnuts with pistachios and macadamia nuts. I also subbed 4 oz. of blueberries for cranberries because I only had an 8 oz. bag of cranberries, and subbed pumpkin pie spice for the cinnamon because I had none. I know this sounds like a lot of subs, but the structure of the oat crumble layers was in tact! It was quite delicious, but I agree with another reviewer that the top layer was a bit loose.
I made this yesterday. I used granulated sugar and oranges. Everyone liked it. I thought the crumb topping was too dry. Next time, I will probably add some pats of butter on top during the final step of baking or more butter to the topping that’s left after baking the bottom.
This recipe is perfect. Followed directions without modifications. Excellent result.
I’m allergic to oats any ideas to make them without the oats?
I am sorry I haven’t tested this recipe without the oats so I cannot advise. If you try something and it works well please let me know how it goes!
This was just what I was looking for! Even better than a version I used to make. I love the tangy gooey cranberry layer so much, I want to try to maybe do it a little thicker or do like 3/4 or the crumble part next time. So delicious! I’m saving this in my little handwritten recipe book where I keep only the best 🙂
Awww I am soo so glad!! Thank you so much 🙂
So much butter!! Are 12 tablespoons really necessary?
I haven’t recipe tested it with less so I am not sure. So sorry!