We’re somehow already entering festive season and I am here for it! This week, I wanted to make a dessert that was relatively quick and easy but which perfectly embodied this time of year–warm spices like ginger and cinnamon, festive and tart cranberries, and a recipe large enough to easily bring to a gathering with friends and family. These cranberry crumb bars tick all of the boxes and are seriously delicious.
Crumb bars are typically layered desserts that have a buttery crust that has been pressed into the bottom of the pan, followed by a fruity and jammy filling, and topped with buttery crumble. For my cranberry crumb bars, I incorporated browned butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, and toasted ground pecans into the crumble to get a warm, caramely, and nutty flavor. The filling contains fresh cranberries coated with sugar, grated ginger, and orange zest. The tart cranberries offer extra freshness and zip to the sweet, buttery, and nutty crumb topping–it really is the perfect pairing.
These bars are great to bring to your next Friendsgiving, holiday party, Thanksgiving, or to just have at home for snacking. The bars freeze very well so can be made in advance and thawed at room temperature for about 30-60 minutes. My only regret when baking these what that I should have made more, which is a good problem to have.
Cranberry Crumb Bars
Course: Bars and cookiesDifficulty: Quick bake24
bars20
minutes45
minutesThese festive cranberry crumb bars have a warming cinnamon, toasted pecan, and brown butter crumb topping, which is complimented by a burst of tart cranberry with hints of ginger and orange. They are perfect to bring along to holiday party or gathering. If you want to make a smaller quantity, you can make half the recipe in an 8×8 dish, or you can use parchment paper to create a wall halfway through the 9×13 dish and fill only half the dish when baking.
Ingredients
- For the crumb
2 1/2 cups (312g) all-purpose flour
1/2 cup (50g) ground pecans, toasted
3/4 tsp diamond crystal kosher salt (1/2 tsp if using morton kosher)
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar
1/4 cup (50g) tightly packed brown sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup toasted chopped pecans (optional)
- For the filling
4 cups of fresh cranberries
1 Tbsp grated ginger
1 Tbsp cornstarch
3/4 cup (150g) granulated sugar
Zest of half an orange or one lemon
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350F and line a 9×13 baking dish with parchment paper. Place all of the pecans in a large skillet and cook over medium low heat, tossing occasionally until fragrant and lightly toasted. Set aside to cool slightly.
- In a small saucepan over medium low heat, add the butter. Cook, swirling the pan occasionally. The butter will make lots of sizzling noises at the beginning as some of its water content boils off. Once the butter quiets down, keep a closer eye on it, and swirl regularly for a few minutes until the butter turns a nice amber color and you can see dark brown flecks. Immediately remove from the pan to prevent it from over browning.
- Going back to the pecans, reserve close to 1/2 a cup ( a bit less is fine). Place the remaining pecans (to make about 1/2 cup of ground pecans, you can start with about 3/4 cups of pecan halves or about 2/3 cup of chopped pecans) into a food processor. Pulse just a few times until the pecans have been ground into a course meal. If ground too much, the pecans will release their oils and turn buttery. Measure out 1/2 cup of ground pecans and add it to a large mixing bowl.
- Add in the flour, salt, cinnamon, sugar and baking powder and stir together until combined. Pour the browned butter over the mixture and stir until the mixture begins to clump together and the butter is well distributed. Pour half of the mixture into the baking pan and using your hands or the back of a spoon, press it against the bottom of the pan to make the crust. Set the rest aside for now.
- In another mixing bowl, stir together the cranberries, sugar, cornstarch, orange or lemon zest, and ginger. Once well-mixed, pour over the crust and level off the mixture in the pan. Take the remaining crumb mixture and crumble it with your hands all over the surface of the bars to evenly cover the top. Sprinkle the remaining toasted pecans on top, if using (chop them a bit if they’re large).
- Bake for approximately 45-55 minutes, or until the top is nicely golden brown and you can see the filling sizzling and bubbling up a bit. Let cool at room temperature, and then place in the refrigerator to fully chill for easier slicing. Slice into small squares and serve. These can be stored covered in plastic at room temperature for about two days, in the refrigerator for about a week, or in the freezer for a couple of months.
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