Cranberry bars

Cranberry bars with shortbread crust and a brown sugar and almond topping.

Give your leftover Thanksgiving cranberry sauce a tasty makeover with these cranberry bars. It doesn’t matter what type of cranberry sauce (whole berry or jellied) you use for this recipe, but a traditional Thanksgiving cooked sauce works great. The topping, made from almonds, eggs, brown sugar and other ingredients, is added to a shortbread crust to create a memorable dessert.

Total time:
Yield: 12 bars
Nutrition facts: Per bar: 246 calories, 11 g fat, 35 g carbohydrates (1.3 g fiber), 4 g protein, 138 mg sodium

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Ingredients

Crust

1 cup flour
⅓ cup granulated sugar
½ cup (1 stick) cold butter, cut into tablespoons

Topping

2 large eggs, lightly beaten
½ cup packed light brown sugar
⅓ cup flour
½ tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
½ tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup whole-berry or jellied cranberry sauce
½ cup slivered almonds

Directions

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease the sides of an 8-inch square baking pan.
  2. Make the crust: In a food processor, combine the flour and granulated sugar. Add the butter, and pulse until evenly combined.
  3. Press the mixture into the baking pan and bake for 35 minutes or until golden. Remove from the oven to add the topping, but leave the oven on.
  4. Meanwhile, make the topping: In a bowl, with an electric mixer, beat the eggs and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the flour, baking powder, salt and vanilla. Stir in the cranberry sauce and almonds.
  5. Pour the topping over the cooked shortbread crust and return it to the oven for 40 to 45 minutes, or until set and evenly browned on top.
  6. Let cool completely in the pan on a rack before cutting into 12 bars.
Thanksgiving might be over, but fall is still in full swing! Check out more tasty recipes.